Desert Island Stores: Ian Langlands, CEO of Trotters
In his latest Desert Island Stores interview, Glynn Davis chats with Ian Langlands, chief executive of the Trotters childrenswear brand.
The store you remember from childhood?
Bally of Switzerland, Princes Street, Edinburgh, will always hold a special place in my heart because it’s where my love affair with retail began. And, as it turns out, my love affair with shoes. At 16, I joined Bally on Princes Street in Edinburgh to earn a bit of pocket money. My grand plan at the time was to become a physiotherapist. Retail wasn’t even on the radar. But almost from the moment I stepped onto that shop floor, something clicked.
Subscribe to TRBI loved everything about it. The beautiful shoes, the customers, the characters I worked alongside and that wonderful buzz of a busy shop. Even at that age, I quickly realised there was something rather special about helping someone find exactly what they were looking for, particularly when they hadn’t known they needed it in the first place.
The retail bug bit hard, and there was no turning back. What Bally taught me, without my even realising it, was that retail is fundamentally about people. It’s the relationships, the service, the attention to detail and those little moments that make someone feel special. Get those things right and the sale generally follows.
That Saturday job became the starting point for a career that has taken me from the shop floor to some of the world’s most extraordinary retail destinations. I never did become a physiotherapist, although after nearly four decades on my feet in retail, I sometimes wonder whether I made the right decision!
Bally changed the course of my life, and I’ll always be grateful for it.
Most inspirational store to your career?
Without question, Marks & Spencer. If Bally gave me the retail bug, M&S taught me how to turn it into a career. I joined in 1988, straight from school after completing my Highers, through the Young Management Training Programme. It was an extraordinary place to learn your trade, with incredibly high standards, a real investment in people, and an almost obsessive attention to detail. Anyone who worked there in those days will know exactly what I mean.
It was also a very different retail world. Stores closed on Sundays, Thursday was our one late-night opening, and the traditional high street was king. Online shopping was something nobody had even dreamt of, and a Sunday off was simply a fact of life. Imagine telling today’s retail teams that.
Over the years, I was fortunate to see the business reinvent itself. From traditional high-street stores to out-of-town shopping, the arrival of Simply Food, the growth of online, and a completely different approach to how and where customers wanted to shop.
My own career evolved alongside it. I started in stores, learning retail from the ground up, before moving into Head Office, initially at Baker Street and later at Waterside. That was a real eye-opener. Suddenly, I was seeing all the work that happens behind the scenes, from buying and product development to merchandising and supply chains. It gave me a completely different appreciation of how a great retail business works.
M&S taught me discipline, commerciality, the importance of standards and, above all that the devil really is in the detail. It also taught me that no matter how successful a business becomes, it cannot afford to stand still. I often describe M&S as my retail university. It gave me an education that no classroom ever could, alongside some wonderful friendships and more than a few stories that probably aren’t suitable for publication.
I owe it an enormous amount. The foundations it gave me have stayed with me throughout my career, and I still draw on those lessons today.
Most frequently used store?
My most frequently visited store is Trindles Stores in Kew Gardens, and I absolutely love it. From the outside, it looks like a traditional neighbourhood grocery shop. Step inside, however, and you discover a foodie’s paradise. It’s packed with beautifully curated products, many of which you simply won’t find in your average supermarket. Add some of the best coffee around and a charming little garden centre, and you have my idea of a perfect local shop.
The only problem is that I can pop in for a coffee and emerge half an hour later with a bag full of things I never knew I needed. Which, when you think about it, is rather clever retail. What makes Trindles special is its individuality. It doesn’t try to be everything to everyone. It knows exactly what it stands for, understands its customers, and offers something genuinely different. And it’s this that makes me so passionate about independent retail.
Our high streets need businesses like Trindles. They bring personality, originality and a sense of community that you simply cannot manufacture. They give neighbourhoods their identity and make them somewhere people actually want to spend time.
I’ve always believed that the future of the high street isn’t about every shop looking the same. Quite the opposite. It’s about encouraging wonderful independents that have the confidence to do things their own way. Trindles is a brilliant example of that. If you’re ever in Kew Gardens, do pop in. Just don’t blame me if you leave with considerably more than you intended.
The store you wished you’d created?
This is an easy one. Selfridges. Having had the privilege of working there, I know first-hand just how extraordinary it is. For me, Selfridges has never really been just a department store. It is part retail, part entertainment, part theatre, and part social institution.
Where else can you go shopping, watch a film, visit a skate park, enjoy an extraordinary meal, discover a new designer or simply sit with a coffee and watch the world go by?
And the wonderful thing is that none of this is particularly new. When Harry Gordon Selfridge opened his doors in 1909, he set out to challenge almost everything people thought a shop should be. He wanted shopping to be exciting, entertaining and accessible. A place where people could spend time, be inspired and enjoy themselves, whether they bought anything or not. More than a century later, that philosophy feels more relevant than ever.
What I admire is the confidence to constantly challenge convention. Selfridges has never been afraid to experiment, take risks or occasionally do something completely bonkers. Some ideas work brilliantly, others perhaps less so, but that’s part of the magic. And having worked behind the scenes, I can assure you that making something look that effortless takes an extraordinary amount of hard work.
In a world where we can buy almost anything at the touch of a button, Selfridges reminds us why physical retail matters. It’s somewhere you go because you want to, not simply because you need something.
I wish I’d created it because it proves that a shop can become part of people’s lives, conversations and memories. Harry Gordon Selfridge understood that over 100 years ago. I suspect he’d be rather pleased to see what his creation has become. Although I imagine he’d have a few opinions about it too.
Your overall favourite store?
Choosing an overall favourite store is a bit like asking a parent to choose their favourite child. There are so many extraordinary retailers around the world, but Shibuya Tsutaya in Tokyo really did stop me in my tracks. Situated in one of the busiest and most energetic parts of Tokyo, it captures something that I think many retailers are still trying to work out: how to make a physical store genuinely relevant to the next generation.
What struck me immediately was the atmosphere. It’s not a conventional shop, and it certainly doesn’t feel like one. It’s a wonderful blend of books, music, art, entertainment, technology and popular culture, all brought together in a way that feels exciting, creative and completely natural. It’s somewhere you can happily lose a few hours. And believe me, I did.
What I particularly love is that it doesn’t seem obsessed with pushing a transaction. Instead, it focuses on bringing people together around shared interests, giving them something to explore and making the store part of their social lives. It feels more like a cultural meeting place than a traditional retailer. And that’s a very clever thing to be.
We spend so much time in retail talking about footfall, conversion, average transaction values and all the other commercial measures that keep us awake at night. They’re hugely important, of course, but sometimes we forget the most basic question of all: why would someone want to come into our shop in the first place? Shibuya Tsutaya answers that question brilliantly.
It’s bold, imaginative and completely in tune with its audience. It doesn’t feel like a store desperately trying to attract customers. It feels like somewhere customers actively want to be. For me, that’s the holy grail of retail. I left feeling inspired, full of ideas and, as always when I see something brilliant, wondering how much of it I could get away with bringing back to the UK.
The store you’d like to take to the desert island?
Harrods. Without hesitation. Quite simply, with more than one million square feet to explore, I don’t think I’d ever get bored. In fact, I might still be finding new departments by the time the rescue party arrived.
Having worked at Harrods, I know it is one of the most extraordinary stores in the world. The sheer scale, the history, the craftsmanship, the people and the remarkable assortment of products make it unlike anywhere else. And if you’re going to be stranded on a desert island, you might as well do it in style.
First of all, there’s the Food Halls, so I certainly wouldn’t go hungry. Then there are the restaurants, which would take care of my dining arrangements rather nicely. The fashion departments would ensure I looked suitably dressed for island life, although I’m not entirely sure how practical some of it would be on a beach.
There’s homeware to furnish my accommodation, beauty to keep me looking respectable, and enough books, toys, technology and other distractions to occupy me for years. And, of course, there’s the wonderful Harrods team. Having spent part of my career there, I know it’s the people, as much as the building and the product, who make it truly special. Their knowledge, passion and sometimes extraordinary ability to fulfil the most unusual customer requests are legendary. I suspect they’d even find a way to arrange a decent cocktail at sunset.
What makes Harrods remarkable is its ability to combine that sense of British heritage and tradition with the extraordinary, the unexpected, and occasionally the completely outrageous. There is simply nowhere else quite like it.
So, Harrods would be my desert island choice. I’d be exceptionally well fed, beautifully dressed, thoroughly entertained and unlikely to run out of things to do. The only problem? I might never want to be rescued.
