Luxury Swiss watch brand to open on Manchester’s King Street
Audemars Piguet has become the latest brand to commit to the city’s high-end retail enclave, taking the 13,000 sq ft former Jack Wills store.
Swiss firm Audemars Piguet has earmarked its Manchester store for its AP House concept, intended to offer an elevated retail experience for shoppers by providing one-to-one appointments in bespoke private rooms.
There are AP House outlets across the globe in cities including London, New York, Barcelona, Tokyo, and Zurich.
The company announced its intention to open an AP House in Manchester last year but did not confirm where.
Audemars Piguet works closely with Watches of Switzerland Group, which has submitted plans for the store at 35 King Street.
The store, owned by DTZ Investors, has been largely empty since 2020 when Jack Wills vacated it, although there have been several pop-up concepts in the intervening years.
WOS plans to undertake “a high-quality refurbishment of the original Georgian property, bringing it back into use as a retail store based on a townhouse concept”, according to a planning statement prepared by Savills.
To learn more about the scheme, search for reference number 139243/LO/2024 on Manchester City Council’s planning portal.
Watches of Switzerland, DTZ, and Audemars Piguet were contacted for comment.
Risky, retail is really down this year
By Peter
Have they seen the state of King Street?
By Anonymous
Hope they have a good security plan!
By Manc
That building used to be my bank in the 70/80s
By Eric Jackson
How many empty units now, 13?
By Anonymous
It’s unlikely that anyone in this comments section is the target market for AP watches . The Casio store is online😅
By Anonymous
Stunning timepieces, and a real vote of confidence in Manchester’s high-end consumer market. Forget the cynicism of other commentators: this is good news.
By More Anonymous than the others
A fantastic use for a beautiful building. Great news for King St, which is on its way back !
By Anonymous
Excellent news, vote of confidence in Manchester and King Street.
By Anonymous
Will it be DDA compliant?
By Gum
The list of other cities in the list of stores, is pretty impressive, however nothing seems to work in this building.
By Elephant
Im sure the store will relocate to the grim Arndale Centre before long like many other brands before it.
By Anonymous
An AP store moving to the Arndale ? Like the comments above said you are definitely not the target audience ..lol 😅..lots of expensive high end watch stores around St Anne’s square though.
By Richard Mille