Brands are communicated through stories and experiences. As retail architects our passion is to design spaces that convey those stories in a way that is authentic, tangible and intuitive. In our retail architectural designs, we craft a customer journey that transports the customer along the entire path with intellectual and sensory experiences which support and build the brand appreciation and understanding. By designing a choreographed customer journey of discovery, we foster brand differentiation as well as purchases.
An iconic and powerful retail design for a sneaker brand
Flightclub NY is an epicenter of the luxury sneaker-street fashion tsunami. Our interior retail design here, proudly demonstrates the direct tie of the store with the street basketball scene from the first touch of basketball leather on the front door push plate.
Upon entry, the visitor walks directly into an open basketball court space lined with an incredible selection of sneakers punctuated by an actual basketball hoop
and backboard in the center of the court.
The message in this award-winning retail design is powerful and simple: this store is about the authoritative selection,
this store is for the sneaker head who knows what they are looking at.
The almost minimal vibe is a radical focus on product. This is a perfect environmental design analog to the online sneaker community site that was the foundation for the flightclub NY flagship.
The store has such a strong link with the sneaker community that musicians regularly record videos in the store. (Miley Cyrus infamously included the store in her song 23: “J’s so fly I should work at Flight Club”.) This store won many interior and retail design awards including Interior Design Magazine’s Best of Year Retail Design Award which it won twice!
First impressions matter. That is true in retail (and everywhere else). The street presence of a store is critical for foot traffic, placemaking and landmarking. When creating a retail building design we take pains to ensure that the “the show starts on the street” as Morris Lapidus, famous for high drama designs, once said. Once that first brand signal is sent, the rest of the design journey develops with thoughtfully crafted retail interiors which flow between spaces, products and material touchpoints. All design elements underscore the intrinsic brand attributes and environmental retail design.
Immersive and playful award winning retail design for Barbie
The ultimate in playful pink fantasy: our retail design of the Barbie Flagship in Shanghai is a sequence of moments that link the iconic Barbie doll with design and heritage. The active LED façade with custom Barbie iconography and signature Barbie pink glow acts like a beacon on the busy Shanghai retail street drawing people into the flagship.
This store design spans from luxury interior design with couture
and fine jewelry, and makeup
to a department with children’s toys,
and even a restaurant and a bar!
The transitions between retail experience designs are curated with control of sequence,
sightlines and material transitions. All the fixtures and furnishings were designed by Slade and intended to build on and elevate the brand story. This store was widely recognized with design awards and retail awards including Store of the Year, Best of the Year Retail Interior, Best fixtures, Best Concept, AIANY Design Award, Business Week Good Design is Good Business Award.
Turn your brand story into an immersive experience for your customers
Our design approach is to immerse ourselves in the brand story and distill the essence of the offering for the visitor. We have deep experience in retail design across luxury retail brands, playful child-oriented brands, healthy and lifestyle brands. We take each challenge on with a fresh eye and work to create an experience that communicates the points of differentiation, the quality, the desirability and drives to a successful sale as well. We have completed retail projects in China, Korea, New York, California, and Florida. We are comfortable working in a variety of settings and pride ourselves on our ability to collaborate with clients, design teams, advertising agencies, product managers, etc.
We have experience designing retail interiors and custom fixtures for multiple locations and roll outs. For Smile Direct Club,
we designed the first physical Flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York. We translated the online orthodontia to a comfortable modern retail interior design that balances the privacy of the design with the transparency that is the hallmark of the Smile Direct offering. The customer journey in this case starts at the entry and story-telling table,
and then moves to partially screened alcoves
for consultations with staff.
Ultimately, after the purchase, customers move to the treatment bays in the back.
The intention was to create a fully open environment that also lets customers feel private for the bite imprint process. We went on to design several locations for Smile direct including Beverly Hills, LA and Nashville, TN as well as their store-in-store fixtures.
Work with an a professional architect to bring your retail design idea to life
Slade Architecture has been recognized as one of the top retail design architects in a variety of publications. Hopefully our passion for retail architecture is evident in our portfolio.