How does store design work?

The famous ladies’ shoe department at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York, has been designed using subtle, neutral colors and metallics so that the products stand out. An impressive installation of crystals hangs from the ceiling, creating drama.

The main purpose of store design is to show a product to its best advantage. This is achieved through a combination of ambience, functionality, and an inviting design. Each store will be different, depending on its product; a supermarket will be more concerned with functionality, while a retailer of luxury goods will want to create the right atmosphere.

Independent store owners can take the risk of promoting more adventurous store design. Some of the most imaginative designs can be found in Japan. The streets of Tokyo hide many interesting retail outlets, the most exciting of which are hidden in the back streets instead of taking center stage on the main shopping thoroughfares. The four small overcrowded islands, thousand of miles from the West, are a melting pot of creativity. Small spaces are transformed into retail galleries. The Sony Centre in the Ginza region of Tokyo is an interactive techno-shopper’s emporium: floors of the latest gadgets and software are available for customers to sample, plasma screens cover ceilings, and interactive information demonstrates innovative ideas.

A Bathing Ape in Japan primarily sells casual clothes and fashion accessories displayed in Perspex racks mounted on a glass floor that offers a view of the basement. The brand has achieved cult status not only in Japan but also worldwide because of its quirky product and store design.

Offering a complete contrast in terms of space, Habitat opened its flagship store on London’s Regent Street in 2006 in the shell of what was once an old movie theater (as well as a church and meat market), where Queen Victoria watched her first film. Tom Dixon, Habitat’s creative director, introduced contemporary fixtures that sit within the original neo-Egyptian architecture. The marriage of old and new design makes the store an inviting prospect, with its fascinating insight into London’s Victorian past.

Milan’s Corsa Como has attracted the world’s fashion pack for years. It is hidden away at the end of an unassuming walkway, but the customer’s first impression on entering the store is the vast scale of the space. An alfresco dining area fills the courtyard and then branches onto the retail area and a restaurant. Stairs lead to a bookshop and finally to an exhibition space on the second floor. The fixtures are not the most costly or innovative—most of them were at some stage retro pieces of furniture or lighting—but positioned together, they create a unique selling environment. Not all store designs need vast budgets; resourceful and interesting schemes often make the most exciting shops.

In Habitat’s store on Regent Street, London, the original architecture of this former movie theater has been used to good effect. It has created a contemporary retail space against a very traditional backdrop, resulting in an eye-catching and inviting store.