This week, we're in Hay-on-Wye, in Wales,
where our quarterfinalists have to really sell their designs.
It's Shops Week.
The town is famous for its literary festival and book stores,
so I'm making sure they've got
the most critically acclaimed titles in stock.
Hey! You can't do that.
We only sell high-end literature in here.
Excuse me, this has got a 4.3 rating...
..out of 100.
Out! Out! All right, all right!
Welcome to Interior Design Masters.
What about if I sign a couple?No.
Four designers remain, hoping for the chance to partner
with a major high street retailer,
to launch their own homewares collection.
Last time...That's a big building!
..the designers transformed studio apartments in Leeds.
Floor 20, here I come!
Oh, my God!
Emmely won Standout Space with her sophisticated rental flat.
Your image, it's very like Wednesday.Yeah.
But, actually, you're more like a bank holiday Monday.
Lia got caught in a '70s time warp.
# Chicka-chicka-wow-wow. #
But it was Ajeet who got zoned out.
I've just had the time of my life.
This is crazy, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Quarterfinal.
Yeah, it's just very, very quiet.
There's not long left.
We've got to do our best,
and this is the most exciting thing about our competition, right?
You've got to keep getting better and better, and better.
And then there was four. I know!
I absolutely hate shopping,
so I need to create something that's going to make me want to go in there
and spend my money,
so, yeah, challenge accepted.
Are you an online shopper or a retail shopper?
Neither. Car-boot sale? Oh, yeah, I love a car-boot sale.
I need to do a car-boot sale, actually.
I've got a lot... Same. Let's do it together. Yeah, shall we?
I managed a retail store for four years
so, hopefully, I've got that advantage to bring to it.
But I do think it is a scary one. There's so many things to consider.
I'm excited for this one. I can't believe we're doing it.
How is this happening?
I'm hoping that I can show Michelle that I can take on feedback.
No fourth sofa visit for me.
I want to stay off that sofa for the rest of my life.
True story.
Hello.Hello!
How's this for girl power?
# Zigazig-ah! #
Only one challenge stands between you and the semis.
So, with this one, you've got to make Michelle go, "Ker-ching!"
This till's broken. "Ker-ching!"
Yes, you're heading to Wales to transform some shops.
Nestled in a Welsh valley is Hay-on-Wye,
famous for its book shops and the annual literary festival,
which attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world.
The town is blessed with lots of independent shops,
including a vintage guitar store, Wye Fret.
It's a guitar lover's paradise.
And a gift shop, Oil & Oak,
which sells products created by local artists and makers.
And, as it's Shops Week, we're going to give the owners a Bogof deal.
They're getting two designers for the price of one.
And, Emmely, as you won Standout Space last week,
you get to choose who you'd like to work with first.
Ooh! Er...
Yes.
This one.
Duran.Yes, please.
So, Lia, you're with Sophie.
Michelle, have you got any tips for shops?
Hay-on-Wye is a cultural destination.
People who are lovers of art, music and literature
flock there all year round.
So, those are the people that you need to get into the mindset of,
and then it's just about getting them in,
keeping them in and making them spend.
"Ker-ching!"
I've got myself a catchphrase.Yes!
In my hand, I have two keys.
So, will one member from each team come and take their pick?
Will it be guitar...
HE IMITATES ELECTRIC GUITAR
..or gift?
Yeah, what's the gift?
The other thing. Hurry up.
Please, come and pick.
Gift or guitar, let's find out. Thank you.
Only reveal them once you go back to your seat.
Emmely, is it the guitar shop or the gift shop?
Wye Fret. Guitar shop, of course!
Amazing.
So, that means, Lia, Sophie,
you've got Oil & Oak, the gift shop.
The guest judge this week is meticulous
when it comes to retail detail.
It's shops expert Ross Bailey.
Whoo! Amazing.
Terrifying, though. Yeah.
One shop duo will be awarded Standout Space.
The other pair will face the sofa.
You've got two days and a budget of £4,000.
Good luck, and we'll see you in Wales.
Good luck. Thank you.
Ker-ching!
One of the hardest challenges in Shops Week
is that the shop owners, for them, it is their baby,
it is their everything,
and they often have a very specific list
of things that they think they need.
It's the designer's job to give them creative, wonderful ways
to make it exciting and a bit different.
Oh, my God! The windows are massive.
The designers head straight to Hay-on-Wye, to meet their clients.
Hey! Hey, Chris, how are you? Are you OK? Hiya!
Emmely and Duran are meeting Chris,
owner of the vintage guitar shop.
Welcome to Wye Fret. Thanks for having us.
This is my dream. It's beautiful.
You've got such an amazing collection of guitars.
They've done amazing things, some of these guitars.
For example, we had Sting's bass in here once upon a time. Wow!
I just love that they've seen things and gone places
and, you know, played to crowds bigger than I'll ever play.
But, yeah, amazing.
Some of these things have got, like, awesome history.
These are all my electrics.
They range anywhere from, like, sort of 1,000
up to the most expensive one we have at the minute is 14,000. Wow!
So, at the moment, the walls are white
and you've got all these beautiful coloured guitars.
So, what do you want for the walls?
I don't know, green's always kind of worked to make it pop.
Yeah. And, with the space that we have now,
to be able to do little intimate gigs in here,
I've always wanted to do that.
So, you need a stage.
That'd be amazing, if we could do something like that.
And we've got an old changing room in there
that I'd like to possibly turn into a sound booth. OK.
This is where I do all of my guitar set-ups, little repairs.
It's nice, because I can keep an eye on everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
How come you don't have any guitars in the window?
It's more just because of the sunlight, and for security reasons.
OK. A lot of people always comment
that my window display should be more vibrant.
Needs to stand out. Yeah, definitely.
So, no pressure, then. I was going to say, there's no pressure.
It's so nice to just see how passionate
he is about what he does.
We have really listened to what he needs the space to do
so, hopefully, he'll be really happy with what we've done.
It is very important that we showcase his collection of guitars
and also make his customers want to come in and play them
and, hopefully, buy them,
and I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else apart from Duran.
Don't make me cry.
Lia and Sophie's client is Abi...
Hi! Nice to meet you.
..artist, and owner of gift shop Oil & Oak.
So, we've got, like, 40 different local makers in here,
so that's why it's quite eclectic and it looks quite mad,
but that's kind of the whole point.
Everything's kind of mismatched,
so I'd really love some uniformity.
What's your kind of best-selling items, I guess?
So, best-selling items would be Lesley's wool.
Do you have a fitting room?
We've got our toilet.
OK. There's a mirror upstairs on our toilet door,
and they can go in and change in there, which is not ideal.
OK. So, a fitting room would be helpful, then.
A fitting room would be helpful, yeah.
OK, yeah. And also, we sell lots of cards.
They sell really, really well.
All our card spinners are second-hand,
so they all squeak, which is great!
They've all got paint peeling off and stuff like that.
Yeah, so anything that would, yeah,
up the appearance of those would be great.
I can't wait. Shall we get going? I can't wait to get started. Yeah.
There are literally hundreds and hundreds of products in the store,
but then it's really exciting because you can
really play around with creative ways
to display the merchandise that she has,
so hopefully we can improve that for her.
It is a bit overwhelming. You kind of walk in,
your eye doesn't know where to go,
so giving her that sort of separation
and making it easy to shop, I think, is key.
How beautiful is it here? It's gorgeous, isn't it?
It's so clean!
After a week of planning,
the designers are back and raring to go.
Here we are. Ready to go, partner? Yes.
They have got just two days...
This one's so beautiful. I'm just going to run away with it.
..to transform their spaces into somewhere fabulous and functional.
Look at this lovely town, full of books.
Luckily, help is on hand.
Good, good.
Each team has two carpenters and two decorators.
How are you, guys?
Still can't believe we're in quarterfinal. I know!
We can't believe you're in the quarterfinal.
Oi! Joking, I'm joking.
So, before, the shop was really cluttered.
There was a lot of stuff. I didn't really know where to go.
So, our aim is to turn it into a more curated,
shoppable space, with some really breathtaking standout moments,
and focus on the customer journey.
The back walls here,
we're going to build out some card and print displays,
and then we've got some bespoke builds in the middle,
some really gorgeous long tables with some real wood.
We've got some stripy wallpaper
that's going to go all the way up the stairs and onto the landing,
and there's going to be a bespoke ceramics display over there as well.
We actually have, like, hundreds
of products to bring back up, which is quite stressful,
so we really need most of the painting and builds done in one day,
because it needs to be dry
for us to then merch the entire shop on the last day.
It's a lot for one day.
I know. Just give us a whoop, whoop!
Whoop, whoop!
Whoop.
To showcase the huge selection of stock,
both Sophie and Lia have designed extensive merchandising displays,
wall-mounted and free-standing,
cocooned in a nature-inspired colour palette of terracotta,
pale pistachio and cream.
For the right-hand side,
Sophie's chosen statement wallpaper to display artwork
and lead customers upstairs to a luxurious new fitting room.
Lia's left-hand side includes a spacious, upgraded till area,
which will feature the shop's new branding,
and, for the enormous windows,
raw-wood plinths and displays
that bring the outside in.
This is the tree that's going to go in the window,
which has just been made out
of postal cardboard tubes
and lots of craft paper.
I'm going to use it to display products from,
and then add a little nod to Hay-on-Wye
by making the leaves out of books.
My inspiration was the beautiful area that we're in
and what that kind of looked like,
and how I could incorporate that into the store,
and shop windows are so, so important
to get customers into the shop.
Phil, can I borrow you there? Yeah.
Could you just hold that, like that? That's great.
Thank you. This isn't really my skill set, but...
No? Balancing trees, no.
Building a tree in the quarterfinal -
probably up there with being quite risky.
But, if I can pull it off...
..I think it's going to look really good.
Lovely.
Careful of the nails hanging up.
Yeah, I've seen them.
Down the street,
Emmely also has big plans,
for a window that speaks volumes.
I just thought a guitar shop needs
to kind of have a guitar in the window. Yeah.
And then I'm going to band it with LED lighting,
just to give it that kind of Nashville guitar shop aesthetic.
Visual merchandise is super-important for the customer,
so we wanted to have something that had a high impact
that made you think, "Wow, that's amazing!
"What's that? Let's go inside."
It looks good, if I don't say so myself.
Once I've got the wires on there and things,
I think it'll be very eye-catching. Yeah.
HE VOCALISES GUITAR RIFF
Emmely's illuminated papier mache masterpiece
will create an attention-grabbing window display.
Atmospheric dark-green walls with a black ceiling and accents
will give the space a recording studio feel,
along with a relaxed lounge area in the centre.
On the left side,
Emmely is displaying electric guitars on the walls
and on custom-made plinths,
and the current changing room will be repurposed into a sound booth.
On the right, Duran's removing a stud wall
to open up a refurbished till and repair zone.
And along the right side will be acoustic guitars
and a show-stopping structure, with a show-starting aim.
So, one of the things that the client really wanted
was to have gigs here once a month,
so creating a stage that doubles up
as something for performance nights,
and also to house some of the acoustic guitars,
because this side of the wall is mainly acoustics. Yeah.
I'm very excited cos I think the stage
will really transform the feel of the shop.
We want this to be a destination location,
and we want to make it special,
and more reasons to come down to the store.
Yeah, a lot to achieve with one build,
but I think it's manageable
and I think it'll be very impactful as well.
OK, this is the bit I want to see. It is? Yeah.
Oh, that's so satisfying!
Oh, it looks so good.
I've never made a stage before.
As a dancer, I'm always on a stage,
so it's kind of nice to make my own one.
Down the street...
So, what's the plan with this unit?
..Sophie's also created a space for the gift shop ceramics to show off.
There's going to be cabinetry in the bottom, for storage,
then the top is literally going to be a display for the plates,
the bowls, the mugs, the plant pots.
I want it to look quite sleek and modern, rather than
a traditional Welsh dresser, which are quite chunky.
Abi, the shop owner, has quite a lot of ceramics,
and that will really help to sort of spotlight
the things that she's selling.
I'm thrilled to be here in Hay-on-Wye
and, as it's famous for literature,
I told the wardrobe department to make me look really bookworm-ish.
I think they've taken it a tad too far.
Right, well, I'm off to meet the designers.
And that sparrow's up there, licking its lips.
This is so humiliating.
Hi, Emmely.Hi, Alan.
How are you? Good.
Now, remind me, are you doing the gift shop or the guitar shop?
I mean, there'd be problems if I was doing the gift shop.
I was going to say, something's gone very wrong.
How big is this guitar? Three metres.
Do you know what you need?
A massive G-string.
Hey, I can have a look through my washing basket.
So, listen, the guitars in your guitar shop,
they're expensive, aren't they? They're super-expensive,
and the client doesn't want them in the window.
You need to put something in the window to get them in!
You do, so this is where this came from.
A massive guitar. Wow!
And then, what are these?Oh, that one's just glued down, but...
Oh, sorry!
They look familiar.
Where have I seen these before?
Maybe on your radiator. Oh!
Is this what you turn when you want to go hot and cold?
Yeah, but we're turning it to do the volume
and then the reverb and stuff.
So, do you want to glue one down?
Yes, please.Which one?
Well, any knob will do.
Just careful, cos it's super-hot.
OK. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. Wow!
Is that enough?Yeah, yeah, right.
Get it in there. OK, lovely.
And is there two windows?
The other window's Duran's,
and she's doing an amp stack,
and we're doing yellow wires to connect from my guitar,
so it goes over, so it looks like they're talking to one another.
With Michelle, it's all about the client.
Have you done everything the client wants?
We're trying our best to, like, tick that box.
Oh, that's great.Thank you.
I'll just pluck off now
and leave you to it.
In the guitar shop,
Emmely has taken "go big or go home" literally.
But, with no expensive stock allowed in the front of the shop,
she's resorted to putting a slightly surreal giant papier mache guitar
in the window instead.
Will it attract potential rockers,
or will she just look off her rocker?
Over in Oil & Oak,
Lia's also been down the DIY shop for her window display.
So, the branches of the tree are made with these...
Pipe tubing, which is actually, I think, plumbing tubing,
and then you cut down a little hole in the noodles, and slide these in,
and they'll be sticking out from the tree,
and then we'll hang all the book leaves.
It feels quite artsy for me,
but hopefully I can pull it off,
and it doesn't look like something that kindergarten kids made.
In Wye Fret...
Have you ever seen anyone just take so many risks with paint?
..it's the always artsy Duran.
I always freehand.
It gives more of that organic feel because you're not forcing it.
You're just kind of trusting your intuition, which is what I love.
Creating movement that takes the eye around the room,
encourages you to walk through the space -
that's what I'm intending on doing with that mural on the stage floor.
It's going to look good.
It's halfway through the first day.
Oh, it's like it grew there, mate.
Sophie's bespoke ceramics display is bursting into life.
Yay! That looks wicked.
Yes!
Duran's shop has got its name up in lights.
Yeah. So good! Looks good, right?
It's just made that whole wall pop now. Yeah. It looks beautiful.
Lia's creation is branching out.
The tree is growing at a rapid rate.
Once we've got all of the tree covered,
I'm gonna make the leaves out of book pages,
which will just be a really nice nod to Hay-on-Wye.
And, in the guitar shop...
Three, two, one...
..the demolition squad are in.
Well, Duran and Emmely.
Don't think me and Emmely's calling is taking down walls, to be honest.
Ugh!
Oh!
You all right?
LAUGHING
Yeah, I'm fine!
I'm so happy that's come down. It looks amazing.
It's so nice to have the flow
that runs continuously around the whole store,
and the till/repairs counter is so much more open now.
Lia's till area is also getting a face-lift.
My plan is to clad the current till in ply, to give it a soft finish.
At the moment it's got wooden slats,
which are not going to work
with what I want to add to it.
So, now we've got the front panel on. Yes.
I'm now going to draw the curve, and then add the logo
and then the strip lighting will go behind,
so it'll be backlit as well. Nice.
So, what I need to do is draw you a lovely curve,
so you can cut it. Yes, you do.
The till area is really important in a shop.
It's probably where you're going to meet the shop owner as well
and have interactions with the customers.
And I really hope Abi likes it.
Something like that, not super-fussy.
Curved lines are a feature in both teams' designs,
and Duran's at it again with the paintbrush.
We've got loads of black accents,
so I think bringing it in in these subtle ways
just helps to bring the whole space together as a whole.
Doran!Hello! Hello.
Can I sit down?No.
Great. Bye!
You might get it on your trousers! Is it all...?
Well, some of it's dry over there. Well, I think it's safer down here.
Oh, my God, it's really coming together.
I love it. I think it's really moody and sexy.
Yeah, it is sexy!It is, yeah. Do you find guitars sexy?
I mean, kind of. They've got all the curves.
Curves in all the right places. Exactly, a bit like my stage.
Oh, my God! Is there going to be a stage?
What's the shape remind you of? A lady?
No, a guitar.A guitar, yeah.
So, if you don't go home this week... Mm-hm.
..you're through to the semifinal.
I don't even know how to process that.
Yeah, it would just mean everything.
I'm probably going to end up on the sofa again, aren't I?
Oh, please! As if!
Can I go on the stage?
Yeah. What are you going to do up there?
Do you remember some shway?
Let's do some shway in Hay!
Right. No, no, that's not shway. Do this one.
It's called atomic drop.
Tilt forwards and then drop back.
There we go. Forwards!
Oh, my God! Don't hurt yourself. Right...
Well done. Don't...
I had a taco at lunch and I've just heard it go down.
It's gone down to the basement, if you know what I'm saying.Oh, no!
With the first day nearing its end...
Oh, it looks so nice!
..both shop fronts are taking shape, which is a good sign.
CHEERING
Ah! They love it, Duran, they love it!
But inside...This looks wicked. Oh, my God, I love it!
..there's been a slight miscalculation.
But that's nearly three rolls already.
You're joking.
And then we've got probably at least four there.
I'll see if we can ring the company and get them to send something out.
And Sophie isn't the only designer caught short.
Stephen, I love it. It looks great.
I don't think we've got enough of it, though. Got that left.
This is the issue that I always have,
because I don't want to buy too much paint and waste it all.
And sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
The way it's covered, it might need a third.
We just have to get some more mixed up.
It's the end of day one.
Feeling good. Really happy with the colours, the papers,
everything we've chosen.
Slightly concerned about the time.
Well done. Well done. Let's go.
We were hoping to get
all the carpentry and painting done today.
Obviously, that's never, ever going to happen.
There is just so much to do. So, yeah,
got to be really, really on it tomorrow.
It's been a good day. It's been a really good day.
The transformation already is nuts, isn't it?
We've pretty much done a bit more than we expected to do,
which is amazing.
We're not playing around now.
This is for a spot in the semifinal.
We're working as hard as we possibly can.
Tomorrow is just getting all of those big things completed,
so we've got loads of time to focus on the details.
Morning! Morning! Morning, morning. Morning!
The designers have just 12 hours to complete their transformations.
Morning. Morning. Morning.
Everyone sleep well? Yeah, not so bad.
We've got two thumbs up from Peter this morning.
Wait, can I get that second whoop?
Whoop, whoop. Yeah!
And in Wye Fret, with the client's vision of a stage complete...
Agh! ..Emmely is on to the next request.
These are my acoustic panels for the sound booth.
It is these little touches that elevate the space.
A lot of my research, this week, was spent looking at acoustic treatments
and how to make you hear the instruments, their best qualities,
so I'm going to put a couple of sound panels in that changing room.
I guess I've shown my artistry
in a way that's functional and suited to the space.
At the gift shop, there's a bit more repurposing going on.
The landing is currently used as a gallery space, which I love,
but I'm going to put in a very, very simple fitting room,
and I have a super-cool idea for a custom chandelier.
So, it's going to be a chandelier. Ah!
It currently looks like the work of a madman.
But hopefully, when it's in situ, and it's lit,
it's going to look really cool.
It'll look amazing!
I hope so. Have you done any retail work?
So, I used to run my own pop-up shops.
Oh, wow. This is... This is right up your street.
It is, but it is different because,
um, I didn't really do gifts.
You wanted the guitar shop. I did want the guitar shop.
You're rock and roll!
HE MIMICS ELECTRIC GUITAR
HE GURGLES
That's what you want. You don't want to be...
You don't want to be with fridge magnets and mugs.
No. Do you know what?
As soon as I actually started working on this,
I was really glad because this is really challenging.
There's a lot of stuff,
but I've really enjoyed it.
With Michelle, she says as well,
sometimes it's giving the client what they don't know they need.
We have managed to give her things that she didn't specifically ask
for, the dressing room as well, that I'm adding. At the minute,
customers get changed in the toilet.
No!
And what have you got in the toilet/changing room?
Is that a bog brush hanging from a chandelier?
Yeah. Good luck, love. See you in a bit.Thank you.
Bye.
Inside, the client isn't the only one getting something unexpected.
SHE LAUGHS
Trying not to have any swear words on the front.
I may have selected
Fifty Shades Of Grey for the pages,
which was a genuine accident.
Um... SHE LAUGHS
Hello?
Hello! I've taken some inspiration from you this week.
Paper. Paper. Not the mache, but I've papered.
It's really nice. Are you going to put stuff on there?
So I'm going to put cards and prints on it... That's a good shout.
..hanging. Nothing too heavy.
But I wanted to kind of give it
a bit more texture by making the leaves out of book pages.
Got you.
And it used to be a book shop,
so it's quite a nice little nod to its history.
What is this book that you've used? Well...
We've gone for a slightly erotic novel for the leaves.
This is something my mum would read.
THEY LAUGH
Where did you get the raunchy book from? Charity shop.
I just went in and I picked the thickest books,
Emmely. I wasn't looking... It's not for my collection.
Promise. EMMELY LAUGHS
# Sex bomb, sex bomb, you're my sex bomb
# You can give it to me when I need to come along... #
Beautiful.
HE MIMICS PLUCKED STRING
Great. Love it.
Let's push on, partner. Yeah. We got this?
We've got this. Yeah. Sick.
Olly?! I've got something for you.
Whay!
SHE LAUGHS Just what I needed.
So Olly's got his paint now, and he's getting the third coat on.
Hopefully it's going to dry quickly,
but you just never know with these things, do you?
It's pushing us back.
But I'm not going to fret about it right now.
And with Sophie's wallpaper crisis also averted...
Upstairs is looking good.
I just need to put my curtains up.
..she can focus on her favourite pastime.
This is absolutely not my happy place.
Give me a paintbrush. SHE LAUGHS
Making curtains for my fitting room.
Literally just going to be a curtain pole with some beautiful
curtains hanging and put a mirror in there.
I think it'll help increase sales
as well because people are going to feel more special.
Hello, Soph. Hey. How's it going? Good.
Oh, this fabric's gorgeous.
Yeah, it's nice, isn't it?
We've got one finished curtain. Ooh!
Sophie the seamstress.
I mean, it's not perfect, but it's not terrible either.
It'll be fine. It looks great.
No-one in that changing room
is going to be assessing the stitching.
How are you getting on? Good. The tree is pretty much done.
Yeah! I'm just hanging on the leaves. Amazing.
But it's taken me a bit longer
because there's some pages that are too raunchy to use.
THEY LAUGH
Who knows? Some people might love it.
While Sophie is preparing to hang curtains...
So, yeah, we basically want three of them like that.
..Emmely has ambitious hanging plans of her own.
I'm going to have a feature guitar wall with
display plaques
that explain the history and the price point of the guitars.
The client wanted a guitar of the week,
but instead I wanted three guitars.
I just wanted the eye to break up
a little bit rather than just a long wall of electric guitars.
Three, two, one... Ooh!
It's nice.
Back in the gift shop... This is your card display.
Because we're going to sit this on the skirting
now, I'm going to put a shelf right at the bottom.
Oh, nice. So we get an extra one. And then you'll have a gap at
the top, or wherever you want to do it, above it.
Signage coming. Signage. Yeah.
Just in case people didn't know what they were.
THEY LAUGH
..a new and improved merch display
for one of the store's biggest sellers.
So the issue with the cards at the moment is they're on these,
like, spinny, old-school, card, kind of spherical things?
I don't know what you call them.
But they're squeaky, they're old, they're clunky.
But I really want people to see all of the line-up in one view.
So we're going to custom-build panels on the wall,
which will allow all of the cards and prints to be displayed.
Right. That's good.
I haven't had to do this for a very long time,
when I used to work in retail.
It's quite therapeutic,
but it's also giving me PTSD
because I don't want to go back there.
SHE LAUGHS
Duran is also righting some merchandising wrongs.
Previously, all of these accessories,
guitar strings were just in a glass cabinet,
so they weren't really accessible.
You couldn't really see what they were.
And that was something that the client said that,
you know, really wanted us to find a solution for.
So I think making the use of this slat wall and
just having the colours of these really beautiful
packaging kind of pop out against the green,
I think it looks really good.
I used to work as a visual merchandiser.
I just really loved how by arranging the products
in a certain way and just taking
a bit of extra care with just placement,
how much it transforms the customer journey.
It's nice to celebrate your stock and your product.
So I love it.
Hello, ladies.Hello. Hey, Alan.
What's this lovely curve here?
So we've added in, like, a curved
feature to the tail, just for a bit more kind of texture.
And also there's LED lighting behind it.
And I'm just about to add on the logo that we've created.
Do you want to give us a hand? Yeah, yeah.
Oh, my God, I'd love to do this.
Well, why don't I place it?
And then you can... You can rub it.
OK.
THEY LAUGH
Haven't had an offer like that in a long time.
THEY LAUGH
So start from the middle. This is OK. This is going to come off.
OK.
And then we're just going to push out all the air bubbles.
Look at this.
Me and Soph created this for Abi,
and we've done her new signage as well.
So this is all a surprise to her.
Oh.Which I hope she really likes.
How's this rubbing? All right?Yep, that looks good.
So we can maybe check if it's...
Yeah. Moment of truth.
Me heart's in my mouth.
You see, you've got so much patience.
I'd just yank that off. SHE LAUGHS
That's why I gave you the rubbing task. Yeah, yeah.
THEY LAUGH
Perfect. That... Sophie... Let's have a look.
..look at this!
Yay! Well done. We both did this.
Are we ready?Yeah.
I declare Oil & Oak...
..open!
THEY CHEER
THEY LAUGH
There was a delay there. There was a delay.
Oh, that's lovely. Oh. Right. Come on.
I want to see gifts on the shelves. See you in a bit.
It's halfway through day two. I think it looks wicked,
this counter. It looks professional,
which is what we want. Does that look good?
I think so.
When are we getting doors on this? I haven't got doors.
I haven't got doors cut for that yet.
OK.
So we do need doors. We need doors on that?
Oh! Why did we think we could do this in two days?
This is crazy.
That needs doors. OK. 100%. Yeah. I think we've been massively
ambitious. At the moment, obviously, we've got no stock out,
which is concerning, considering we have half a day left.
So, yeah, nervous.
We are really pushing time here, but...
..wouldn't be a challenge if you weren't pushing on time,
would it? With online shopping so dominant,
creating a memorable experience on the high street is key.
Just making the centrepiece for when you walk in the store.
We wanted, like,
almost a show-stopping moment so that people would kind
of walk in and be like, "Wow, this shop's amazing.
"I must stay and explore all of it."
And you have to really think these days,
"Is it good for social media?"
So we thought by giving her these displays,
will allow her to take lots of pictures and use them on socials.
So I'm really hoping we can kind of bring
that side to the shop
that maybe Abi doesn't have experience in.
Meanwhile...
Now, this is taking the mick.
This don't make no sense.
..Duran and Emmely also have big plans
to enhance the customer's experience.
No. We've got two additional chairs that we found online
that were second-hand,
that we're adding as an addition to the Chesterfield,
to sort of complement it
and to give two separate seats for the clients,
customers to, like, try out guitars, hang out,
chat, like, prices,
and just somewhere that feels a bit more welcoming
when you walk in the shop. We want to make it a
real focal point for the store, because when you walk in,
that is one of the main things that you see.
So I think it's quite an important
and integral part of the shop design.
Wait, why is there, like, not matching holes?
I told you, it's really confusing. Sort of go
the opposite way that you would originally do it.
And that's how you build it. Oh, great.
That's really helpful. So go against your intuition.
There's not even a picture on it!
Are you winding me up?!
Of all the things that I can do,
I can't put together a chair, apparently.
Steve. Can you give me a hand, please? OK. Come on, then.
What have you got?
Just hung my curtains.
Yes!
Sophie's adding the finishing
touches to a new and improved landing.
They look really nice,
especially against...the wallpaper.
SHE LAUGHS
Is that right? Doesn't make any sense.
Back in flat-pack land... Did you go against your intuition?
You called Steve. I went against every intuition
and still didn't figure it out.
And my intuition also didn't help. So now we're just...
Chancing it.
THEY LAUGH
Basically. You've got a couple of short ones. Yeah.
That took me, like, five minutes to do.
Oh, yeah. All right, Emmely.
EMMELY LAUGHS
My hero.
With just three hours to go... Guitar is strung.
Let's get it in the window.
..it's the moment we've all been waiting for.
That's it. There you go. The windows get the wow factor.
It's gorgeous. It looks sophisticated.
It's paper mache, but it doesn't look like craft.
I think it's, like, just fits the vibe of the shop perfectly.
Stop, stop, stop.
That looks pretty good.
It's a pretty good tree.
I am so happy with it.
Lia!Hey, Alan.
You got little, uh,
little leaves here.
Whoa, whoa, wait a minute.
She's a bit raunchy, the old pages.
Have you cut up Amanda Holden's biography?
LIA LAUGHS
Last week, it's pampas grass, and now it's this!
Why don't you just stick a red bulb in there and a pole?
Woo!Fan you down.
HE LAUGHS
The clock is ticking. Should we get the guitars up?
And all those gifts
and guitars are not going to jump on the shelves themselves.
Huh! We need to be at the time for merchandising.
Don't feel like we are, but we just need to.
So it's just chaos. We're just starting
to bring stuff out now because it needs to happen.
Could you get me a guitar, please?
Just bring what you have that isn't massive and heavy.
While the shops race towards the finish line...
There's a lot to do
and it is important, but this is not my forte.
..both teams are tight on time to merchandise.
This is, like, not my world at all.
Come on, darling. Let's go. What do you want me to do?
Talk to me. "Phil, put that there. Put that there."
I honestly... I can't even direct you because I just don't know.
Have a breather. Go and have a minute.
Right. I'm going back in.
Got a mannequin. Where do you want the mannequin?
Does she have legs? Oh, no.
She's got no legs!
I found her in the pub like this.Fantastic.
There you go. Right. OK. You haven't got long now.
Yeah. That's perfect.
Ah!
"Ou est le poulet"?
Or "bon voyage"?
I would like to "bon voyage" right now.
Would you like a super slinky...? Oh, yes, please.
Coming up, babes. There you go. Treat yourself.
Do you mind putting them all back? Thanks.
Yeah. You used to be fun.
SHE LAUGHS
We've made a big decision to take the flowers down.
We've created loads of beautiful moments in the shop,
and we think this was just one too much that's actually not needed.
And the branch itself is the statement.
Cheers!
Well done, guys.
THEY CHEER
Don't smash the merchandise!
Thank you.
It does look like a guitar shop.
I know. Funny that.
THEY LAUGH
First time for you in Hay-on-Wye. Is that right?
First time. And I love it. It's incredible.
It is just a cornucopia of independent shops.
More book shops than anything else,
but a lot of competition for our designers.
Entrepreneur Ross Bailey is a trailblazer
in the retail space industry.
His clients range from global brands
to niche pop-up stores, making him
the perfect judge to join Michelle for Shops Week.
When we're looking at a store,
I think there's three key things that we're looking for.
One is, does the store tell a great story?
The second thing is when you walk in there, is there an atmosphere?
Is there a feeling?
And the final thing is functionality.
Like, does this thing actually work for the people day to day?
If it looks beautiful on the outside,
but it doesn't actually work as a store,
then the store won't be successful. Really, the point of having
a designer create a shop for you is to give the shop an identity.
So it's not just a whole load of stuff inside there,
but they've actually thought about
the way to display it and the customer journey.
First to be reviewed is Oil & Oak,
the artsy gift shop.
That was, like, absolute carnage,
but I think I've done us really proud.
I'm really happy with the shop.
Obviously, this week, it's a 50% chance to be on the sofa,
but I look at the space and there's nothing I would change.
So, to me, that's a standout space.
I genuinely think that we...
..we couldn't have done any more.
I'm mega, mega proud.
It's the quarterfinal. This was a big brief.
But we did it.
Here we go. Oh, I love that tree.
I like how big it is.
I like how they've brought the pages and the link to Hay and the books.
There's elements of it, though,
like the way that the plants are put in,
some of the little details, that feels a little Art Attack.
Do you mean that in a bad way? Yeah. OK.
Let's go and look inside.
Oh. I like the fact that they've brought the wood
that I glimpsed in the window into the shop.
So we've got real chunks of wood and a real branch in front of me.
I like that.
And I think you can tell that the two
people designing this store have worked in shops,
because just the way that it's laid out,
the storage, the levels, there's a lot of clutter, right?
And they've somehow managed to make it feel quite organised.
It all feels quite logical.
Whereas some shops like this can be just...
You feel like you're in a bring-and-buy.
It can feel overwhelming, a bit too much like an Aladdin's cave.
And I think what Lia has done here,
getting rid of that sort of plastic stuff
and actually building something bespoke,
it suddenly feels like a work of art, in a way.
Yes, because it's made it part of the architecture.
And I really like what Lia has done with the till.
I mean, just a little bit of light like that,
it just illuminates it. I love this.
So this side of the shop was more Sophie's domain.
Her signature style is kind of specialist prints,
particularly animal print.
And I really like that at this stage of the competition,
she's not felt compelled to suddenly
"Sophie-fy" the whole space. Instead, she's echoing
what they've clearly decided as a pair that's going
to be their language with the raw wood,
which goes with the name of the shop.
But then I love that Sophie's not been afraid
to just suddenly do something different.
So you've got this sort of mad, stripey wallpaper
that's really unexpected,
but works perfectly here because you want to...
You know that I'm allowed to go up the stairs.
And it just looks really enticing with all the pictures on it as well.
So shall we? Should we check it out?
It's such a simple idea to make a gallery wall,
but it's so effective.
When you look at the colour and the "extra-ness" of that wallpaper,
they've really made this non-space into something interesting.
Yes, and Sophie's also snuck in, for the owner,
a little changing room. I think it's cute.
It's private. They've made it special.
Look. Oh, look!
That's cute. That's a nice little touch.
Yes, that's really clever.
Considering the store and the type of store it is, to make
it work in this way, it feels like they've thought
about how a store functions. And yet at the same
time, it feels very authentic and still independent.
Next up, the vintage guitar shop, Wye Fret.
I think we've created a really successful shop in there.
It's an experience.
The product sings against all of those beautiful backdrops
that we've got in there.
I think it's a really happy place to work,
but also to actually go in as a customer.
It's got impact.
It's really been thoughtfully curated.
It ticks all the boxes in terms of visual merchandising,
and I'm super happy with what Duran,
and me have managed to achieve.
ROSS:This looks incredible.
The store just really stands out, right?
This is an amazing front cover.
This side of the shop is Emmely's,
while this side is Duran's.
I mean, Emmely loves to do paper mache.
I mean, it's incredible. Yeah.
The massive guitar is definitely a piece of her work.
I mean, you couldn't walk past it without stopping.
It feels so unique. Well, let's go and see what's inside.
Gosh. OK. Guitars it is, then.
I know that Emmely and Duran were given quite specific
instructions from the owner of the guitar shop.
Like, he dictated the colour of the walls.
He asked them to raise guitars.
He was asking for the ways to display it,
and so they've delivered on that.
But the job of the designer is always to give me a bit more,
to give me what I didn't know I was expecting.
Where is the unexpected bit?
I think the point around the front window being quite special.
It feels like all the effort has gone into that.
And actually, when I look at the stage,
this is fine, but I think there
could have been more, right? This could have been a real feature.
I get the beginnings of it here
with this sort of sofa, speakeasy rug thing.
That is starting to tell me something
a little bit different, that I could hang out here.
I sort of love the idea that it feels like a club, right?
So, you know, the gift shop to me is about getting in,
walking around, browsing, buying a product, leaving.
You nail the guitar shop?
I want to be hanging out here for hours with like-minded people.
This is my community. Yeah.
I would have liked to see maybe a lean into that a little bit more.
Yeah. Making the featured guitar thing with the light around it,
that's really good. That's really clever.
Because when I get close to that and think,
"Oh, why are these featured?",
this one's £15,000. You're like, "Oh, OK."
So that must be different.
But what is it that creates the hierarchy
or creates something that makes you realise,
"Oh, THAT guitar is very different to that one"?
You know, Emmely's started to do that with the feature guitar board,
but could we have taken that a little bit further?
It's as if they've just gone, "OK, here's all the guitars."
Bricks-and-mortar retail is about storytelling.
And, um, I'm not quite sure what the story is here.
I mean, one thing they absolutely have done here is,
Duran and Emmely have worked hard to reconfigure this area,
which was all a bit crowded and not working with big storage units.
And I think the sofa was even over here.
So, you know, all the little
accessories have now been well displayed.
They have made the point around the repairs bit,
made the point around the sound booth. I'm interested to see
what they've actually done in the sound booth. Yeah. Let's go look.
So, I think this used to be a changing room.
So Emmely's converted it so people can, like, have a try-out.
I think you can tell she's an artist
because she's taken the sound-absorbing panels
and framed them. They do look beautiful.
I like the way that she's put the lights around them.
I think that when we look at it overall,
you look at the window and go,
"This feels like you've had professional visual
"merchandisers do the window."
And then when you walk into the store,
it feels like lots of great ideas,
but it feels like a missed opportunity, considering your point,
how amazing some of these guitars are.
And then they're just on the wall
next to a guitar that's more typical.
While Michelle and Ross come to a decision...
Oh, my gosh.
..it's time for owners Abi and Chris...
Wow. Oh, my God.
..to check out their new-look shops.
SHE EXCLAIMS
Guys, it looks amazing! Aw!
Oh, my goodness.
How have you done that in this time?
SOPHIE AND LIA LAUGH
I don't know, actually. No, we don't know.
I can't get the words out.
Oh! Don't. I'm going to get emotional.
Oh, God. This is awesome. Go check out your till area.
Yeah. Oh, my goodness! Oh, look at this!
That's so cool.
Oh, my God. It's, like, really nice space behind here now.
Yeah. It's because it's been... We bulldozed the wall for you.
Yeah. We did it really easily, didn't we, Duran? Yeah.
ABI:I've gone all goose-pimply. Oh!
Thank you so much. You're so welcome.
We'll leave you to reopen the shop.
It's so nice to see your reaction. We were nervous.
Never be able to thank you enough.
Oh, no. We're...
Aw!
Back at the studio,
the designers are about to find out which team
has won Standout Space and who is up for elimination.
Hello. Hey.
Hey. Hey.
Hay-on-Wye was lovely, wasn't it? Yes.
Sophie, Lia, with all that stock,
I'm surprised you're not still in Hay, unpacking boxes.
There was a lot of stock.
A lot. It was endless, to be fair.
And, Duran, Emmely, be honest.
When the shop shut, did you grab
a guitar off the wall and unleash your inner Hendrix?
HE MIMICS PLAYING ELECTRIC GUITAR
Well, Emmely did. I was just doing my interpretive dancing.
Was you shwaying?Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Lovely. Listen, I thought you all did so well.
But it's not my call.
It's these two tricky
customers you've got to please.
Michelle and Ross!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
MICHELLE:Hello. ALL:Hi.
So, what did you think of the designers?
There is no doubt that Shops Week is one of our hardest challenges.
So we could really see how hard you worked.
And two amazing transformations.
Judging shops is incredibly
difficult because it's not just about great design,
but it's about, "How does the shop function?"
And I think out of all the years
of doing this, it was the best week that I've seen.
So, well done. Oh, wow.
So, put us out of our misery.
Which designer pair has won standout space
and are going through to the semifinal?
Well, there was one pair
that we felt that they really, really understood
the way the customer was lured off the street,
flowed around the shop, stayed in the shop.
So, those were my three kind of pillars of design.
So, congratulations...
..Sophie and Lia. Well done.
Oh, thank you.
You had a very difficult brief.
The product in that store
is all kinds of different things, right?
There's not a natural, clear story.
And I think for you guys to take all of that product,
lay it out and create something
that made sense and flowed,
I thought, was a very difficult feat.
And you guys did an amazing job. So, well done.
Thank you. So, congratulations, Sophie and Lia.
We'll see you in the semifinal, and we'll see you two on the sofa.
Ah!
THEY LAUGH
No worries at the moment.
I'm absolutely buzzing.
But also, like, we were so proud
of what we did and we loved it.
Yeah. Really poured our heart and soul into it.
So, yeah, really pleased.
Well done, guys.
Well done. Congratulations.
Congratulations.
I'm disappointed because I know
that there's still so much more in me.
And getting this close to semifinal is,
you know...
You just want to be able to push that little bit and get through.
But whatever the feedback is,
I'm really curious to hear what she has to say.
Whatever happens, we'll be fab. I've had a great time.
I know you're not... I'm just gutted.
I'm absolutely gutted. I'm like... I'm heartbroken.
I genuinely thought that I did a good job.
And, um...
Yeah. Back on the sofa.
Hey, there. Hiya.
Hi. So we thought your window display was absolutely epic,
because also, what a challenge for a shop that can't actually
display its merchandise in the window.
So what you came up with was so evocative and fun and exciting.
It looked incredible.
But when you walked in the store, to me,
it's more what I expected.
Right. So what did you find out about
the shop and the shop owner that, like, got you started?
He did ask for a lot,
but when he came in at the end and his reaction,
I think it was everything that he kind of wanted.
What I've felt is that it just looked like you were
a contractor for someone that knew what he wanted.
And I think the difference with a designer is you're taking
that, saying, "Look, this is what you want.
"We're going to follow that. We're going to be in your constraint.
"But this is how we're going
"to make it feel even more elevated or special." Right.
When you walked around the store
and you think about the intention and why was it there,
and just where did you place things and how did it feel,
something about it didn't work.
The shop was very specialist.
It is for people that really know what they're looking for.
But let's say someone who's kind of interested in guitars,
how do you get that person in?
Because I go in and I was like, "Oh, lots of guitars."
THEY LAUGH
You know?
EMMELY:I think it was that element of trying not to be patronising
because it is such a specialist shop.
But when you've got a £500 guitar right next to
a £12,000 guitar, laid out the exact same way,
it sort of diminishes the story.
It diminishes the product a little bit.
DURAN:You know, part of the way that we designed the shop with
having that central area for seating is the conversation
that happens when you're in those spaces.
And that's also what we wanted to encourage,
is that, really, the information
is coming from him more so than anything else.
But even that lounge area -
had it have been even more of a lounge area with, like, books
for musicians or something that made that really feel, like, intimate.
Mm-hm. But it just felt all a little flat, whereas the window felt a ten.
EMMELY:I think if we would have maybe have just injected just
that tiny bit more that we did in the windows, you're right,
it would have been, like, "wow"
with the window and "wow" with the lounge.
I'm sorry. I'm really gutted
because we really did, like, try, but I get what you're saying.
I mean... The thing is, we're not saying it was bad.
You did an amazing transformation.
All the ideas were spot-on.
We couldn't look at something and go, "Well, that was wrong."
But that design magic that I've seen
in other of your projects somehow just got
a little bit diluted away because you're
so focused on giving him exactly what he wanted.
As you both know,
there's only one place between the two of you,
and I find it so incredibly hard to do this
because I think you clearly worked beautifully together.
But in order to pick...
..Emmely, we really did think that the windows
were an absolute triumph.
And then when we were coming into the shop,
the featured guitar thing,
you were beginning to tell just a smidge more of the story.
So for that reason...
..Duran, you will be the person going home this week.
And, Emmely, welcome to the semifinal.
EMMELY:I'm sorry. That's all right.
I would just like to say just this whole experience
has been so incredible, from beginning to now.
And it's the trades that I want
to shout out at this point because, without them,
our ideas just stay on paper or in our brains.
And they've been incredible. Yeah.
Listen, Duran. Do you know what?
You did it your "shway".
I did. You did it every week.
Listen, we've loved having you on. Honestly. You're brilliant.
You're such a talent.Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
ROSS:Cheers, guys. Bye.
I feel OK. I've never done interior design before.
So to come and test myself in such a crazy way,
like, I'm really proud of myself.
You better win.
I'll try my best in your honour.
It's bittersweet. I've lost a friend. But it's the semifinal,
isn't it? I can't believe I'm here, and, um...
..ready to come back fighting.
Love you. I love you, too.
# I keep dancing on my own... #
DURAN LAUGHS
Next time...
WHISTLE BLOWS Come on, guys!
..the semifinal reaches fever pitch...
Wow. This IS a good view.
..as the designers transform hospitality boxes...
This, to me, is a real triumph of a space.
..at Brighton & Hove Albion football stadium.
We need this finished right here, right now!
Come on, Alan.
Disinformation. There is no climate change...