LONDON, England - German luxury appliance brand Miele just dropped what might be the most low-key high-concept retail move of the year: a multi-sensory Experience Centre in London’s premium kitchen design district, Wigmore Street.
At a time when most appliance brands are shrinking their physical footprint, relying solely on third-party retailers, Miele is doing the opposite. Housed in a former bank, the flagship space is a conjunction of hospitality, high-design, and hands-on performance.
Whether watching a chef finesse a three-course lunch or hearing nothing at all from the brand’s near-silent extraction systems, every detail is choreographed. It feels more AMAN than appliance showroom. And it may be the most elegant case yet for why luxury retail still matters.
Experience at the Centre
Step through the door and the scent of rosemary focaccia and espresso hits first. The lighting is warm, the materials tactile—brushed steel, stone, blonde wood. Nothing screams for attention, yet everything invites it. Welcome to Miele’s new global concept: an immersive, hospitality-led retail experience that rethinks what it means to shop for home appliances.
"Our Experience Centres invite customers to immerse themselves in our world—to see, touch, and test our appliances in beautifully designed, real-life settings," says Turlough McKenna, Head of D2C at Miele. "We believe that true brand understanding is often born from meaningful, physical experiences."
The Wigmore Street flagship is part of a broader push from Miele to double down on high-touch retail in a post-digital era. In 2024, the brand unveiled a striking new two-storey flagship in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay, designed for interactive cooking events and sensorial engagement.
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Subscribe now →And more Experience Centres are set to open through 2025, with a focus on premium urban locations and high-consideration markets. "Physical retail remains essential to our growth because it offers something digital simply can’t—a sensory, human connection," says McKenna.
Quiet Design, High Drama
Inside the Wigmore Street space, guests can test appliances in fully functioning kitchens, take part in chef-hosted demos, and explore laundry rooms that feel pulled from an AD. You’re encouraged to roast, rinse, and repeat.
There’s no aggressive pitch. No urgent signage. Just espresso served in handmade ceramics and a dishwasher that you’re invited to listen to—not watch.
"At Miele, performance is a given. Our challenge and opportunity is to translate that engineering excellence into a tactile, emotional experience for our guests," McKenna explains. "We bring our 'Immer Besser' (forever better) promise to life by making the invisible visible."
One favourite anecdote: McKenna gently placing a rose into the drum of a Miele washing machine to prove it can be washed without losing a single petal. "It’s not just about what an appliance can do—it’s about how it makes life feel," he adds.
The Luxury of Time
Miele has chosen to slow everything down. In a category where purchases are planned, they understand that emotion is what ultimately builds trust.
At Wigmore Street, the retail encounter unfolds with a sense of ceremony. Guests arrive to engage. Coffee is poured. Drawings are laid flat. Time is taken.
It’s a space made for pause. For learning. For quietly rethinking how we live. One of the most in-demand offerings? Kitchen Discovery—a three-course session led by an in-house chef.
"Appliance purchases are rarely spontaneous—they’re deliberate, researched, and deeply tied to how people want to live," says McKenna. "We’ve created an environment that’s welcoming, educational, and pressure-free."
"Whether they’re replacing a single product or designing an entire kitchen, we’re there to help them navigate the options with expert advice and live demonstrations."
And it’s paying off. Customers who spend time in an Experience Centre tend to spend more, refer more, and come back with greater brand loyalty. For Miele, every minute in the space deepens not just connection—but conversion.
A Heritage Brand, Reimagined
Miele has long been known for its engineering excellence—washing machines tested for 20 years of use, ovens calibrated to the millimeter. But in this new physical format, that legacy becomes something you feel, not just read about.
Housed in a former bank—original safes intact—the Wigmore Street location balances legacy with modernity. Clean lines meet tactile materials. Smart appliances sit beside storytelling stations that highlight energy efficiency, repairability, and craft.
"We’ve created a setting that respects our legacy while looking ahead. The design is modern but rooted in our core values—precision, innovation, trust, and longevity," McKenna adds.
"We want customers to feel why it costs more. Not be told."
Physical Retail as a Global Mood
Miele’s Experience Centres may serve as commercial engines, but they’re framed around ambience, not urgency. Each one blends local culture with brand DNA. London offers design authority and warmth. Hong Kong brings culinary theatre to the city’s most fast-paced district. Future Centres are planned with similar nuance.
"It’s both a strategic investment in brand equity and a high-performing retail channel," says McKenna. "We measure success not just in sales, but in engagement: consultation bookings, event attendance, and digital interactions that follow visits."
"When a customer spends an hour with us here, they leave more confident—and more committed to the brand."
The spaces function as soft-power brand ambassadors—places where design lovers and professional chefs, first-time homeowners and seasoned renovators, all feel at ease. They’re not built for traffic. They’re built for trust.
"This isn’t about square footage," McKenna explains. "It’s about what the experience unlocks: emotion, education, and a deeper kind of confidence."
The New Ritual of Retail
The Wigmore Street Experience Centre is not a transactional space. It is a spatial expression of values: taste, longevity, and quiet choice.
Miele is designing for a post-abundance age, where discernment, not excess, defines modern luxury.
In times defined by speed and surplus, Miele offers something structurally different—a model rooted in deliberate engagement and lived experience. It is less a showroom than a cultural mechanism: a space where performance is observed, not pitched; where design is felt, not marketed.
It’s a text book example of strategic differentiation. Miele places a strong focus on domestic rituals, moving beyond the traditional role of an appliance manufacturer to align with a refined cohort of brands like Aesop, Bang & Olufsen, and AMAN. Their common currency? Sensorial depth, consumer fluency, and long-term emotional utility.
There is no points-based loyalty scheme. No hard-sell checkout journey. Instead, Miele fosters brand affinity through experience architecture. By designing environments that function less as showrooms and more as sanctuaries. Brand salience through restraint.
The next phase of premium won’t be defined by spectacle. It will be defined by stillness, trust, and design-led longevity.
And Miele is already there.
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