tsg at cruise chester

We are proud to have recently completed an innovative audio system and promedia hard disk installation at the new Cruise Footwear, Accessory and Bag store in Chester.

Established in 1984, Cruise is one of the UK’s leading luxury retailers, with a reputation not only for designer brands, but also as a showcase for fresh, innovative fashion. Their stores house a selection of menswear, womenswear, footwear, bags and accessories from some of the world’s most coveted brands. Operating with formats of larger mainline and smaller specialist stores, Cruise Chester is the company’s second stand-alone footwear, accessory and bag store, stocking international labels including Gucci, Chloé, Dior, Jimmy Choo, Vivienne Westwood, Dolce & Gabbana and Paul Smith.

The timber-framed building developed for the new store dates from 1664 and incorporates many of the site’s stunning original features including an Elizabethan façade and a beautifully preserved 13th century crypt, which is included as a focal point of the store’s retail area. Attention to detail shows throughout every aspect of the store’s design, and the implementation is exemplary.

With comprehensive expansion plans, Cruise Retail Director, Stuart Margetts, wanted to ensure that the audio system not only met this store’s criteria for style and audio quality, but was scaleable for the differing sizes of future premises. To ensure consistency of the Cruise retail experience, music content was also a key factor and an important part in the decision to choose tsg, who could supply the complete music delivery system as well as designing and installing the aesthetically pleasing Audica Professional MICROseries audio solution.

Although the system is primarily designed for background music, the opening and several subsequent events have involved the system being DJ driven and it has proved capable of suitably and reliably ‘rocking’ the store.  

Cruise Chester has a very forward thinking music policy that emulates a trendy city centre bar profile. It combines a mix of only the coolest funk, dance, hip hop, nu-soul breaks, contemporary jazz and chilled grooves which are blended to create a slightly older, sophisticated and musically sussed environment for Cruise customers.

A lot of the artists playing don’t traditionally appear in the current Top 40 chart but are well known in the cooler bars and club circles. These include: Miguel Migs, Secret Stealth, Stanton Warriors, Mr. Scruff, Visioneers, Curtis Mayfield, Sebastian Tellier, Alice Russell, The Nextmen, TM Juke, Stevie Wonder & Quantic.

Commenting for Cruise, Stuart Margetts said, “Chester has been about establishing a standard for audio that fulfils our criteria for exceptional style and quality. We are delighted with the results tsg have delivered and are thrilled with the design and performance of the Audica system”.