Hospitality: What’s the Point?

The useful part

– Visual Merchandising and Store Design Connect with us Share Tweet Walk into any large store almost anywhere in Europe these days and the chances are good that there will be a restaurant of some kind. Whether its RH (aka Restoration Hardware) or one of the larger Primark branches, there's a good chance that you will be fed as well as offered clothes, homewares or almost anything else. For an example of why it matters and if you happen to be in London, a visit to the newly refurbished John Lewis eatery on the Oxford Street department store's top (6 th.

How it works

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• way) floor will reveal "The Platter." As the name might suggest, this is a restaurant, one of the largest in the area and it is a remould of what used to be called "The Place to Eat".
• This is a long-standing destination and a place where tired and weary "West End" shoppers head to in order to take a break and admire the rooftops of Mayfair, immediately to the south of Oxford Street.

What to take from it

It was always busy, but John Lewis clearly felt it was worth updating and The Platter is as much about culinary theatre as a cup of tea and cake. There's now a pizza oven, a coffee roastery, a cocktail bar and an open kitchen, allowing customers to view their meals being prepared... There probably was little need for this refurb, but in its new form it will continue to attract John Lewis shoppers and draw them up through the store's many levels, pausing, to shop along the way.

Example or evidence

• As well as being the European Editor of VMSD magazine, he writes for a broad range of publications in the U.K., the U.S.
• and Germany with a focus on in-store marketing, display and layout, as well as the business of store architecture and design.
• In a previous life, he was a buyer for C&A, based in London and then Düsseldorf, Germany.
• Ian Johnston Founder and Creative Director, Quinine Design You may like Putting on the Ritz at Hotel Bloomingdale's EuroCIS 2027:

Details worth keeping

prior to taking the weight off their feet and having a gossip. Which is rather the point of in-store hospitality. it will mean incremental sales across the store as a consequence.

Related coverage

• Hospitality Net: An opinion piece exploring how storytelling builds brand identity and emotional loyalty in hospitality, with practical homework frameworks and a student video assignment as a teaching model.
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• Thisdaylive: Charles Ajunwa The Group General Manager, Continental Hotels, Karl Hala, has said that hospitality is about people and not about building. Hala, who declared this at the AeroWest Summit 2026,
• Hospitality Net: An industry keynote speaker argues that as AI automates routine hospitality tasks, the human capacity for empathy, judgement, and connection becomes more valuable, not less, and offers a practical...
• Hospitality Net: WATG-authored opinion argues that rising costs and shifting guest values require developers to prioritize place-based design, experiential investment, and operational efficiency over capital-heavy luxury.