Sustainability, modularity, Instagrammability. They’re among the (many) marks retail designers need to pay mind to today. Attention to sustainable spaces is just as important as fashion’s growing attention to offering sustainable goods – a Brazilian brand said so best, when they let the ‘land’ take over its shopping-mall spot. Ultra-flexibility is also necessary, whether to accommodate seasonal merchandising changes or make way for in-store events and experiences – Holzweiler’s omnichannel retail presence, developed by Snøhetta, is an example of that. And, if not for the lure of highly-personalized, Instagrammable experiences, why shop offline? Our retail coverage is saturated with such aesthetically conceptual spaces.
We’ve compiled a list to show further examples of the shifts retail is experiencing globally, from Gentle Monster’s first location in the Middle East to a LEED Gold-certified, Gwenael Nicolas-designed Versace store in Beijing.
[+] BEIJING: MUSEÉ
Shanghai-based Studio8 designed a flagship for Musée, a luxury goods consignment retailer, in Beijing Qianmen. The interiors – which intentionally set no clear boundaries in the functional division of the space – have two main features: mobile, multi-functional counters to adapt to any scenario, and a central consignment room. Studio8 used a diverse material palette including natural stones, stainless steel, copper and glass to bring forth a contemporary ambiance.
Image Credit: Sven Zhang
Location Room 02, 1st floor, Building 8, Yard 21, Langfang Youtiao, Xicheng District, Beijing
[+] LONDON: GANNI
With a new Soho flagship, Ganni fans in London now have a place to try on garments – and recycle old ones – from the Danish fashion brand. The 255-sq-m space, created in collaboration with retail architecture practice Stamuli, is Ganni’s first UK store. In it, visitors are immersed in the brand world through three different, colourful areas designed with sustainable elements, like recycled-plastic display podiums.
Image Credit: MOON
Location 36 Beak St, Soho, London W1F 9RF
[+] BEIJING: VERSACE
Part of a continuing collaboration with Versace, French architect Gwenael Nicolas has completed a store in Beijing for the Italian fashion label. Spread over 400 sq-m, the two-level store – mainland China’s 53rd– is in Beijing’s China World Mall. It parallels Nicolas’ recent work for Versace in Miami, with gilded, intricate ceilings and no shortage of white marble. Built using materials and fixtures with the ‘highest sustainability standards in mind’, the store has LEED Gold certification.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Versace
Location 1 Jianguomen Outer St, Jian Wai Da Jie, Chaoyang Qu, Beijing Shi
[+] LOS ANGELES: EVERLANE
San Francisco-based ethical fashion brand Everlane has opened its first Los Angeles store, taking up a 1913 corner building in Abbot Kinney. The in-house design team painted the interiors in a fresh coat of white paint and added skylights and windows for maximum natural lighting, then brought in identifiable merchandising fixtures. It is the first store of Everlane’s to include a SMS – Save My Spot – system, which makes it possible for customers’ selections to be held until an available fitting room is ready for them.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Everlane
Location 1101 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90291
[+] HELSINKI: GARDEN – THE CENTRE FOR FINNISH FASHION
Garden – The Center for Finnish Fashion, a new retail space in Helsinki’s Kämp Galleria shopping mall, is a showcase for prominent names in the Finnish fashion industry, such as Samuji, Arela and Nomenescio. Designed by Futudesign and Lindroos Architects, the 2,500-sq-m ‘urban oasis’ includes 11 shops and three restaurants, organised around a grid centred by an open piazza and huge skylight, ‘making natural weather and climate conditions an integral part of the fashion experience.’
Image Credit: Marc Goodwin
Location Pohjoisesplanadi 33, 00100 Helsinki
[+] TOKYO: GOLDEN GOOSE
A new flagship store in Minami Aoyama marks Italian luxury brand Golden Goose’s entrance to Tokyo’s retail scene. The brightly-lit, 209-sq-m space brings Japan and Venice together, decked in silver and gold. With the new shop, Golden Goose has introduced two new retail concepts: ‘The Lab’ gives clients an opportunity to see how craftsmen treat and distress the brand’s sneakers, then customise a pair themselves, while ‘The Laces Bar’ offers up limited-edition laces that have been created for selected stores.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Golden Goose
Location 2 – 12 Minami Aoyama 5-chome Minato-ku, Tokyo
[+] DUBAI: GENTLE MONSTER
Gentle Monster Dubai, located in the city’s Dubai Mall, is the South Korean eyewear company’s first location in the Middle East. The flagship’s interiors play off a continuing, dystopic campaign – 13 – that has taken over Gentle Monster’s stores with fantastical installations built by the brand. In Dubai, the store ‘offers experiences for a diverse range of reflections on future farms and agricultural robots controlled by human beings in fertile environments’.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Gentle Monster
Location Gf 069, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai
[+] PARIS: CHANEL BEAUTÉ
Chanel is expanding its brick-and-mortar beauty presence in Paris with a 100-sq-m space on Champs-Élysées. Following on the success of the Chanel Parfums Beauté permanent location in the third arrondissement, the new store offers make-up, beauty and skincare products, as well as perfume. Three sections, organised by colour, adopt Chanel Beauté’s iconic visual identity and are set for testing make-up and the product lines. There are also dedicated areas for consultation and events.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chanel
Location 52 Av. des Champs-Élysées, 75008 Paris
[+] STOCKHOLM: AXEL ARIGATO
Swedish fashion brand Axel Arigato now has a permanent flagship in its home country’s capital. The Stockholm store was designed by creative director Max Svärdh and architect Christian Halleröd – who have worked together on many an Axel Arigato space. Drawing inspiration from the brand’s first flagship, in London, Svärdh and Halleröd created a minimalist, gallery-like environment with slabs of natural light-blue marble and monochrome surfaces; a glass room will be host to rotating installations.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Axel Arigato
Location Biblioteksgatan 7, 111 44 Stockholm
https://www.frameweb.com/news/august-2019-retail-openings