Reinventing Retail

Retail is not dead. Retail is changing in a big way and is by doing so reflecting how our society has evolved as a whole. We no longer go shopping just to buy things but to have an experience. As architects and developers we must understand the dynamics behind these changes. We’ve seen how the shopping centers like Westfield have played up the synergies between retail and lifestyle by incorporating dining, lifestyle and personal services that complement each other and contribute to the relevance, engagement levels and popularity of shopping centers and main streets across America. Yes, many giants have fallen in the process but others are thriving. Let’s take a look what the latter are doing right. 

• Experience. Retail is becoming more about the experience, i.e. the discover, interaction and engagement with an environment, place and/or people, and less about the consumption of material goods. Authenticity and branding have become very important in the experience of going to a mall or down main street. It is the sole difference between those stores that are staying open and are thiriving and those that are closing their doors. Take for example ToysRUs and Amazon. The same realestate that was once ToysRUs is becoming Amazon, literally. Why is one closing its doors while the other is opening new stores left and right. The same toys are sold in both. One is boutique-ey and curated, there is variety of products for every age group, the environment is sleek, the design is current and square footage is used more effectively. The other was completely out of date, with dated graphics, fluorescent lighting and endless isles of undifferentiated, irrelevant and seemingly arbitrary ‘stuff’. You figure which is which. The point is that design (with a big D and as a way of thinking) is used as driving force behind store planning and success. As architects we need to understand and incorporate these notions into our process and our design language.
• Synergies. If a big box pharmacy wanted to reinvent itself it would look for synergies in what product it already offers to its customers - some examples are beauty, wellness, nutrition and literature in all those areas. These are examples of related product groups that can expand and enrich the offerings a pharmacy would already provide its customers. These examples are already taking into consideration the product groups that are trending. Beauty is big. But grocery which we see in pharmacies even though it is a convenience is not a good synergy in expanding the experience within this particular space. Maybe your physical store is an extension of your online brand. This has become a major trend in recent years as sales continue to drop on a leased per sf basis. Brands use stores not for the purpose of generating revenue but simple to remind customers of their presence and allow for an in person experience. The interplay of digital and actual is an interesting space for designers who must be aware of this dynamic in order to design successfully in the retail arena. 
• Services. Because of the proliferation of e-commerce and on line shopping there is a lesser need for products to be available in brick and mortar stores, but services, entertainment and experiences are seeing a resurgence. These include restaurants and coffee shops, ice cream parlors, batty and fitness studios, art and craft studios, and similar. Adding a service or experience to a traditional retail store - like e a cooking class in a Williams Sonoma store, a coffee tasting station at a Nespresso, a yoga class in a Lulu Lemon store, and planning for these spaces and experiences will draw customers and help them engage in your brand more deeply. 
• Shop-in-shops. Big box stores have started to offer smaller brands a complete mini universe of their own within their macrocosm. These small shop-in-shops stores typically showcase a limited and curated array of products and within a fixed amount of space almost as if in a traditional trade show. Brands are able to use their graphics and logos (all within given standards of course) to draw customers, but many are failing to completely utilize this space from a design aspect. The shop-in-shops often merge into one another and most customers don’t even realize the differentiation. My suggestion would be to focus more on the visual and the tactile aspects of these installations and provide additional room for small lounges where people can sit, areas with mirrors and area rugs, custom shelves and displays for smaller goods, anything and everything to differentiate the brand from the moment you see and step into their 12x12 world. Design can do this and more brands should take advantage of this very important tactic in presenting themselves to consumers everywhere.

• Post Covid Considerations. At the time of this writing we are already seeing plans for stores and malls to be reopened in the near future. Curbside pickup, long lines, deliveries, new cleaning protocols and social distancing have become the norm but what other measures and design strategies might we expect in the future is still to be seen. We have not yet gone through a trial and error period in establishing what this new world of retail might become. How will the building codes change and how will the code cycle even be affected by these changes is yet to be revealed but some changes resulting from the current crisis are certain. Until then, we must challenge ourselves as designers and architects to continue to consider the humanistic element in all of this. Retail environments are not just places where we buy stuff but have cultural become places where we interact with our friends and family, where we learn about new trends, interact with new technologies and play, let’s not take the play ingredient out of it.