Space-Shifts in Retail
THE PARADOXICAL NATURE OF RETAIL
Today’s obscure political landscape raises doubt, even fear, and division. It also creates a paradox. We search for ways to escape this reality, yet also for more genuine, grounded connections.
In the this article, we look at how retailers respond to our paradoxical asks. To the time-poor city dweller, wanting to be hyper-time-efficient, desperately seeking permission to relax, pause and savour every moment. And to the consumer demanding to be seduced visually by a dramatically designed store, who’s also put off when retail lacks any real substance.
The Store is Being Pushed and Pulled
In physical stores, certain paradoxes cause frantic new forms to take shape. Brands reconcile responsive digital space with tangible in-store experiences — sometimes in rather contradictory ways.
Social media is driving many decisions within space-use, but there needs to be a more considered approach. Some retailers are applying unorthodox materials to create a more laid-back, tactile, sensory experience. Others are overlaying digital services with an ‘only here’ approach to space — so consumers think ‘only here’ when they walk in (defined by Heidi O’Neill, President of Nike Direct).
Previously, brands used to stand for one prominent thing. Now brands are wary of taking only one stance — for fear of being grilled. So they say they do it all, and try frantically to fulfil that promise. The result can be an overly diluted and bland conglomeration of visions; sometimes a confusing mix of polar opposites. It is therefore unsurprising that the physical retail space is being pushed and pulled in different directions. No matter the shape, one thing is certain: The shop is no longer there to be shopped, it is there to be used. Services, time and memories are the new product range.
1. PARADOX:
Hyper-Efficiency vs Slowing Down
We’re all increasingly spreading ourselves thin. We take multi-tasking to the absolute max. We face exponentially expanding ‘to do’ lists. We are in dire need of optimisation (read more on the age of self-optimisation). This is visible as much in our requirements as consumers, as in the responses of the physical store.
Hyper-Efficiency
The direct expression of this in retail environments is the extreme drive towards hyper-efficiency — in the consumer offer and also the physical space. Space is being maximised for every slither of opportunity it can offer — no moment in time or square meter can, or should, go to waste.
Tag-teaming with the hyper-efficiency factor is the growing demand (and supply) for hyper-convenience. To truly optimise a process we want it to be efficient, but we also want it to be local, targeted, and satisfying.
> Maximising space
Vending has made a revival — as the obvious space-saving solution. Also luxury brands are bringing back the machines for light-hearted interactivity: #MulberryLights — a recent in-store installation — introduces a smart vending machine to activate the current campaign.
A deliberately more youthful and energetic take on luxury is The Tiffany Style Studio in London’s Covent Garden. An interactive store designed around self expression and customisation — with a DIY jewellery bar, and a fragrance vending machine.
> Maximising time
Tesco launched one of its first virtual grocery stores in a South Korean subway station in 2011, so the idea to make efficient use of commuting time is old news. Not surprisingly, we continue to see new concepts targeting time-poor urban dwellers that maximise non-productive time.
October 2018 saw dry cleaning startup VClean Life, announcing a collaboration with London Underground: 200 smartphone-controlled vending machines will be trialled across the stations — cleaning your dirty clothes while you commute. VClean asks “What could be easier?”
If you want to hit high satisfaction scores, especially for the millennial generations onwards, you have to offer high levels of customisation. And increasingly, we want this on the fly. Why have a product like everyone else? Having one created just for you is much more satisfying. Instant personalisation is massively shaping retail environments, and the ones that are carving out space to enable this are making waves.
> Stores are speeding up
Lifestyle brands are determined to make their in-store product range fully customisable, without compromising on speed. As a result, futuristic store models are built around hyper-efficient space-use, intending to be as responsive as digital.
Adidas’ fully automated Speedfactories (also mentioned in Space that ‘Works Hard) are designed to speedily produce limited, individually tailored shoes.
And the ground floor of Nike’s brand new six-story retail experience in NYC is named the Nike Speed Shop, where shelves are stocked with what data shows the NYC consumers love the most. With shops and factories for speed — well, the intention is literally all spelt out!
vs. Slowing Down
The counter-effect to this efficiency / effectiveness / instant satisfaction craze is the polar opposite. The growth of environments that encourage stillness. Championing decompression from our busy city lives, and offering relaxation areas, in which to linger longer.
> Unplugging from city life
Listed on several of 2018’s top ten must-see retail destinations is yet another concept targeting exhausted urbanites: The Dreamery in NY, by mattress retailer Casper. Every detail of The Dreamery invites you to slow down. A haptic representation of the “outrageously comfortable” products that the brand stands for. A star-lit entryway leads to a serene check-in lounge, giving access to a landscape of private sleep cocoons. 45 minute nap sessions can be booked (price includes pjs!). Casper have also cleverly partnered with Headspace, to create a sleep audio for the napping session.
An increasing number of stores are creating so-called ‘meditative environments’. In some cases the space is redesigned to encourage relaxation. In others we see a physical shift in the actual addition of in-store sub-spaces: separate areas dedicated to wellness and self-care.
> In-store ‘Scream Room’
The Bab Aldonia Bookstore in Cairo has a dark, built-in, sound-proof room, encouraging customers to take 10 minutes out of their day to relieve frustrations and stress by shouting or banging on a drum-kit.> In store Wellness Centres
Anthropologie is rolling-out in-store ‘concept sub-spaces’ offering customers access to oils, crystals, supplements, teas, yoga equipment and more. These mini wellbeing spaces heighten the brand’s positioning around ethical lifestyles.> Meditative retail concepts
Designer Andrés Reisinger encourages mediation and tranquility through Plastic Rain — his soft, subtle and muted retail envisionings. His take on the future of retail is space slowing down to make you “feel things, that generates emotions, memories.”
2. PARADOX:
Maximalist vs. Minimalist
We are seeing extreme scenarios fluctuating wildly from the massively Instagrammable — and often maximalist — interiors, to the totally minimal, purist approach.
Our consistent desire to be immersed in playful, and whimsical environments, away from the stresses of reality (read more on the mood for Nostalgia) is being met with a reactionary new take on Minimal. The swing in this opposite direction is due to an increasing push for authenticity and a certain resistance towards escapism. Showing it up for being naive, in the negative sense, even bordering on fake.
Maximalist Spectacle
Environments that take us away from the day-to-day are still highly appealing. Our busy lives make us crave moments of lightness and fun, so retail environments that invite that are still going strong.
> Fantastical Bookstores
Bookshops are transforming into outrageously daring new shapes, especially across Asia — as portrayed in both Responsive and Emotive.
Shanghai-based X+living is at the forefront for maximalist designs, rolling out interiors that are otherworldly and full of wonder.
Also designed by X+living is Neobio Family Park in Hangzhou — a palace for experiential.> Disco Revival
Recent store designs seem to be hinting at some bold takes on this excessive, theatrical approach — including a revival of the much loved days-of-disco. Bring on the colour-changing light floors!
The daylight Studio 54 setting that is the Fiorucci store in London’s Soho brings together fashion, culture and music : “A shop, an event space, a hangout…of glorious neon lit madness. Packed full of stuff you can’t find online. (Fiorucci)
Miu Miu’s touring pop-up — Miu Miu Disco — is beamingly hot pink, covered in mirrors, disco balls and neon signs.
Disco Gufram by Italian furniture brand Gufram showcases a lively, soft, unconventional club-inspired range of furniture, including the after party series and Jimmy the golden faux-leather couch.
vs. Minimalist Serenity
Excessive pleasures often cause us to feel guilty and seek purity. It is no difference with the increasing decadence of certain retail stores. We’ve seen the rise of very minimal environments, some attaining an almost cathedral-like, ethereal quality.
> Elevating the shopping ritual
CÉLINE’s luxe retail space in Miami is an ode to minimal design. The uniformly applied pale blue and white marble instils a purity and harmony which is — quite simply — beautiful.
Whilst Studio David Thulstrup’s elegant architectural gestures for the Mark Tan store in Copenhagen create beautifully monolithic statements.
> Space is softening
In this move towards environments of subtle simplicity, we note softer shapes, sweeping expanses of uniform surfaces and more delicate, muted colours.
See the soothingly soft, peachy, lightly-golden interiors by India Mahdavi — the Red Valentino boutique in London’s Sloane Square.
Offering a sensory way to shop, relax and socialise is the Glossier Flagship in New York. Another example of a store bathed in soft tones of peach and pink.
> Space stripping off
A slight tangent in this minimalist approach is one born from celebrating simplicity — but it delivers a more function-driven, gritty aesthetic. (Further explored in our study on the up-and-coming Imperfect Trait environments, which champion the authentic beauty of raw materials, and the openness that comes with WIP spaces.)
Some spaces are stripping back to ‘what is essential’ — but through a much more rough-hewn aesthetic.
The Voice of Coffee in Kobe, Japan, is intentionally unpolished. Proudly exposing all the marks of its making, it embraces the imperfect in an open space for all to socialise in with ease.
3. PARADOX:
Pop Up vs. Permanence
Also building on contrasting notions of time are shifts within short-term vs long-term set-ups. Temporary stores are popping up briefly, but with aspirations to make a permanent impact. Permanent stores are reinventing their form to engage with consumers on a new level.
In cases below, the effect is attained by a striking contrast between the nature of the ‘shell’ the store inhabits, and the store itself.
Popping up for lasting impact
Pop-ups are taking place within surprising and evocative locations. Looking permanent, they give away their transience only through the unexpected and dramatic contrast they display.
> Space borrowing its shell from another
Swiss backpack brand QWSTION revealed its new pop-up within a disused theatre, emphasising the originality of the design and the utility of inhabiting non-retail settings.> Popping up to look permanent
Open for one month in 2017, The Empty Shop for Oxfam popped up in Brussels aiming to showcase a new collection display daily and sell all by closing time. To tell the story of recovery and transformation of donation, the designer created a spectacular golden floral centrepiece from recycled materials and on a low budget — but with an attitude of permanence.Winner of Frame Awards 2018’s ‘Pop-Up Store of the Year’ is Normann studio’s new take on flat-pack design for Esprit x Opening Ceremony. With an ethereal feel, and an on-trend candy-coloured aesthetic, this pop-up makes modularity look elegant and permanent.
vs. A new type of Permanence
In an effort to reinvent their physical presence and curb cynicism regarding their motivation, the 5 Giants of retail are leading the way into the future. Considering their sites seems to be a more recent and highly fruitful move, enabling them to build a stronger story around the building, and to tie that meaning into their positioning.
> Emotive location
The anticipated Foster + Partners designed Apple store in Paris is a great example of a brick-and-mortar move, shifting from its iconic, purist white settings to a beautiful Parisian apartment. The simplicity of the decor still speaks to the brand’s style, but the move into classical architecture, with such residential queues, is certainly intended to strengthen emotive connections to the brand.> More transience
In direct opposition, Google have favoured the agility of the more transient space, with their new Digital Garage Bus (in reality this case sits more within the Experiential realm, which we’ll be delving into in an upcoming piece, but we thought interesting to compare the Apple vs Google offerings). With this mobile space Google bring the learning activities that Apple pioneered as part if the in-store experience with their Today series into local communities.
4. UNDER ONE ROOF:
Elegance + Gritt
These paradoxical scenarios are not always polarizing. Sometimes the paradox is embraced under one roof. Definitions of luxury are being qualified as unrefined and in some ways anti-luxury. Luxury brands are embracing laid-back, informal spaces that invite customers to be more relaxed, yet often feel savvy, tough and unfussy.
This new affirmation of what is luxurious sees surprising combinations of sharp lines juxtaposed with pops of colour, whilst fluffy candy-coloured surfaces meet raw or industrial materials.
> Unrefined Luxury
Luxury retailers are being imaginative with harsher, industrial materials in their interiors for a more laid-back edge. The walls of Blushhh’s Secret Shop in Kiev are panelled with Alufoil, an insulation material (often associated with survival blankets). High-end eyewear brand Friends & Frames displays glasses up against exposed-concrete walls, metallic blue paint, wrinkled surfaces and foiled ceiling. Patrik Ervel’s window display for the Opening Ceremony Store is a cloud of pink fibreglass and unfinished wood. Also worth a look is Normann Copenhagen’s 2017 showroom, engulfing the visitor in a sea of golden foil.
5. UNDER ONE ROOF:
History + Future
Another design paradox found under one roof is the merging of history with future, both in the physical space and its offerings. The retail setting — aside from being a store — is becoming a a social destination of the future.
This dual identity in form and function gives real substance to the retail experience, enabling a deeper connection to the goods, and to the cultures and stories they transmit.
> A tale of two stories
A space literally split down the middle — between past and future — is the L’Officine Universelle Buly’s store in Tokyo. The interiors are divided in two — one side imagining a rather clinical and futuristic pharmacy, the other side representing a more tactile, carefully crafted Parisian past.
Similarly split, the Yueyue/Zhida Bookstore Project in Shanghai offers customers two visually contrasting spaces, each offering different book typologies. Sometimes merging in the middle, the space fuses contemporary and nostalgic design, whist encouraging mingling.> Heritage + edge
‘Coal Drops Yard’, London’s emerging Experiential Retail sanctuary, is a glorious blend of cultural heritage and future-forward retail. Traditional and contemporary architecture clash, whilst the programming offered is richly curated, and boldly positioned.
6. UNDER ONE ROOF:
Consumption + Culture
Art installations of all shapes and sizes are increasingly being embedded into the commercial landscape. For a while now, especially within the temporary arena, art and culture have been overtaking shop interiors left, right and centre.
But this notion of merging culture and commerce is reaching new levels as retailers embrace this more permanent vision of their in-store experience. The phenomenon of the Museumification of Retail (more on this in Beyond Commercial) is clearly expanding. Shop interiors increasingly blur the boundaries between retail environments and art galleries; aiming to elevate the commercial experience to a cultural one.
> Space or Sculpture?
An impactful example of this is the recent installation ‘Sous le Ciel’ by artist Leandro Erlich, a bold remodelling of the internal atrium of the Parisian high-end department store Le Bon Marché.Uniqlo has been nurturing collaborations with artists and cultural institutions over several years (such as Uniqlo x Tate Modern). In 2017, Uniqlo partnered with artist Sigrid Calon’s to create an in-store activation for the brand’s Fifth Avenue Store. Almost every surface was covered in bright patterns, promoting the brand’s MoMA-inspired super-geometric collection.
Experimenting with a more sculptural aesthetic is this beautifully crafted crafted ‘Tableau’ flower store in Copenhagen. The store blends sculptural volumes with an unexpected choices of industrial materials (also a great example of ‘Unrefined Luxury’). This destination daringly tests possibilities for what happens when a flower shop meets art gallery meets event space…
7. UNDER ONE ROOF:
Programming over Product
This section is less about one approach versus another, or even about one and another, but focuses on one OVER another.
According to Nov 2018 study by PwC, shops in the UK are closing at a rate of around 14 per day. Struggling most are fashion and technology brands, due to increased online purchasing. Interestingly, some retailers have increased their store count in response. Amongst these are book stores and coffee shops. This could indicate that community is becoming evermore important in retail.
For brands, in-store programming seems to be the future. One big move we’re witnessing is the diminishing — even disappearing — of products in-store, in favour of hosting activities and experiences. Event-oriented spaces have become the norm, with stores are now acting like cultural and social destinations.
> Weaving in ‘community spirit’
East London’s ‘Not Just Another Store’- where local art and content is made accessible, and championed, through the retail experience — offers a wide range of curated events. The space “detaches from all the restrictions, rules and norms placed upon existing retail spaces.” (notjustanotherstore.com)
> Membership models
The social angle is also one we are seeing increasingly through the growth of stores, or designated areas within stores, acting as membership clubs.Nike’s House of Innovation in Shanghai, and the even more recent NYC Flagship, are both fully embracing the power of membership in terms of enticing consumers with access to desirable products and services.
Set to open in Chicago in spring ’19, Athenaeum is an interesting beast. Born from the desire to revive the Bookstore, it’s a library-study-bar-‘tech-store’-‘meeting-area’, all blended in a space that supports the critical need for books to stay part the retail landscape.
Is the membership fob the new library card?
