Selfridges is to offer sex therapy and drug-free “psychedelic trips” in the luxury department store’s latest gambit to tempt shoppers back into stores.
From 28 February, the retailer, which has outlets in Manchester, Birmingham and London, will offer the headline-grabbing services as part of its Superself event, which it claims “takes visitors on a journey of uplifting self-discovery and nurturing self-care”.
The therapy sessions are being provided in partnership with The Stack World, a women-focused online media outlet that was spun out of the Beautystack beauty marketplace founded by the former stylist Sharmadean Reid.
The 45-minute £150 “sex life reboot” is being led by Dr Karen Gurney, a clinical psychologist and psycho-sexologist who promises “to evaluate and reset a couple’s or an individual’s sex life through a Sex Life MOT”. Other options include a £50 confidence coaching session or £99 “creative breakthrough” meeting with a hypnotherapist.
The “psychedelic trips” are provided via hi-tech pods operated by technology specialist Sensiks, where users are bombarded with “bespoke fragrances, infrared light, heat and sound”. The colourful constructions, which resemble giant seed pods, use virtual reality technology to help users “drift through” a “calming universe” of kaleidoscopic forms and relaxing music. Selfridges claims the experience is “much like a short meditation”.
Superself is the latest in a long line of Selfridges events, with themes ranging from literature to the environment, that have aimed to tempt shoppers into stores in the digital age. This year is particularly tricky as city centres, and especially London where Selfridges has its flagship store, have been hard hit after the pandemic prompted a shift to working from home and decimated tourist travel.
The trading conditions promoted Selfridges to cut 450 jobs in 2020 – 14% of its workforce – after the 114-year-old business experienced its “toughest year” in living memory.
Neighbouring department stores on Oxford Street – House of Fraser and Debenhams – have both closed their doors in the past year as sales in the area dived by £8bn to £2bn in 2020 and were expected to reach just £5bn last year.
Westminster council, which oversees the Oxford Street area, has pledged to spend £150m on improvements. However, it has delayed its regeneration plans after they got off to a disastrous start with the £6m Marble Arch Mound, which drew ridicule.
Selfridges is now in the process of changing hands after the Weston family, which has owned the group since 2003, agreed to sell to a Thai retailer and an Austrian property company for an estimated £4bn.
