Selfridges' New Private Members' Club Is an Interior Design Moment — Here Are the Style Ideas You Can Steal, Even If You're Not on Its VIP List
A new chapter for the storied department store begins at 40 Duke, where art, design, beauty, and hospitality collide
There was a time, at the peak of COVID-19, when the appeal and the fantasy of an IRL shopping experience were lost to government-mandated lockdowns. But even before the pandemic, as e-commerce sites began to compete with traditional brick-and-mortar stores, people had already started to distance themselves from physical shops and retreat into the internet world, increasingly embracing parcels delivered to their doorstep as a stress-free alternative to the high-street experience.
40 Duke, the newly launched private members' club, luxury retail destination, and cultural hub of London's iconic department store Selfridges, goes against that shift by demonstrating that shopping is about much more than simply buying, and leaning heavily into design to prove its point.
Spanning a surface of 25,000 square feet within Selfridges' Oxford Street flagship, 40 Duke is far too ambitious in scale to be compared to any other ordinary concept store in London. Instead, the ambition is "to create a first-of-its-kind destination for our customers, cultivating shopping as recreation" to capture the group's vision for the aspirational lifestyle of tomorrow, Selfridges' CEO André Maeder explains. How? By immersing guests in an environment that feels inspiring, "familiar yet elevated", a space fit for "encouraging conversation, discovery, and return".
Article continues belowIntroducing 40 Duke — An Hyper-Present, Home-Inspired Approach to Shopping
This bold, graphic terrazzo fits the emerging trend for statement flooring as the new accent walls. 40 Duke at Selfridges works in tandem with the group's Selfridges Unlocked loyalty programme.
If there's one place we never fail to come back to, that's our home. And so it's no surprise that 40 Duke draws on the comfort and grounding of a private residence to convince guests to stay longer and engage more deeply with what's around them.
Conceived by Nice Projects, 40 Duke unfolds as a series of interconnected environments where premium architecture, interiors, art, scent, and sound converse seamlessly across marble stone, brushed chrome, and terrazzo-style surfaces.
Collectible design pieces, curated by David Alhadeff's trailblazing multi-address gallery The Future Perfect and imbued with a 1970s sensibility, adorn the different areas. A selection of over 30 abstract artworks from rising and established artists was commissioned for the destination by Matt Williams.
There is a scentscaping journey powered by Perfumer H, while the Danish sound disruptors at Bang & Olufsen are behind the audio-visual experience. The cherry on top? A lush, aperitivo-ready terrace decked up in terracotta-tinted archival furnishings created by Gio Ponti and Charlotte Perriand, supplied by Italian house Cassina.
Toward a Multidisciplinary, Multi-Sensory Retail Model
The color palette is cool, but never too overstated, throughout. Hosting anything from personal shopping experiences to curated exhibitions, pop-up music events, and bespoke food activations, 40 Duke delivers a 360-degree immersion in culture's finest.
Selfridges' greatest venture in a decade, 40 Duke is emblematic of an era where leisure's different facets — from travel and gastronomy to the arts — are becoming increasingly intertwined, as we recounted in our 'resort-core' deep dive.
Contrary to Selfridges itself, 40 Duke isn't simply a shopping platform, but expands its scope into cultural programming, too, promising to host anything from design exhibitions to music events (facilitated by Paris-based DJ PAM of Office PSR) and brand and food activations.
Inside, the feel is that of a "collector's home", with meticulously researched artworks, objects, and accessories and flawless detailing implemented throughout.
For the group, "40 Duke reflects a wider cultural shift beyond transactional retail, toward experience-led engagement": besides 24 Studios and Suites dedicated to showcasing the best in fashion, fine jewelry, watches, beauty, and lifestyle, led by a multilingual team of private client managers and specialist experts, the address also boasts a spacious Club Lounge and a Club Room with a 14-cover private dining area.
That's right: 40 Duke isn't simply competing with London's top shops. Instead, as the home to food design agency Cellar Society's first-ever permanent outpost, it is also contending for a spot in our curations of the best London restaurants and bars.
A Temple to the World's Design Icons — Of Yesterday and Tomorrow
Beautifully juxtaposed into an interior scheme oozing vintage glamour are timeless designs like SAMMODE's G30 floor lamp, designed for the house in the 1950s by Pierre Guariche, a 13-foot dining table by Dutch designer Floris Wubben — described by The Future Perfect's Alhadeff as the destination's anchor piece — Knoll's Pollock Armchairs, recently spotted in the set of The Drama, and further accents by Michael Anastassiades, Piet Hein Eek, Bocci, Axel Chay, Tecta, Finn Juhl, De Sede, Tacchini, and Arflex, among others.
Movement is introduced into a highly geometrical maze of bright, neutral-tinted rooms in the form of lighting, thanks to bespoke kinetic installations by Belgian practice Studio Élémentaires. Earthy custom rugs and fabrics are provided by Christopher Farr and Pierre Frey, while tableware and other functional objects are served up by world-renowned tastemakers Georg Jensen, Waterford, Wedgwood, Iittala, Serax, and Alessi.
Accessible exclusively through affiliation to Selfridges' Unlocked membership programme — a scheme that rewards visitors for their purchases by granting them 'keys' spendable in the form of bespoke Selfridges experiences — 40 Duke bids on people's loyalty to the group to herald a new shopping chapter, with the most devoted customers (Very Very Selfridges Person, or VVSP) earning full access to its spaces and services.
In a world riddled with uncertainty, belonging has never felt more appealing. As a result, private members' clubs, whether traditional or next-gen, keep growing. Check back in a few months, but we bet 40 Duke won't go unnoticed.
