On July 24, lingerie titan Victoria Secret celebrated the opening of its first ever London store at the Westfield Stratford shopping center next to Olympic Park. And now a second store set to open in posh fashion hub Bond Street. However, not all Britons are too excited about this titillating bit of news.
Fenwick, a posh department store located directly across the way from the new VS store, is supposedly worried about the "potentially provocative window displays and the kind of shoppers it will attract" to the area. Business Insider reports:
According to reports last week, the new three-floor Victoria’s Secret store – which is due to open with great fanfare (and many of its scantily clad models in attendance) later this month – has prompted claims that it is lowering the tone of the area. Although Fenwick, the 121-year-old department store that will be directly opposite Victoria’s Secret, denied initial reports that it was concerned about “the kind of shoppers it will attract”, the Bond Street Association said it could “understand that some might feel they want to object”.
The reaction isn't exactly that surprising, since this isn't the first time one of Victoria's Secret stores has ignited controversy. Back 2005, stores in Wisconsin and Virgina were forced to tone down their window displays after passers-by claimed they were too suggestive. And in 2008, and Arizona outpost replaced its posters after complaints about them resembling "soft-core pornography."
