Visual Merchandising & Store Design - February 2011

Experience Retail Now FEBRUARY 2011

vmsd.com M A RC H 2008

FE B RUA R Y 2 0 1 1 WHITE STUFF |

DESIGN FIRM SURVEY |

EUROSHOP EXHIBITOR PREVIEW |

BEST HOLIDAY WINDOWS |

PROPS AND DECS

EYE CANDY

A playful clothing brand sets up shop in Scotland

EuroShop Preview 2011 Outlook for Design Firms Holiday Windows Tech the Halls

0211-VMSD-Cylindrix-FullPage-Modells.qxd:Layout 1

10W Cylindrix LED Track Head: 450 hot lumens, 2700K-3000K, multiple beam distributions. Designed to replace low-voltage MR16 halogen sources.

17W Cylindrix 2 GII 7-LED Track Head: 830 hot lumens, 2700K- 4000K, multiple beam distributions. Designed to replace 20W ceramic metal halide.

1/17/11

1:01 PM

Page 1

Solid State

of the art

Give your products the attention they deserve with the Cylindrix LED family from Amerlux. Featuring high performance and controllability, Cylindrix LED and Cylindrix 2 LED are the preferred lighting solution for

34W Cylindrix 2 GII 14-LED Track Head: 1500 hot lumens, 2700K - 4000K, multiple beam distributions. Designed to replace 39W ceramic metal halide.

every retail and hospitality space. Cylindrix LED also provides outstanding energy efficiency and reduced maintenance costs.

Visit www.AmerluxLED.com or call 973.882.5010 to find out more about transforming your retail space with Amerlux.

The Cylindrix family is also available in recessed multiples.

Š2011 Amerlux, LLC | www.amerlux.com | 973.882.5010

Experience Retail Now

FEBRUARY 2011 Vol. 142, No. 2

CONTENTS

COLUMNS

24

4

FROM THE EDITOR

7

VMSD EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

8

THE GOODS

RDC review Pratt and Pucci get crafty How many Peeps do you need to make a holiday tree?

Highlights from Greenbuild Two-Minute Tour: Dusseldorf and Cologne, Germany

16 NEXT STORE

Technology guru Jim Crawford logs on about a new era of experience design

40 VMSD SHOW

PREVIEW

EuroShop 2011 48 VMSD SHOWROOM

Props and decs

55 AD INDEX 56 CHECKING OUT

34

Macy’s Jim Sloss

F E AT U R E S 18

STRATEGIC PARTNERS

VMSD brings retailers and designers to the table to talk about the state of design in 2011.

24

A VERY TECHY CHRISTMAS

Technology took center stage in holiday windows around the world.

34

ON VMSD.com

UNSTUFFED

White Stuff’s edgy, fun lifestyle brand stands apart on Edinburgh’s grand George Street.

Exclusives in February WINE IS FINE

On the cover White Stuff’s playful visual merchandising

strategy is on display at the candy-filled cashwrap inside its newest location in Edinburgh, Scotland.

COURTESY OF MELVIN VINCENT, LONDON

Landor introduces a new brand strategy for Fine Wine & Good Spirits.

SWEET TREAT

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Peeps’ holiday tree display.

Follow VMSD on 2 FEBRUARY 2011 | vmsd.com

FE

FROM THE EDITOR

Tech Talk

VMSD’s new column puts you in touch with the technology you need to build better retail experiences.

We’re a culture obsessed with the “Weather Channel.” Or at least it feels that way several months out of the year as we live from snowstorm report to snowstorm report. If you were in New York last month attending NRF’s Big Show, you know what I’m talking about. There were almost as many conversations on the showfloor asking “Has your flight been canceled?” as “Did you see that cool new technology over there?”

When I got back into the office (thankfully, with no canceled or rerouted flights from New York to Cincinnati), there was an e-mail message from Urban Outfitters saying “Snowed In? Shop Online with Us.” Even though I wasn’t, I appreciated the we’re-in-touch-with-you sentiment. And even for e-mail, it felt personal. True, a large segment of their consumer base, from Atlanta to Boston, was probably experiencing some sort of weather-related delay. But who doesn’t enjoy a little shopping inspiration – especially with a discount attached to it.

This simple e-mail also illustrates a brand that gets it. After all, retail is all about the experience, and just because a shopper can’t make it into your store on a particular day doesn’t mean you should lose contact.

One of the biggest challenges for retailers in 2011 is learning to link all brand touchpoints together. Gone are the days when your in-store experience was separate from your online experience, from your Facebook experience. Today, it’s all about one seamless experience.

But retailers need some help. As Jim Crawford, executive director of the Global Retail Executive Council and a principal at Taberna Retail (Los Angeles), points out in his debut column “Next Store” (see page 16), consumers have rapidly adopted new technologies in their daily lives while retail stores are stuck back in the ’90s with clunky kiosks and overhead TV monitors.

His vision of the future involves not only more advanced, immersive in-store technologies but also design and retail professionals who design with the entire experience in mind, including at home, on-thego and in the store.

“We’ll use this column to explore many of the technologies creating the biggest impact on the next-generation shopping experience,” says Crawford, “not from the IT-centric point of view, but rather how they become tools for the store designer to create artful experiences.”

Today that experience that can start anywhere. At the storefront. In the fitting room. With a computer screen on a snowy day. The important detail isn’t where it started. It’s about focusing on how to keep it going.

4 FEBRUARY 2011 | vmsd.com

11262 Cornell Park Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242 P: 513.421.2050 | F: 513.421.5144 vmsd@stmediagroup.com | VMSD.com

EDITORIAL Editor Anne DiNardo anne.dinardo@stmediagroup.com Senior Art Director Kimberly Pegram kim.pegram@stmediagroup.com Editor at Large Steve Kaufman steve.kaufman@stmediagroup.com New York Editor Eric Feigenbaum European Editor John Ryan, London

SALES Publisher Eastern U.S. / Eastern Canada Murray Kasmenn murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com P: 770.578.2577

Business Development Manager Western U.S. / Western Canada

Donna McKerrow

donna.mckerrow@stmediagroup.com P: 770.650.8233 x339

Business Development Manager International

Patricia Iannelli

patricia.iannelli@stmediagroup.com Via G. Rossini 16, 21100 Varese, Italy P: +39.0332.240285

C O R P O R AT E President Tedd Swormstedt Design Group Director Kristin D. Zeit Audience Development Director Christine Baloga Production Coordinator Keri Harper Senior Event Manager Kristy Lohre Director of Book Division Mark Kissling Reprint Information 800-925-1110, ext. 399

CUSTOMER SERVICE / SUBSCRIPTIONS

800.421.1321 (U.S. and Canada only) P: 513.421.2050 F: 513.421.6110 customer@stmediagroup.com 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. EST

vmsd editorial advisory board

EAB

r e ta i l ers Bevan Bloemendaal Senior Director, Global Creative Services Timberland Rick Burbee Divisional VP Home Design/Trend Sears Holdings Corp.

Max Carmona Senior Director McDonald’s USA Tim Cox Director, Creative Services Publix Super Markets DAVID CURTIS Director, Store Design North America Starbucks Coffee Co. matt davison Director, Store Design and Planning Kohl’s Department Stores Linda Fargo Senior VP, Fashion Director and Store Presentation Bergdorf Goodman Tracey finger Senior Manager Retail Creative Apple Jason Floyd Director, Store Development GameStop Inc. Amy Garrigan VP, Brand Development Family Christian Stores Beth Harlor Associate Director – CBDi Design Procter & Gamble Jack Hruska Executive VP, Creative Services Bloomingdale’s victor johnson Director, Store Environment White House | Black Market Jeffrey Key Store Environment Manager - Store Planning Lowe’s Companies Inc. hak kim Director of Store Design Tumi

Jay Kratz Architect, Senior Design Manager Store Design Luxottica Retail sharon lessard VP, Store Design SuperValu Inc. Dave Lindsey Corporate VP, Store Planning Nordstrom david milne VP, Architecture and Design Carlson Restaurants Worldwide Jose Raul Padron Senior Visual Manager Godiva Chocolatier Tracey Peters National Visual and Merchandising Manager Holt Renfrew Stephanie Picone VP, Marketing/Visual IZOD Retail Ken Pray Director, Store Design The Kroger Co. reginaldo reyes Senior Design Lead Target Kevin Ruehle Store Layout, Senior Director, Prototype Design & Evolution Walmart James Sloss VP, Design|SPACE Macy's Inc. Todd Taylor Director of Design Darden Restaurants Inc. Jan Tribbey VP, Store Design & Construction Victoria’s Secret Stores Limited Brands Parisa Zander Director, Worldwide Visual Merchandising, Store Design Microsoft

Lynn Knutson Visual Merchandising Program Manager Harley-Davidson

DE SIGN/ i n dustry CON SULTANTS Tom Beebe Creative Consultant/Stylist Michael Bodziner Principal Gensler Jim Crawford Executive Director Global Retail Executive Council Steven Derwoed Senior VP and Managing Director Callison RYA Studio peter dixon Senior Partner, Creative Director Prophet Bruce Dybvad President Interbrand Design Forum niki fitzgerald VP, Managing Creative Director Graphic Design FRCH Design Worldwide

Miho Koshido Creative Director JGA Kevin O’Donnell Founder Thread Collaborative tara o'neil Chief Creative Officer Perennial Inc. Lee Peterson Executive VP, Creative Services WD Partners todd rowland Director of Design, Retail Little Randy Sauer Principal MulvannyG2 Architecture Brian Shafley President Chute Gerdeman

Bryan Gailey VP Retail Design Director Arc Worldwide

randall stone Senior Partner Lippincott

Les Hiscoe VP, Retail Group Shawmut Design and Construction

Dimitri Vermes VP CBX

david hogrefe Managing Director Fitch

rachel zsembery Associate Bergmeyer & Associates

jeffrey hutchison President Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates

2

TG THE GOODS

Edited by Anne DiNardo

1

4

5

3

6

7

A.R.E. Retail Design Collective Several records were broken in December as A.R.E., the Association for Retail Environments, hosted the annual Retail Design Collective, Dec. 8 -10. The 2011 event involved more showrooms than ever, greater traffic (including a strong international contingent) and a record-breaking crowd at the 14th PAVE Gala.

The show headquarters at 7 W New York hosted 18 of the 36 showrooms as well as conference sessions and networking events. During VMSD’s session on visual merchandising trends, New York editor Eric Feigenbaum and panelists Lauren Shaw of Louis 8 FEBRUARY 2011 | vmsd.com

Vuitton, Tom Davidson of Food Emporium and Paul Olszewski of Macy’s Herald Square discussed the role of visual merchandising as the communicator of the brand and the use of technology, handcrafted props and color to help in that effort.

“Our job is to captivate our clients and envelope them in a sense of what our brand is,” said Shaw.

Olszewski added, “It’s more important than ever to define who we are.”

Many showrooms displayed new materials, finishes and product lines to help retailers in their

8

9

10

11

13

12

14 quest for something new and fresh. Brass and black chrome finishes were popular in fixturing, reflecting a desire for a warmer materials palette. Textures could be seen everywhere, whether displayed on mannequins or in visual props. Vintage looks, including the mixing of metals and woods, also showed a renewed popularity in many of the showrooms.

During the PAVE Gala, held on December 8, Leonard Barszap, studio design manager at d-ash design (New York), received the 2010 Rising Star Award. VMSD also presented its eighth annual Excellence in New York Visual Merchandising and Design awards to retailers Aeropostale and Ralph Lauren.

Next year’s show is scheduled for December 7-9.

15 1 PAVE Gala 2 Rising Star winner Leonard Barszap (left), d-ash design, with last year’s winner, Travis Burnham from J.Crew 3 JP Metal America 4 Lifestyle/Trimco 5 Holiday Image 6 Bernstein Display | MC 7 Universal Display & Design 8 Elevations Inc. 9 Mondo Mannequins 10 Adel Rootstein 11 CNL Mannequins 12 DK Display 13 Patina-V 14 Holiday Foliage 15 Megavision Inc.

— Anne DiNardo

vmsd.com | FEBRUARY 2011

9

the goods

Teragren

antoin e b o ot z , n e w yor k

Greenbuild 2010 Review

White Paper Students at Pratt Institute School of Art and Design partnered with Ralph Pucci Intl. (New York) on “Pratt+Paper & Ralph Pucci” this past December. Students outfitted 20 of the manufacturer’s new Girl 2 mannequins in fashions constructed entirely of white paper.

A panel of judges selected the top three designs, with the top prize (shown) going to Dana Otto, an industrial design student at Pratt.

In January, the exhibit was featured inside the windows at Macy’s Herald Square before getting ready for transport to EuroShop. For more images, visit VMSD.com.

“ Shopping will continue to be this nation’s highest form of entertainment.”

—Jerry Storch, ceo, Toys “R” Us Source: USA Today, November 28, 2010

10 February 2011 | vmsd.com

Last fall’s annual Greenbuild conference in Chicago opened with retired Gen. Colin Powell touting sustainable building as part of a bigger purpose. But as noble as the green design concept is, the movement won’t be furthered by idealism alone. Luckily, the tradeshow floor was stocked with products made with consideration for both the natural environment and the retail environment.

Teragren showed off its recently expanded Portfolio Collection of bamboo flooring (shown), an alternative to rainforest hardwoods that is currently being used in Timberland stores. Recycled leather tiles by Eco Domo, which the company says can be found on the floors and walls of such retailers as Starbucks, Levi’s and Guess, reuse leather scraps left over from the production of other goods.

Several companies unveiled new cork products, ranging from wood floor replacements to countertops. Expanko’s new cork flooring line includes high-end residential looks, which can be found in specialty apparel stores such as J.Crew. High-density cork countertops made by Suberra turn cork from the wine industry into a completely nonporous surface with the same density as oak.

Re-use is also the name of the game at Eco Timber, which has developed a flooring product made from furniture manufacturing industry waste. Alkemi’s recycled surfacing materials are made of post-industrial waste, offering alternatives to stone, glass, plastic and wood, and Alkemi says it can be found in Neiman Marcus’ Cusp stores.

The lighting industry demonstrated its continuing evolution, as Cooper Lighting unveiled its Combolight Next Generation recessed LED with dimmable, adjustable 18-watt LEDs replacing 90-watt PAR38s. Lutron offered a host of new technologies aimed at increasing efficiency among lighting systems, including occupancy and daylight sensors and CFL and LED dimmers and controls.

Green design is here to stay. If Greenbuild 2010 was any indication, so is the continued evolution of products that are thoughtfully sourced and creatively designed. – DC

j oh n g ran e n, te rag ren llc

TG

JPMA-VMSD-Ad_01172011.pdf 2011-01-17 16:47:20

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

TG

the goods

Colorium building in Duesseldorf, Germany

Rhine River and Dom in Cologne, Germany Mediahafen harbour in Duesseldorf, Germany

Two-Minute Tour: Dusseldorf and Cologne, Germany The Numbers

The Hotspots

Dusseldorf and Cologne are located in the heart of Europe’s “Blue Banana,” a corridor of urbanization that stretches from Northwest England in the north to Milan in the south. They are the largest economic centers and the highest populated cities in Germany’s RhineRuhr metropolitan region, a megacity located within the federal state of North-Rhine-Westphalia. The Rhine-Ruhr region is home to more than 10 million residents and 12 Fortune 500 companies, and it accounts for about 15 percent of the country’s GDP. Cologne is home to 70,000 of the region’s 300,000 college students and hosts more than 50 trade fairs and 2000 conventions per year, which draw many of the region’s 12 million visitors per year.

Cologne’s Hohe Strasse is a popular street among tourists for its trendy retail chains and it runs directly into Schildergasse, Europe’s busiest shopping street, with more than 13,000 people passing through per hour, according to market research company GfK. Schildergasse houses flagships of some of the best known German and European fashion brands, including Gucci and Prada. In Dusseldorf, Konigsallee is one of Germany’s most exclusive shopping destinations, housing Armani, Jil Sander and Chanel flagships, among others. In 2009, Cologne-based Rewe Group, Germany’s second-largest food retailing company, launched Temma, an urban market concept combining elements of a convenience store, deli, natural food store and café.

The Pulse Cologne has a youthful feel, says Claudia Horbert, director research store planning and design, EHI Retail Institute (Cologne), adding that the city’s large student population attracts a wide range of fashion retailers and serves as a test market for new concepts. Cologne’s Globetrotter concept store allows shoppers to test outerwear and outdoors equipment in rooms that simulate extreme elements.

Dusseldorf is the country’s political and fashion center and its residents’ higher incomes and strong buying power support designer labels and other luxury retail, Horbert adds. Local fashion businesses bring in $19.8 billion a year, with the region’s biggest fashion retailers – Esprit, C&A and fashion department store Peek & Cloppenburg – generating $7.4 billion.

12 February 2011 | vmsd.com

The Opportunities/Obstacles German consumers are price sensitive, Horbert says, but outside retailers must be aware that they don’t make purchases based on price alone. “It’s very important to have something special that distinguishes your company from all the others,” she says, noting that Swedish and Spanish fashion retailers are already offering quality products at low prices. Food retailers in Germany face state-regulated limitations on store size, which have kept supermarkets from entering the market so far. Fashion continues to be a strong sector in Dusseldorf, which is home to five fashion schools and actively supports the local scene through sponsorships of events and awards. — Danny Cross

See us at Euroshop 2011 HALL 04 STAND-N 4D35

HANS BOODT. CREATING CHARACTERS

WWW.HANSBOODT.COM

TG

the goods

A Peeps-ful Season Forget a partridge in a pear tree. Visitors to The Gaylord Hotel (National Harbor, Md.) this past holiday season could see the first ever Peeps holiday tree constructed of the marshmallow treats.

Here, VMSD breaks down the display by the numbers:

For more on the making of the Peeps tree, visit VMSD.com.

Retailer

Just Born Inc. (parent company of Peeps & Co.), Bethlehem, Pa. Creative Direction

ZenGenius, Columbus, Ohio

184

Peeps on the star

311

20 feet

Hours to construct

Height of tree

2025

Glue sticks used to adhere Peeps to tree structure

336

Chick and Pink Bunny Peeps used for ornaments

6000+

7 feet

Total number of Peeps used on tree

Diameter of the tree

5

Rolls of chicken wire that wrap the structure’s aluminum frame

11

Glue gun burns

15

Classic Chick Peeps on tree skirt

287

Classic Chicks and Pink Bunnies used as ribbon on presents

14 February 2011 | vmsd.com

258

Chocolate Mousse Reindeer for the trunk

Ri ch ar d Ca dan , Fa irf i e ld, Con n .

203

Peeps eaten during installation

It’s All About the List Supermarkets are scientifically designed to capture the attention of impulse shoppers: the tempting rack near the checkout line, the eye-catching endcap display, the point-of-sale signage.

The problem with that strategy: It’s largely pointless!

At least according to a recent report by The NPD Group (Port Washington, N.Y.), which found that 94 percent of U.S. households prepare a written list prior to grocery shopping. And 72 percent of shoppers “never” or “only occasionally” veer from that list.

“Before they ever enter a grocery store, most U.S. households have already made the majority of their purchasing decisions, and rarely buy on impulse,” says the report, “Before the Store.”

“It’s all about getting on the list,” says Ann Hanson, executive director of product development and author of the report, “to focus on the consumers at home before they leave for the store.” x – Steve Kaufman

call for entries

2010 Winner Macy’s Herald Square “Paper”

VMSD International Visual Competition Enter VMSD’s 17th annual International Visual Competition, celebrating great achievements in visual merchandising, storewide promotions and window displays.

For more information and entry form, visit VMSD.com.

(Look under “Competitions” on the Hot Topics page.)

Deadline: February 28, 2011 Direct questions to: Anne DiNardo / anne.dinardo@stmediagroup.com / 513-263-9337

NS

nex t store

By Jim Crawford

A Brand-New Tool Kit

How advancing in-store technology is leading to a new era of experience design.

it easy when it came to technology as a part of their design tool kit. The IT department would specify the size of the point-of-sale terminals, perhaps a big blocky kiosk unit replacing a well-designed endcap, or maybe marketing would add a clunky TV over an aisle to show paid ads from brands carried in the store. Simple concepts that didn’t challenge the basic premises of traffic flow, visual merchandising, layout and design.

But fast-forward to 2011, where shoppers armed with smartphones roam store aisles checking prices and searching Facebook for shopping advice from friends; where iPads have (literally) put the alwayson power of e-commerce into the hands of shoppers in the stores; and where multiple HD televisions throughout the home have become the norm rather

The dam has burst and technology is now racing into stores like a floodwater. But it’s being controlled by the shopper. than the centerpiece of an expensive “media room.”

The reality is that consumers – especially shoppers – have rapidly adopted new technologies in their daily lives.

Retail stores, on the other hand, have lingered back in the “stone age” of the 1990s. Consider that p-o-s systems and kiosks still dominate the technology footprint of stores, and shoppers looking for product information are more apt to Google it on their mobile phones than find a sales associate to ask. Despite a huge hype in the mid-2000s around the “store of the future,” most of the innovation has been on the back end.

Technology prices have come dramatically down over the years, shoppers are clamoring for new experiences and retail management teams strive to differentiate from the competition by any and all means.

So why has it been so hard for next-generation shopping technology to get into the stores?

16 February 2011 | vmsd.com

Over the years, retail has adopted a strategy of embracing “multichannel retail,” separating the shopping experience into channels and assigning organizational responsibility over each channel. This worked well for the past decade, as retailers accepted a certain loss of control over the shopping experience on the Web (where competitors and information about prices and products were only a click away) while retaining control of the shopping experience inside their stores.

Unfortunately, shoppers didn’t stay in the neat little channel lines retailers laid down for them. The cracks in the dam started subtly: A shopper walks into a Best Buy store carrying a printout from bestbuy.com, asking why the price is different on the web site than the signage in the store. Grocery cashiers are handed coupons printed off the Internet that seem too good to be true, yet ring up correctly. Then suddenly, that same shopper is waving a cell phone, demanding price matching for a competitor that the retailer didn’t even know existed. The dam has burst and technology is now racing into stores like a floodwater. But it’s being controlled by the shopper.

It’s this phenomenon – technology change driven by the shopper, not by the IT department – that presents both the greatest challenge and the greatest opportunity to store designers.

The Challenge The biggest problem retailers face today is organizational apathy. The boundary lines around responsibility for the shopper have been drawn too strongly.

IT sees its role to support, not to innovate; e-com-

Tabe rna Re ta i l , Lo s Ang el es

Just five short years ago, store designers had

merce/multichannel departments take care of online shopping, but end their vision with store finders and product locators; marketing manages Facebook pages and Twitter streams, but doesn’t touch the shopper in the store; and store designers pick up the shopper at the store entrance.

Few retailers have anyone who thinks about the end-to-end shopping experience from the customer’s point of view – other than perhaps the ceo.

This begs the question: Which discipline will take the lead in crafting the next-generation shopping experience using new technologies? For store designers, this sea-change in technology opens up a whole world of opportunity to redefine their role in the retail enterprise. Retail executives must master not only the science of the technology (the bits and bytes), but, more importantly, the art of understanding how these technologies are used by shoppers to create a more compelling and effective shopping experience. Out of all the possible leaders within the retail enterprise, only store design has the blending of art and science necessary to embrace these new technologies.

The recent NRF Big Show expo in New York illustrated this perfectly: The show floor was chock full of innovative technology, but without a guide, store designers were forced to wander through a bewildering array of booths filled with buzzwords rather than leveragable solutions.

The Path Forward Over the course of the next year, we will use this column to explore many of the technologies creating the biggest impact on the next-generation shopping experience, not from the IT-centric point of view, but rather how they become tools for the store designer to create artful experiences. For many of these, a deep technical understanding is far less important than a conceptual understanding of how shoppers actually use them.

Armed with this knowledge, designers need to shift their thinking around their role from “store design” to “experience design,” encompassing all the various touchpoints with a shopper: at home, on-thego and in the store. By transforming the discipline into a single perspective on the shopper as she moves through the shopping process, today’s store designers will become tomorrow’s creators of the unified shopping experience.

Where to Begin Rather than diving into the specifics of smartphone

market share or application development strategy, store designers need to start by grounding themselves in the three key areas of shopper-centric technology.

1) Mobile Retailing . Shoppers are armed with

smartphones that offer high-definition touchscreen interaction, location-awareness, camera interfaces and an “always on” Internet connection. Couple this with the easy download of apps, making it simple for anyone to add new programs to their phone, and shoppers have a powerful tool in their hands to check prices, read reviews, locate products, manage lists and just about any other shopping feature imaginable.

Retailers need to look at how the mobile device fits into the store experience, and store designers need to seize the opportunity to begin incorporating smartphones into the ways they see shoppers interacting in stores.

2) Social Retailing. Facebook has been a near-

unstoppable force, skyrocketing to over a half-billion users around the world in less than five years. It’s making a huge impact on the world of e-commerce, but it’s poised to impact retailing even more directly: 200 million Facebook users access the service on their phones, and those who do so spend about twice as much time as other users on Facebook. Whether it’s posting a review of a product, “checking in” at stores and restaurants or asking friends in real-time for information and recommendations on products and services, shoppers are increasingly blurring the lines and using Facebook in stores.

3) New In-Store Technologies. Today, radical

new technologies make the in-store experience even more immersive. From HD projectors that can light up entire buildings to interfaces that actually read what a shopper is doing and respond without a mouse or touchscreen, the possibilities for shoppers to engage with immersive touchpoints in the store have grown exponentially over the past five years.

By approaching these new technology paradigms with a new set of eyes and looking to pull them into the disciple of store design along art, architecture and materials science, store designers can create powerful new experiences that delight shoppers.

This will make experience design more profitable for the retail enterprise and strategically more relevant and important than ever before. x

J im Crawford is executive director of the Global Retail Executive Council (grec), an international association, and a principal at Taberna Retail, a global retail shopping experience consulting company.

He will share his knowledge on developing in-store technologies and trends in a bi-monthly column for VMSD. You can reach him at http:// about.me/jimcrawford. vmsd.com | February 2011

17

By Steve Kaufman, Editor at Large

Strategic Partners Retail is re-examining what “good design” means. The new buzzword is “customer-centric,” and today’s design firm is increasingly being called on for cultural and demographic expertise as much as for designing a store.

In a slowly improving economic climate, retailers are looking for innovative answers. And, as strategic initiatives begin to open up again, they’re turning to an old resource for new services.

To develop our annual picture of the design firm business, we’ve brought both sides of the business to the table. Joining us this year to discuss the health of the industry, 2011-style, are four members of the VMSD Editorial Advisory Board’s design consultancy component: David Hogrefe of Fitch (Columbus, Ohio), Tara O’Neil of Perennial (Toronto), Todd Rowland of Little (Charlotte, N.C.) and Brian Shafley of Chute Gerdeman (Columbus, Ohio). And, to get the retail perspective, we were joined by representatives of two of the country’s largest organizations: Ken Pray, director of store design for The Kroger Co., and Jim Sloss, vp, design/SPACE, for Macy’s Inc. What did they tell us? That retailers and brands are trying to zero in on the way consumers behave and how they’re motivated by their shopping environments. The buzzword of the day is “customercentric.” And, as those habits and needs are being turned into store design elements, design firms find themselves morphing into strategic and research resources valued as much for their experience and insights as for their design capabilities.

18 February 2011 | vmsd.com

VMSD: How has this economy changed the design firm business?

Brian Shafley: The projects are more strategic in nature, not so bricks-and-mortar-related. And we’re dealing a lot more with top retailing executives.

David Hogrefe: We’ve been working with several brands on retail activation projects. And there have been more opportunities to think about how to really, truly engage consumers in new and interesting ways.

Tara O’Neil: There does seem to be a growing appreciation for our insights about strategy. I don’t know if it’s because retailers realize there really is a return on investment for it, but we’re having to sell a little less hard on why strategy’s important.

So it seems you’re no longer being looked at strictly for your design and architecture capabilities but also for your knowledge of the retail business?

Shafley: Definitely. We not only understand the selling environment but we also have an acute understanding of shopping behavior, what motivates people to buy, how demographics affect shopping, and also how to integrate all these various tools – brand communications, digital technology, visual merchandising, etc.

VMSD Design Firm Roundtable Participants: Design Consultants

David Hogrefe, managing director, Fitch

Tara O’Neil, chief creative officer, Perennial

retailers

Todd Rowland, director of design, retail, Little

Brian Shafley, president, Chute Gerdeman

Ken Pray, director of store design, The Kroger Co.

Jim Sloss, vp, design/SPACE, Macy’s

Hogrefe: I think we’re all paying a lot more attention to consumers, too, and their shifting needs and their expectations, which continue to grow every year exponentially. How do you make the shopping experience fun, lively, interesting and convenient? The strategies are driven by involving the consumers in the process of the design and the solution and paying a lot more attention to what they say and want. We’ve been preaching consumer-centricity for years and I think it’s really hit its stride in the last year.

Ken Pray: Over the past four years, we have become entirely customer-centric. We’re not making a fashion statement. We can no longer try to please just ourselves, as supermarket executives and designers.

We have to connect the design with our customers.

We have to make sure there’s a return on investment when we make any physical change in the store.

There has to be something we can point to that actually moves the dial – that our customers really like – and that we can back up with research data.

Are retailers seeing the changing relationship in the same way?

Are you enlisting design firms to perform any of this research?

Jim Sloss: Yes. Our focus these days is on growing same-store sales, launching new initiatives, refocusing on branding elements. And with that workload, we’re turning to our consultants for some of those services. We’re also asking them to do research, to help us fill what knowledge we have and maybe give us a different perspective on what our assumptions were.

Pray: Yes, to a certain degree. I think the reason to go outside to design services and consultants is to bring us some ideas, some concepts, because we’ve got to get outside of our own walls.

retailers and brands are zeroing in on the way consumers behave and how they’re motivated by their shopping environments.

vmsd.com | February 2011

19

Are you handing the design firm a fairly specific brief? Or are you saying, “This is what we don’t want, this is what hasn’t worked, now you guide us through the wilderness”?

Hi, Tech VMSD: There seems to be an enormous potential for new technology in the stores, and that’s going to require some design integration. Do design firms see this as a brave new world for them?

Hogrefe: We have to start thinking about technology from the consumer’s point of view.

What does she have in her purse? How do we become more engaging with the customer and the use of her smart phone? How do we communicate to draw her in, and how do we communicate once she’s in the store?

But is that your normal area of expertise?

Shafley: Just because it’s technology doesn’t mean you have different fundamentals to deal with. You still have to grab the customer’s attention and give her what she needs to make a selection. And if you don’t do that, it just becomes gee-whiz technology, a cool factor but not a whole lot of return on investment.

O’Neil: We’ve put a number of digital signs into stores, only to see dark screens as time went on.

So now we’re being asked to develop content and keep it going, both for digital and social media. Clients are saying to us, “If you’re going to suggest that, you actually have to bring us actual solutions, as well, and maintain them for us.”

Pray: We try to be very careful not to give the design firm solutions. We don’t hand designers a color palette and say “design with this in mind.” We think that’s where their expertise should be. But there are qualitative concepts about space that we hear our customers talking about all the time: It should be welcoming, warm, non-cluttered, inviting. It should make them happy to be in the space. That will form the design parameters and become the guidelines.

Sloss: We have plenty of knowledge and research on customers’ preferences, but we’re looking for a fresh outlook. If there’s any tendency we have, it’s to revert to our old standard ways or convince ourselves that we tried that before and it wouldn’t work now. Outside design firms have experience with other retailers or other situations and can provide a compelling, convincing message. Sometimes, the message is a validation of what we’ve done; sometimes, it will take us away from where our old habits have always led us.

Shafley: Because we work in a lot of different categories, and a lot of different retail channels and segments, we can pull together ideas from those different corners in new and fresh ways. That’s one thing we always go to market with: this ability to have a fresh angle on a problem the retailer has been experiencing.

Retailers, prior experience is not always the key to solving problems, is it?

Pray: Experience is a great thing, but it’s also a liability. It can help us see clearly where we’ve been, but what we really need to understand is, more aspirationally, where are we going? What are the things we don’t know yet?

Hogrefe: And we can bring both kinds of thinking into the equation. A lot of times, we challenge our

20 February 2011 | vmsd.com

Fleetwood VMSD Feb 2011 aw:Fleetwood Green

14/1/11

12:05

Page 1

Since 1970 225 Peach Street Leesport, PA 19533 Ph. 610 916 9999 USA - Atlanta, Georgia • Chicago, Illinois • Manhattan, New York • Leesport, Pennsylvania International - Shanghai, China • Cologne, Germany • New Delhi, India

www.fleetwoodfixtures.com

Try us! You’ ll love us.

clients by asking, “Why do you do it that way?” The answer is often, “Because we’ve always done it that way.” If you look at certain industries within retail, and you look at photographs from 25 years ago and photographs today, there’s often not a lot of change.

Higher, and Hire VMSD: The additional capabilities you’ve all mentioned suggest that you’ll have to add staff. Is that what you’re all experiencing?

Shafley: Yes, but there has been a change in composition. It’s less architects and engineers, more people with branding and technological capabilities.

Hogrefe: We’re hiring across the board, looking for designers who have knowledge and skill and are also bold and ambitious in their thinking.

We want people who can ask, and answer, “How does technology play into the consumer shopping experience? And how do we make this brand, or this retailer, stand out and be different in new ways?”

Rowland: Essentially, for our retail team here at Little, it has been primarily about “stability.” And we’re now seeing increased activity in several retail sectors that has enabled us to make a few key hires.

O’Neil: Our business is as busy as it’s ever been.

As such, we’ve been hiring like crazy for the traditional skill sets, like architecture, interior design, industrial design, graphics, communications, writers and client services. We’ll be almost doubling our size, both at our studio in Toronto and our office in Bangalore, India.

22 February 2011 | vmsd.com

Design firms, does that affect how you deal with your clients?

Todd Rowland: Definitely. Most consultancies now bring a pretty robust team of experience from more than just design and interiors. We also examine the client organization, seeing how various departments interact with one another. We overhear things, get a sense of their culture, hear how store planning talks to marketing, what marketing’s niches are, where some of the rubs are in terms of getting things initiated.

“More than just design and interiors.”

In fact, we’ve talked very little about designing stores. Are all of these ancillary services being developed because there just aren’t many new stores being built? Is that not coming back?

Shafley: We’re seeing signs of a pick-up in activity.

But most of our clients and prospective clients are looking at it as more of an integrated process, multichannel strategies and bringing technology into the stores, part of a larger effort to reposition their business. And you can’t do that without changing the stores themselves. So I do think there is new-store development happening, though it’s not at the absolute numbers it used to be.

Hogrefe: A lot of retailers are testing new format concepts and different sizes, playing with size and shapes and geographical locations.

Pray: All of that is true. But I think the overall store design is more of a backdrop for merchandising elements that connect with our customers and make their experience relevant. The rest is kind of background anyway and I’m not sure anyone gets excited about that. x

24 February 2011 | vmsd.com

By Danny Cross, Associate Editor

A Very Techy Christmas Last year marked the first time in his 18 years at Neiman Marcus that Ignaz Gorischek, vp, store development, repeated a specific holiday window element. After incorporating a 90-foot crawl tube into 2009’s “future sources of energy” holiday display, this year’s interactive journey took kids to the moon using 200 feet of crawl tube. Inside the tube, children were able to navigate their way through windows depicting several stages of space travel, from blast off to touch down, even following the tube outside the windows, over the sidewalk and around the corner before re-entering the display.

Neiman Marcus also added something for adults in the form of six different texting stations where onlookers could control special effects from their phones, such as activating space figures. The installation included augmented reality features the retailer has never before attempted, including a dancing robot, rocket blasting off and a solar system, which were activated via a cell phone or special QR code printed on visitors’ space passports. More than 8000 people played along.

“What we’re learning through this is that people will stop and engage the window if you motivate them to do so,” Gorischek says. “We’re using these technologies for entertainment now, but what we’re learning is that we can use them as marketing and selling tools, too.”

Several other retailers put new technologies to work inside their windows. At Saks Fifth Avenue’s New York flagship, a 3-D projection on the building’s façade simulated snow gathering on the ledges and bubbles floating out the windows. Bloomingdale’s

used a mosaic of overlapping flatscreen TVs to show dreamy, winter forest landscapes.

Macy’s Herald Square, which has been implementing technology into its windows for the last several years, combined the traditional 1897 classic “Yes, Virginia,” with animation, voiceovers and strategically placed LCD screens in a theatrically styled remake.

“Some of the LCD screens are obvious, but some are hidden within buildings and scenery to give the viewer that extra little bit of surprise,” says Paul Olszewski, Macy’s director of windows.

Enjoy VMSD’s collection of the best holiday windows of 2010 and be sure to log onto vmsd.com for more head-turning displays.

1 Neiman Marcus, Dallas “Big Encounters of the Little Kind” Ignaz Gorischek, vp store development Photography: Charlie Mayer, Chicago

1

vmsd.com | February 2011

25

2

2 Hugo Boss, New York “Holiday Window 2010” Lisa Chamberlain, Hugo Boss; Matthew Schwam, president/ceo, Holiday Image Photography: Kathy Wong Boegh, Queens, N.Y.

3 Saks Fifth Avenue, New York “The Snowflake and the Bubble” Julio Gomez, window director Photography: Courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue/ Richard Cadan Photography, Fairfield, Conn.

3

26 February 2011 | vmsd.com

4

4 Guess, Hollywood “Winter White Holiday” Anthony Saracino, visual merchandising creative manager Photography: Jesse Tenorlo, Culver City, Calif.

5 Macy’s, New York “Yes, Virginia” Paul Olszewski, director of windows Photography: Richard Cadan Photography, Fairfield, Conn.

5

vmsd.com | February 2011

27

6

7

28 February 2011 | vmsd.com

6 Bloomingdale’s, New York “Holiday 2010” Jack Hruska, executive vp of creative services Photography: Willo Font, New York

7 The Bay, Toronto “Holiday 2010” Ana Fernandes, creative design manager Photography: James Dioron, Toronto

8 Halls Crown center, Kansas City, Mo. “Wishing You the Very Best” Don Rogers, visual merchandising manager Photography: Hollis Officer, Kansas City

9 Holt Renfrew, Toronto

8

“Happy Christmas” John Gerhardt, creative director Photography: Deryck Lewis, Toronto

9

vmsd.com | February 2011

29

10

10 Tiffany, New York “The Blue Bird” Richard Moore, vp visual and creative services; Lucy-Ann Bouwman, Sightgeist Design Photography: Pax Whitford/Chris Akelian, New York/Massachusetts

11 Apple, global “iPhone FaceTime Holiday Window” Michael Fisher, senior creative director; Tracey Finger, manager, retail creative Photography: Circe Photography LLC, New York

11

30 February 2011 | vmsd.com

Bernstein VMSD Feb 2011:Bernstein Dec AW

14/1/11

11:42

Page 1

SHOWROOM: 151 WEST 25TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10001 T. 212.337.9578 F. 212.337.9579 WWW.BERNSTEINDISPLAY.COM WWW.MC-COLLECTIONS.COM

12

12 M yer Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia “The Nutcracker and the King of Mice” Wayne Latham, general manager visual brand Photography: Rob Anderson Photography, South Yarra, Victoria, Australia

13 Bergdorf Goodman, New York “Wish You Were Here” David Hoey, senior director, visual merchandising/ window designer Photography: Ricky Zehavi, New York x

13

32 February 2011 | vmsd.com

EuroShop

The Global Retail Trade Fair Dusseldorf, Germany Feb. 26 - Mar. 3, 2011 www.euroshop.de

Visit Us: Hall 4, Stand 4M01

021'2B906'B)HEB B LQGG

BOUTIQUE

86 6.6 4 5. 7032 ex t. 327

mondomannequins.com

30

Inside White Stuff ’s new George Street emporium, a traditional British red phone box is home to a computer monitor that allows shoppers to access additional inventory online.

UNSTUFFED A cheeky lifestyle brand takes up residence on the toniest street in Edinburgh.

By John Ryan, European Editor

34 FEBRUARY 2011 | vmsd.com

George Street is the grandest thoroughfare in the august city of Edinburgh, with much of its length filled with law offices, side by side with retail stores of the kind that only those with a lawyer’s salary could afford to frequent. However, there are a few exceptions, and the latest arrival is one of them.

White Stuff, a fashion retailer out of the edgy London suburb of Brixton, is markedly cheaper than what is normally expected of George Street – but it adds a dash of mid-market fun, making its arrival here something of an event. There are, in fact, two parallel major shopping streets in Edinburgh, George and Princes streets, and the latter is where you’d expect

M elv i n V i nce nt, Lon do n

The Edinburgh store’s been a year in the making and there will be more White Stuff stores similar to it, but definitely not the same, in 2011.

vmsd.com | February 2011

35

Above Wooden gardening

sheds at the back of the store serve as the men’s fitting rooms, deliberately aged with a centerfold from a 1970s tabloid newspaper attached to the inside of each of the fitting room doors.

36 February 2011 | vmsd.com

to find a store like White Stuff. The decision by the retailer to open on George Street was in part opportunist (a site became available), but it was also a conscious choice to locate in a more chichi destination.

Lifestyle brand White Stuff, founded in the 1980s by two ski bums, was built around “fun” and “loveliness,” according to Lee Cooper, creative director. The new two-floor, 6600-square-foot store is the retailer’s first “emporium,” more than twice the size of any of the 74 other White Stuff locations.

Here, Cooper and his team have taken an old-fash-

ioned ironmongery shop, Grays of George Street, and opened up the interior to restore much of its Victorian integrity, with everything from the elaborately carved wooden staircase to the heavily moulded ceilings getting attention. “Everything was covered up and had been hidden by 1960s shopfitting,” says Cooper.

But it’s the visual merchandising, which is central to the White Stuff philosophy, that really defines this interior, brought to life by Cooper and Lou Burnett, head of shop interiors for the brand.

Burnett works by collecting suitable props for a

• $KDU@SHNMR (MB

DKDU@SHNMR HMB

+HSSKDi DKC UDMTD [ 2NTSG 2@M %Q@MBHRBN " [ SDK [ E@W [ VVV DKDU@SHNMR BNL

Above Each of the women’s

fitting rooms has its own vintage wardrobe door entrance and theme, including a “Scottish” room, boasting tartan wallpaper, and a toy-strewn child’s playroom. The bathroomthemed room (top right) comes complete with a toilet seat that’s glued down to prevent it being mistaken for the real thing.

38 February 2011 | vmsd.com

new store opening and hoarding them in a Brixton warehouse ahead of the fit-out. So while each of the stores shares similarities, this is not cookie-cutter retailing; every branch is different.

Burnett points out that the sign over the door states “White Stuff of George Street” and that it is a “local response to local people.” It’s the first time that White Stuff has done this, an attempt to show that the new arrival intends to be a firm part of the George Street commercial community.

Standing at the entrance to the store, there’s just so much to look at. The majority of the first floor is womenswear, and the offerings are punctuated by unexpected elements such as a mounted, scarf-wearing antelope head and a cashwrap that looks like Ike’s general store from “The Waltons” (see cover).

Cooper is keen to head upstairs and show off the fitting rooms for women. “They’re designed to be like

the wardrobes in [author C.S. Lewis’] ‘The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe,’ because when you step into them, you walk into a different world,” he says.

And, indeed, when you open any of the vintage wardrobe doors that form the entrances to the fitting rooms, there’s the curious sensation of walking into a space that’s much larger than you’d expect. And each of these rooms has been themed, including a bathroom, a “Scottish” room and a child’s playroom.

The point about all of this, Cooper says, is to “bring the outdoor and the unexpected into the store.” And, more pointedly, “It’s about making people smile,” he adds. “Not all of the detail will be picked up by every customer, but they may notice new things on successive visits.”

It’s a strategy that puts White Stuff in a strong position. Sales at White Stuff soared 43 percent to £83.7m (roughly $130 million U.S.) in the 52 weeks to May 1.

It also stands as testimony to the power of imaginative visual merchandising, as much as engaging store design, to get shoppers through the doors. x Project Suppliers Retailer

White Stuff Emporium, Edinburgh, Scotland Architect

AMD, London For a full list of suppliers, go to vmsd.com.

Area

Invisible 6

Mono

Grid 40

New: Visplay in t he USA and Canada Stripes

Visplay Inc. 7528 Walker Way Allentown, PA 18106 T +1 610 366 1658 F +1 610 366 1932 www.visplay.com visplay-usa@visplay.com

Xero

Coming soon: Visplay Showroom 29 Nint h Avenue (between 13t h and 14t h) New York, NY 10014

MixMix

Xero Struc

Mono R 4

Label

Invisible 3

Beam

New systems coming 2011

Visit us at EuroShop in Dusseldorf February 26 – March 2, 2011 Boot h number 12 B 52

Visit us at GlobalShop in Las Vegas March 28 – 30, 2011 Boot h number 4055

VS

vmsd showroom EuroShop 2011

Preview: EuroShop 2011 Europe’s triennial trade show will welcome more than 100,000 visitors and nearly 2000 exhibitors to Dusseldorf, Germany, this month as EuroShop 2011 arrives to the fairgrounds, February 26 – March 2. The show includes four areas: EuroConcept (store fixturing, lighting, building, refrigeration equipment); EuroSales (visual merchandising, sales promotion); EuroCIS (communication technology, security systems, logistics); and EuroExpo (exhibition systems, event design).

For 2011, event organizers Messe Dusseldorf have added MQ-City, an exclusive area for fashion mannequins within a semitransparent structure and complete with a networking lounge and champagne bar. “Messe Dusseldorf is creating the framework for first-class presentations of brands and products in a stylish atmosphere,” says Elke Moebius, project director at Messe Dusseldorf.

Reflecting the growing global interest in sustainable design, a

new ECOPark specialty exhibit area, organized in cooperation with the EHI Retail Institute and the German Sustainable Building Council, will include exhibitors of sustainable and energy-efficient products and a forum of talks.

For more information on EuroShop, visit www.mdna.com or www.euroshop.de. And don’t miss VMSD’s presentation, “Store Design Trends Across the U.S.,” at 4:15 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26, as part of the EuroShop RetailDesign Conference.

Almax S.p.A.

Hera Lighting

almax-italy.com The Eye See Mannequin, in conjunction with Kee Square, can record observational data about shoppers and reveal details about customer behavior, including who is drawn to a display and dwell time.

Hall: 4 Booth: M13

heralighting.com Slimlite XL-LED allows users to upgrade from the Slimlite XL fluorescent to an LED fixture. Offers same light output as T5 fluorescent but uses half the energy and offers double the lamp life.

Hall: 11 Booth: C16

40 February 2011 | vmsd.com

Centiva

Lideimmagine

centiva.com Coral Reef in Pearl, from the Victory Series, is one of the U.S. manufacturer’s 250 flooring lines. Product range includes styles in resilient tile and planks.

Hall: 10 Booth: E64

lideimmagine.com Sexy Stender is the latest in the company line. The stand measures 19-by-38 in. and the unit adjusts from 55 to 74 in. high. Stand comes in brown leather, polished iron and white. Lateral adjustable arms also available.

Hall: 4 Booth: B34

Dana Industries Inc. danaindustries.ca The company will display its range of products, including shelf talkers and signs, clear and printed packaging, p-o-p displays and price labels.

Hall: 3 Booth: E27

Jesco Lighting Group jescolighting.com Sleek Plus S601 is a 3â „8-in. diameter plug-in Slim Stix unit that comes in 8- or 12-in. sizes. LEDS can be ordered in 2.06 watts for 8-in. lengths or 3.1 watts for 12-in. lengths. Extruded aluminum housings have a protective lamp cover lens and printed circuit board.

Hall: 11 Booth: F10

vmsd.com | FEBRUARY 2011

41

VS

vmsd showroom EuroShop 2011

Nualight

MVM, Meric Manken Display Mannequins

nualight.ie The company’s Colour-Perfect HiCRI LED lighting for food displays renders the full spectrum of color with a vibrancy equivalent to natural light.

Hall: 11 Booth: A29

mvmmannequins.com Glossy mannequins are back to the stage with styles including abstract, egghead, realistic and headless. Offered in a variety of colors.

Hall: 4 Booth: D60

Alu

Umdasch

alu.com Vitrine, a new accessory to the Slider system, features a closed glass cabinet with metallic bottom and equipped with a lock, for exhibiting luxury goods such as jewelry or electronic devices. Available in square or rectangular shapes, in 11- or 15-in. depths.

Hall: 11 Booth: E30

umdasch.com The StackEasy system uses universal fittings to mount legs and spacing tubes onto flat sheets of wood or glass to create a variety of tables. Fittings come in stainless steel and legs and spacer tubes are available in chrome-plated, matte chromeplated or stainless steel.

Hall: 12 Booth C62

42 February 2011 | vmsd.com

E V E RY C H A L L E N G E BRINGS A CHANGE.

Aren Are na Sto St re, Itta al ay

In& n& &Out Out, Madison Avenu ue, New Ne ew Y York

Ipe perr, Monz Monza, a Italy y

Bata, Lod Bat od dzz, Pola d oland nd d

BRINGING ITALIAN DESIGN TO YOUR STORE ENVIRONMENT AT COMPETITIVE VALUE At Grottini Retail Environments, all projects begin with a focus on our clients performance.

By integrating the consumer perspective and a unique teamwork with our customers, we develop a pivotal retail branded experience. Our retail environments spark consumer interest, excitement and loyalty, and enhance the competitiveness of our clients. The full Grottini team is your partner in developing strategy, research, and branding.

Pl atinum Sponsor

We offer distinctive Italian design at competitive value in our services; ranging from retail experience and environment design, architecture, environment and fixture manufacturing, to interactive and communication technologies.

www.grottini.com Head Office Zona Industriale 62017 Porto Recanati (Macerata) ITALY info@grottini.com

USA P.O. Box 19412 Minneapolis,MN 55419 tel. +1.612.554.9417 usa@grottini.com

Taiwan - R.O.C asia@grottini.com

Hong Kong hk@grottini.com

India india@grottini.com

United Kingdom uk@grottini.com

United Arab Emirates gcc@grottini.com

China china@grottini.com

VS

vmsd showroom EuroShop 2011

Grottini S.R.L.

Visplay Intl.

grottini.com The company partners in developing strategy, research and branding for retail environments, with a distinctive Italian design. Services include retail experience and environment design, architecture, environment and fixture manufacturing, and interactive and communication technologies.

Hall: 12 Booth: D53

visplay.com New merchandising systems will be on display, including the plug and light Invisible P/L (shown) and the Mono 6 for small and lightweight accessories.

Hall: 12 Booth: B52

concept-s Ladenbau & Objektdesign GmbH

Ralph Pucci Intl.

concept-s-design.com Slide System is a horizontal merchandise display system with single showcases for products, such as frames, watches, jewelry and accessories. The carriers are protected by polycarbonate display boxes and can be released individually while the others stay secured.

Hall: 12 Booth: D17

ralphpucci.net Cofrad, the European representative of Ralph Pucci, presents Girl 2, part of the Girl series.

This abstract and featureless addition keeps in line with the minimal spirit of today.

Hall: 4 Booth: M12

44 February 2011 | vmsd.com

VS

VMSD SHOWROOM EuroShop 2011

Hans Boodt Mannequins

iShopShape

hansboodt.nl Casual Abstract Male is a new collection that features a slim, lean sizing. Line includes four new poses in abstract or realistic matte black, as well as custom color orders.

Hall: 4 Booth: D35

ishopshape.com ShopShape is an interactive mobile communication tool with a focus on visual merchandising management and compliance in stores. Features include visual merchandising instructions, layout control and reporting.

Hall: 5 Booth: F41

from the editors of

3995

$

Hardcover, 8.5" x 11", 168 pages

STORES AND RETAIL SPACES 11 Latest in this popular series, this edition features 44 projects chosen for excellence in store planning, visual merchandising, innovation, graphics and lighting design.

Sign up for ST Media Group’s Online Bookstore Newsletter for announcements of new books, discounts andother special promotions at http://bookstore.stmediagroup.com.

CALL TOLL FREE 866.265.0954

ORDER ONLINE http://bookstore.stmediagroup.com

JP Metal America Inc. jpmetalamerica.com The company’s in-house production facilities contain more than 1 million square feet of production space in the areas of metal, wood, electroplating, powdercoating, veneer, assembly/warehousing and shipping. The exhibit, “Where Fashion Meets Store Fixtures,” will explore JPMA’s capabilities, design and the latest trends in fixture design.

Hall: 12 Booth: B76 x

Arthema Group, three companies for a single philosophy.

www.arthemagroup.it

Arthema Group means soundness: each division and sister company has its own synergic and strategic positioning.

Together they are part of a future-oriented ambitious business plan.

Soundness, balance and innovation have always been the guiding principles when it comes to make vital choices, and this results in investments in new resources and technologies. Any need in terms of shop fitting or visual merchandising is therefore met with original “design” solutions ranging from mannequins to displays, from modular fixtures to “turn-key” packages.

Arthema Group has been working in the shop fitting industry for over 50 years. Initially covering a 12,000 sqm production area, it has developed over the years to reach 40,000 sqm, including seven production facilities and a headquarter.

Vision, sculptors of worldwide top mannequins industry creative reputations are sculpturing our ranges; featuring “ad hoc” models, size and styles.

Such capabilities are ranking Vision among the official suppliers of the most prestigious fashion brands, worldwide.

Vision, a specialist on standard and customized mannequins; styles created by live casting models thus, assuring excellent wearing performance and perfect fit.

This makes Vision mannequins unique for its natural and realistic stances.

A shop window is key to store or, generally speaking, brand success.

Straight forward and empathic communication to the end consumer is the ultimate result of accurate research and innovation.

“Materials for imaging” is the watchword at Vanity, Arthema Group’s division specializing in designing, manufacturing and installing shop windows, displays, special shop fittings and furnishing accessories, scenery elements and mock-ups, stands on behalf of some of the most prestigious brands in the world.

Domino designs and produces customized complete solutions for the point of sale, from retailers to franchising stores, providing an efficient “turn-key” service. Each project is planned and defined in detail using high level renderings created by sophisticated software design libraries and 3-D images.

Architects, engineers and production managers share ideas and experiences to give each point of sale a touch of style and personality of truly Italian design.

Domino is a division of Arthema Group, which has over 50 years experience in the shop fitting industry.

HALLE 04 STAND M9

VANITY MATERIALS FOR IMAGING

HALLE 12 STAND C79

HALLE 12 STAND C79

VS

VMSD SHOWROOM

THE WONDER OF NATURE Whimsy, magic and nature are three important themes in visual props and decoratives, says Linda Cahan, visual merchandising consultant, Cahan and Co. (Portland, Ore.). “People are inspired to do more wonder right now,” she says.

Bright, saturated colors, new textures and adding modern touches to traditional elements are good tools to use. Cahan cites Anthropologie, which created a forest of trees for its windows using colored green rags and paper strips instead of prefabricated forms.

For a touch of nature, try birds, branches or flowers. Nordstrom recently tucked birds’ nests into product displays, including inside slippers and hats, for a campaign about “nesting” for the winter. “Any time you bring a natural element into the store environment, it ups the perceived value of the merchandise because it’s real,” says Cahan. — Anne DiNardo Lifestyle/Trimco Inc. lfs-trimco.com The White Birch Curtain can be customized to fit various sizes of windows and interior spaces.

Holiday Foliage Inc. holidayfoliage.com The Springtime Props collection features green botanical and floral spheres that come in custom sizes.

48 FEBRUARY 2011 | vmsd.com

Elevations Inc. elevations.com The Natural Urn collection comes in a variety of sizes and shapes with a natural wood finish.

Christine Taylor Collection christinetaylorcollection.com Lacquer clothespins in a glossy finish are 8 in. long and available in a variety of bright colors.

Greneker greneker.com Abstract Display Forms, available in assorted sizes and fabrics, come in three variations and 10-in., 14-in., 19-in. and 25-in. heights.

Seven Continents sevencontinents.com The Colossal Concrete Urn, part of the H2Urn Collection, is 67-by-67-by59-in. and comes in asphalt grey or terracotta.

vmsd.com | FEBRUARY 2011

49

VS

VMSD SHOWROOM Props and Decoratives

CDW Merchants cdwmerchants.com Inspired by old-fashioned cigarette trays, the Holiday Prop for Gifting is a product holder supported by ribbon straps.

Design Solutions designsolutions-usa.com The Kinetic Twist spiral form is handfinished with color film and can be installed individually or as a chandelier.

More color options are available.

Holiday Image holidayimageinc.com Glitter Fabric is offered in 10 rainbow colors, including red, silver, copper, lime green, white, green, gold, pink, blue and black, as well as Pantone colors for custom projects. Available in 54-in. canvas rolls.

Fabric shown here in this mannequin’s dress. x

Juniper Books juniperbooks.com The company offers custom book collections and bookbinding skills for visual presentations.

Custom printed book jackets can carry company logos, images and other graphics across the spine.

50 FEBRUARY 2011 | vmsd.com

MARCH 28 - 30, 2011 SANDS EXPO AND CONVENTION CENTER LAS VEGAS, NV GLOBALSHOP.ORG

INSPIRATION INNOVATION INSIGHTS WHERE INNOVATION MEETS EXECUTION CONNECT WITH OVER 2,500 OF TODAY’S HOTTEST RETAILERS AND BRANDS IN ONE PLACE.

for retail design and at-retail marketing. s

At-Retail Marketplace

s

Digital Store

s

Retail Marketing Services

s

Store Design & Operations

s

Store Fixturing Show

s

Visual Merchandising Show

Visit globalshop.org to register Presented by

Produced by Nielsen Expositions, a part of the Nielsen Company

Sponsored by

RD

regional directory An advertising service for local or regional display and fixturing companies and national companies with local distributors and/or sales offices.

The Products & Services (P&S) Codes and the Business Classification Codes in each listing are defined as follows:

1. Animations 2. Architectural and Building Components 3. Audio/Video 5. Ceilings 6. Design Services 7. Decoratives and Props

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Fixtures Flooring Furniture Lighting Mannequins, Forms Materials Signage & Graphics Supplies & Equipment

16. Wallcoverings 17. Security A- Manufacturer B- Importer C- Distributor

Alpina Manufacturing

3418 N. Knox Avenue (60641).

P: 800-915-2828. F: 800-217-9431.

E: sales@fastchangeframes.com. www.fastchangeframes.com.

[A • International • 6.7]

L­ ISTINGS/ADVERTISEMENTS To appear for one year, payable in advance. 1" or 2" Ads require digital art. For information and rates for advertising in the Regional Directory please contact Victoria Wells, Directory Coordinator p: 800.925.1110, ext. 393, f: 513.744.6993, e: victoria.wells@stmediagroup.com

Arizona

San Diego

Flagstaff

FARKAS STORE EQUIPMENT

3008 E. Pine Dr. (86004). P: 928-526-9194.

F: 928-526-8004. Contact: Nancy Panlener [C • 12]

660 10th Ave. (92101). P: 619-232-0060.

F: 619-234-1413. Contact: Christie Lee. E: farkas123@earthlink.net. www. farkasstorefixtures.com.

[B.C • 3.7.8.10.12.13.14.15.]

California

Holiday Foliage Inc.

MANNEQUIN RECOVERY

City of Commerce NICONAT MFG. CO. STORE FIXTURES DISPLAY

2624 Yates Ave. Commerce, CA (90040). P: 323-721-1900. F: 323-728-7893. E: vicentv@ niconatmfg.com. www.niconatmfg.com.

Contact: Vicent V. [A • 7.8.10.11]

City of Industry PATINA-V

15650 Salt Lake Ave. (91745). P: 626-9612471. F: 626-333-6547. Contact: Robert Lade.

[A • 7.10.12]

2592 Otay Center Dr. (92154). P: 619-6619094. F: 619-661-8382. E: info@holidayfoliage. com. www.holidayfoliage.com. [A.B • 6.7.9 • International]

Santa Monica HANG-UPS UNLIMITED

1904 14th St. (90404). P: 310-453-3806. 800461-8154. F: 800-426-4877. E: info@hangups. com. www.hangups.com. Contact: Lionel Freeman. [A • 15]

Los Angeles

Nevada Las Vegas las vegas manequins

3230 Polaris Avenue, Suite 21, Las Vegas, NV (89102), 702-987-5830, Fax: 702838-4463, Email: info@lvmannequins.com, Website: www.lvmannequins.com. Contact: Alison Wainwright. National. (C•12)

New York Kingston ZEE WIG STUDIO, INC.

333 Wall St. (12401). 8P: 45-331-0995.

F: 845-338-9352. Contact: Zee Caplan, Gita Zanger. [A.B • 12]

Canada

DISPLAYS BY JACK

1030 E. Valencia Dr., Fullerton, CA (92831).

P: 714-578-9100. F:714-578-9111. E: sales@ displaysbyjack.com. www.displaysbyjack.com.

Contact: Eric Wang, Ken Lin. [B • 8.12.15]

Alberta Edmonton VALUE STORE FIXTURES­

9115 Stadium Rd. P: 780-420-0345.

800-535-2279. F: 780-426-7072. E: value@valuestoresfixtures.com. www. valuestorefixtures.com. Contact: John Koyko.

[C • 8.12.15] WESTMOUNT STORE FIXTURES

Illinois Chicago THE SIGN CENTRE­

5221 N. Long (60630). P: 773-286-4599.

F: 773-286-8799. E: thesigncentre@aol.com.

Contact: Bob Dismang, Guy Dismang.

[A • 14]

8520-106A Ave., Edmonton (T5H 0S4).

P: 780-424-8950. 800-561-1951.

F: 780-425-8578.

E: fixtures@westmountstorefixtures.com. www.westmountstorefixtures.com.

Contact: Norman Vesala. [C • 6.8.12.15]

British Columbia Vancouver­ EDDIE’S HANG-UP DISPLAY LTD.­

R.A.P. Retail Associated Products

4630 Cecelia St., Cudahy, CA (90201). P: 888560-3493. F: 888-560-3496. E: info@rapstfx. com. Contact: Robert Palmer [A • 7.8]

52 FEBRUARY 2011 | vmsd.com

60 W. 3rd Ave. (V5Y 1E4) P: 604-708-3100.

F: 604-688-8230. 877-433-3437. www. eddies.com. Contact: Morry Gaerber, Allen Gaerber. [A.B.C • 6.7.8.11.12.13]

regional directory

Ontario Toronto­ ALL TEAM GLASS AND MIRROR LTD.­

281 Hanlan Rd. (Woodbridge) (L4L 3R7). P: 905-851-7711. 800-363-4651. F: 416-7452692. E: allteamglass@allteamglass.com. www.allteamglass.com. Contact: Mark Timoll.

[A • 2.8.13]

GOLDEN RACK CO. LTD.

OMNI-POWER CO., LTD.

9 Fl., No. 185, Chung Shan N Rd., Sec. 2, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. P: 886-2-2596-2185. F: 8862-2595-7406. 886-2-2593-5851. Factory: Huicheng Folk-run Industrial District, Nan Huan Rd, Xinhui Jiangmen City, Guangdong, China. E: gdrack@ms31.hinet.net. www. goldenrack.com.tw. Contact: Mr. C.C. Kuo. [A • 12]

4F, 348, Sec. 7, Cheng Te Rd., Taipei, Taiwan.

P: 886-2-2826 3500, F: 886-2-2822 0039.

E: sales@omni-power.com.tw www.omnipower.com.tw Contact: Evan Lee. [A • 8.12]

RD

International Republic of China Bon Display Fixture Co., LTD

122 Cheng-Kung 3rd Road, Nan Tou City, Taiwan R.O.C. P: 886-49-2252000, F:88649-2251227. E: lisa@brightdisplay.com. tw; connieH@brightdisplay.com.tw. www. brightdisplay.com.tw. Contact: Ms. Lisa Lai or Ms. Connie Hwang. [A • International • 8.12]

OPPORTUNITY EXCHANGE “ Opportunity Exchange” is a means for retailers, manu­facturers and designers to exchange information on job openings, positions wanted and search services. For more information contact Victoria Wells at 513-263-9393 or Email: victoria.wells@stmediagroup.com.

Business Development Executive Needed B&N Industries is an innovative designer, manufacturer and provider of products and services for the retail, architectural and consumer industries.

Location: Burlingame, CA Responsibilities & Requirements o Prospect California business opportunities within existing companies and new markets o Establish, build and manage client relationships at multiple levels with key decision makers o Deliver sales presentations to design, architectural, retail and hospitality companies o Manage the sales process from discovery to account development, negotiations and closing o Organize and clearly communicate pertinent information relating to the customer, order, or project to the internal support team o 5 years + proven sales experience in retail display / store fixture industry o Demonstrated ability to build strong and lasting relationships with clients o Assimilate industry product information and account knowledge into a sales strategy o Ability to influence and persuade to achieve desired outcomes

Visit

vmsd.com for more career opportunities.

Please send your resume to kkirby@bnind.com

vmsd.com |

FEBRUARY 2011 53

Mark your calendar!

September 7-9, 2011 | Parc 55 Wyndham | San Francisco

For sponsorship opportunities contact Murray Kasmenn at 770.578.2577 or murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com

Sign up for the IRDC E-newsbrief at www.irdconline.com and get program updates, speaker Q&As and deadline reminders delivered to your inbox.

P R O D U C T/ S E R V I C E S H O W C A S E © A paid advertising service of VMSD Magazine.

il Now nce Reta Experie

2010 NOVE MBER com vmsd.

H 2008 MARC NOVEM

NEW ED

BER 2010

oduces ited intr

ITION

e for the a new stor

tury

21st Cen

The Lim

THE LIMITED |

E MOORE LSI/GEN S G AWARD LIGHTIN | |

OCTOBER

LI-NING

Get the best information …whenever you want it.

Experience

Retail Now

E

2010

VERSAC |

|

TIVE PREVIEW

COLLEC

STARBUCKS

RETAIL DESIGN

FOREVER 21

|

|

egy brand strat design Li-Ning’s n retail rt: Gree Trend repo t Velvet omes Min U.K. welc

|

SANTA MONICA

TS

PRODUC

MY.SUIT

GREEN

PLACE |

RETAILING ABROAD

• Receive monthly print editions of VMSD magazine

OCTOBE R 2010 MARCH vmsd.co 2008 m

|

• Receive the weekly VMSD e-newsletter

FURNITURE |

COFFEE TA

SURFACING

Starbucks dishe

s on its globa

LK

l store desig

n strategy

VMSD Retaile Forever 21 r of the Year: My.Suit gets stylish in New York Top internationa l retail marke ts

• Search vmsd.com anytime

Already a subscriber

Visit vmsd.com/subscribe to start your subscription today.

to VMSD? Lock in your subscription by visiting vmsd.com/renew.

VMSD (ISSN 0745-4295) is published 12 times annually by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317.

Annual rate for individuals in the U.S.A.: $48 USD. Annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $76 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $98 (Int’l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2011, by ST Media Group International Inc. All rights reserved.

The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, OH and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: VMSD, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to VMSD, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. For single copies or back issues: contact Debbie Reed at (513) 421-9356 or Debbie.Reed@STMediaGroup.com.

Subscription Services: VMSD@ halldata.com, Fax: (847) 763-9030, Phone: (847) 763-4938.

Meric Display Mannequins has been manufacturing display mannequins & busts for more than 45 years and basically focuses on production of high quality female & male mannequins and torsos for shops&department stores in its premises in Istanbul under its supervision.

MVM focuses on details more than ever. Get ready for the very different heads, realistic and abstract Mannequins with extraordinary colors, atelier torsos , accessories, and the most stylish UK14 ! Check it out!

Visit us at EUROSHOP 2011 - Pav. 4 Stand D60 MVM – MERIC MANKEN DISPLAY MANNEQUINS IRMAK CAD.NO:10 DOLAPDERE 80080 – ISTANBUL /TURKEY Tfn : + 90. 532. 284.89.39 www.mericmanken.com

VMSD ADVERTISING INDEX page

23 1

advertiser

Alpolic/Mitsubishi Chemical FP America Inc.

page

IBC

advertiser

Goldsmith

Amerlux

43

Grottini

47

Arthema Group

13

Hans Boodt

31

Bernstein Display

11

JP Metal

Centiva by Intl. Floors of America

55

MVM Meric Display

CNL Mfg.

45

Nualight Ltd.

3

DK Display

15

Proportion London

5

D|Fab

OBC IFC

6 46

Richard Cadan Photography

33

Econoco/Mondo Mannequins

37

Elevations Inc.

21

Fleetwood Fixtures

39

Visplay Int’l

51

GlobalShop 2011

54

VMSD Int’l Retail Design Conf.

7

AI

ST Books Umdasch Shop Concept

vmsd.com | FEBRUARY 2011 55

co

Checking Out Interview by Danny Cross

Jim Sloss After designing more than 250 department stores, Macy’s vp of design knows a thing or two about good and bad design trends.

See what’s on his radar for 2011.

Your retail design career started at international architectural firm HOK. What lessons from your experience there have helped you at Macy’s?

Learning to focus on the overall planning process and to always look at the “big picture” has been extremely beneficial, especially with all the need for vendor statements and shop-in-shop concepts in department stores today. I also learned a tremendous amount about construction by designing and building projects all over the world.

You’ve been with Macy’s for more than 19 years. How has the role of the department store evolved during that time?

Competition has increased tremendously and therefore the importance to retain customers and maintain market share has increased. Compelling merchandise assortments, obvious value, quality environments and engaging customer service have been key for the department stores to retain their customers.

Why are department stores still relevant in today’s retail landscape?

Department stores are still differentiated from most retailers. Customers still value the full-line assortment of fashion, cosmetics and goods under one roof.

In 10 words or less, who is Macy’s target consumer?

Fashion-forward females and males who truly appreciate affordable luxury.

Media File Favorite movie: I am a big Grace Kelly fan. Any movie she performed in would be a favorite.

Television: I don’t watch much TV, but when I do, it’s sports. I have two sons who usually control the channels.

Last live music performance I attended: Muse. An unbelievable performance with an unforgettable light show.

What current design trends are you particularly fond of?

Customer service fitting room environments that are comfortable, engaging and interactive. I’m also an advocate of bringing more daylighting into the stores, especially the fitting rooms. I would add to that list food/restaurants offerings and other services that make the shopping experience memorable and help keep the customer in the store. Right now, international department stores are providing these services more than those in the U.S. Which one do you wish would go away?

Shopping carts in the department store environment.

Name one hobby you have outside the office that would surprise people.

One of my best friends from high school studied horticulture in college and eventually became a landscape architect. As I was going through college, he encouraged me to get a minor in landscape design. As a result, one of my favorite hobbies now is gardening.

What advice has helped you along the way?

Always treat people with the utmost respect.

What’s the worst advice you received?

The idea that you can usually “know” somebody within minutes of working with them. x

56 February 2011 | vmsd.com

1/10/11

12:04 PM

Page 1

3%

Centiva’s highly durable flooring allows limitless possibilities for creative expression and brand emphasis in retail environments.

Centiva_VMSD_Feb11

Flooring created foreverystepyoutake... while shopping.

EuroShop 2011 • Hall 10 / E 64 GlobalShop 2011 • Booth 4208 1• 888 • CENTIVA www.centiva.com

Event Contour Victory