At ARC UK, we bring your ideas to life with precision and style.
Bluewater – John Lewis – Takeover
A Standout Retail Moment for the ’25 Festive Season
Working alongside Landsec’s Spotlight team, John Lewis Partnership and ITG, ARC UK delivered a bold, precisely timed retail takeover. More than seasonal decoration, the installation amplified the customer journey, reflected each brand’s identity, and created memorable impact during the Christmas period.
Bluewater is a complex retail environment with vast footfall, long sightlines, and varied dwell points. For this takeover to succeed, every element had to be placed with intent – guiding customers naturally while reinforcing John Lewis’ presence at key decision-making moments.
The installation included three full sets of escalator glass branding, each featuring six pass-by graphics.
Escalators are some of the most valuable assets in any UK shopping centre, offering extended viewing time and repeated exposure. By using premium vinyl finishes and carefully aligned creative, the escalator glass became a visually impacting and seamless part of the customer journey rather than a non-descript safety panels.
Outside the John Lewis store knuckle, ARC UK produced and installed ten pillar graphics – five upper and five lower – using stay-flat roller banner material. This solution is ideal for high-traffic retail spaces, delivering a clean, tensioned appearance while remaining practical for short-term campaigns. Positioned at a critical threshold point, these pillars clearly signposted the store and reinforced brand confidence.
To ensure the takeover reached beyond the immediate store entrance, ARC UK delivered a series of mall-wide branding installations designed to maintain visibility while respecting the wider Bluewater environment.
A total of 14 slimline mall banners were installed along the main mall, featuring alternating creative designs – this format is widely used across UK shopping centres, due to its ability to provide consistent brand reinforcement without dominating sightlines or neighbouring retailers. Positioned at regular intervals, the banners helped build familiarity and recognition as customers moved through the space.
The installation was supported by three suspended lightboxes, adding scale and presence in key open areas of the mall. These illuminated elements ensured the campaign remained visible during darker winter trading hours, while reinforcing the premium feel associated with the John Lewis brand.
Together, these elements created a continuous visual thread across the mall, supporting wayfinding, strengthening brand recall and directing footfall towards the store during a crucial pre-Christmas trading period.
The takeover was installed in mid-October, capturing early Christmas footfall, and removed mid-November, ensuring maximum impact during a critical trading period. Timing was everything, as UK consumers increasingly begin browsing and purchasing well ahead of December.
The external takeover was supported by in-store improvements and additions, including enhancements within the beauty hall and the introduction of Tish Lyons jewellery. This alignment between external branding and internal experience is essential, ensuring that customer expectations are met the moment they step inside.
This Bluewater John Lewis takeover demonstrates the power of temporary retail branding when executed with precision. For landlords, brands, and agencies alike, it demonstrates how physical space can be transformed into a strategic communication tool – not just a backdrop.
At ARC UK, we specialise in delivering large-scale retail graphics, shopping centre takeovers and brand environments that work in real-world conditions. From material selection and production through to installation and removal, every detail is considered to ensure impact, quality, and compliance within complex UK retail settings.
If you’re planning a shopping centre takeover, seasonal retail campaign or brand activation, this project is a clear example of how the right combination of design, materials and placement can turn footfall into engagement – and space into experience.
At ARC UK, we bring your ideas to life with precision and style.
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At ARC UK, we specialise in industry-leading large-format printing, delivering premium- quality hoarding graphics and panels tailored to the unique demands of the UK’s diverse industries.
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It’s a standout retail branding installation by ARC UK that transformed Bluewater Shopping Centre ahead of the 2025 festive season, creating high-impact visibility and an elevated customer experience.
The installation was executed throughout the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, England.
ARC UK worked alongside Landsec’s Spotlight team, the John Lewis Partnership and ITG to deliver the takeover.
It was designed to reinforce the John Lewis brand presence, guide footfall and create memorable emotional engagement during the pre-Christmas trading period.
The project included escalator glass branding, pillar graphics, suspended lightboxes and mall banners to maximise visibility across the centre.
The branding was installed in mid-October and removed in mid-November to capture pre-Christmas footfall.
Yes — ARC UK installed mall-wide elements such as banners and lightboxes to maintain brand presence across key shopper routes.
The John Lewis Bluewater store has also undergone a significant refurbishment, introducing new concepts such as a large gifting emporium and expanded fashion and beauty spaces.
The Bluewater location features major new experiences and services across beauty, fashion, homeware and more — part of the largest revamp in several years.
It enhances wayfinding, highlights key brand areas, and enriches the festive shopping journey with engaging and visually impactful installations throughout the centre.
From nationwide rollouts to one-off hero moments, ARC supports every UK sector with sustainable print, creative adaptation, and precision installation. If you’re planning something extraordinary, we’re ready to help you bring it to life… responsibly, creatively, and seamlessly.