House of Rituals: when the store becomes a sanctuary

In Amsterdam, lifestyle brand Rituals has opened a first flagship store that adds new services and products in a unique world of experience. If the concept is successful, branches in more capitals will follow.

Store, wellness & restaurant

“A sanctuary where your body relaxes, your mind calms down and your soul finds satisfaction,” is how Rituals describes the new flagship store. The four-storey, 1,500-square-metre experience store offers a whole host of new services and far more products than an average Rituals store, as many as 600 in total. Shoppers can personalise gifts, there is a luxury perfume bar, exclusive collections of scented sticks, scented candles and luxury textiles for bed and bath… The retailer wants to test which new products appeal to the public.
 

A wellness centre will open on the top two floors of the building next year. The store also houses Asian-inspired restaurant Rouhi, which aims to stimulate the senses with surprising flavours, textures and fragrances. However, due to corona measures, that restaurant currently has to remain closed: consumers can order a take-away box to pick up.  
 

House of Rituals is located on the Spui in the heart of Amsterdam, near the Kalverstraat. If the store is successful, the chain wants to open a House of Rituals in more capitals, says founder Raymond Cloosterman in newspaper Het Parool. Moreover, the entrepreneur wants to continue to grow internationally: “We will start in Poland and Italy and expand our activities in Germany. But I also want to go to Asia. That’s where we’ve been drawing our inspiration for twenty years now, and I want to give something in return”. As a result of the corona crisis, Rituals was only able to open 40 new stores this year instead of the planned 100, but next year the entrepreneur hopes to pick up the pace of expansion again.