How Stores Will Be Reformatted to Flex for a More Connected Consumer
With consumers increasingly adopting technologies that enable self-guided exploration and check-out, store digitization has become more prevalent in the physical retail environment. Read about how modular design is the answer to our rapidly changing world.
Written by Melissa Gonzalez and Visuals by Mitch Pride and Alyssa Joy Taylor
How do we resurrect play in the new normal and give new life to brands focused on creating joy for kids and their families? As part of the #ExperienceGood campaign with The Vendry and global marketing firm CSM, Melissa Gonzalez and Mitch Pride provide insights on how sensory exploration can ignite a child’s creative spirit, building an emotional connection to a brand.
As part of its growth strategy to better serve customers and expand its presence into the New York market, Nordstrom sought to expand its local store experiences to offer new services such as online order pick-up, alterations and tailoring, styling, and more, catering to the unique needs of customers who live and work in target neighborhoods.
They partnered with MG2 / The Lionesque Group to bring their vision of offering boutique, local services to life in New York City’s Upper East Side. Working side-by-side with the Nordstrom team, our designers ensured furnishings, fixtures, customer flow, and build-out met the demands of the local shoppers. The resulting space features a flexible model and floor plan that is adaptable to the changing needs of customers.
Founded on the idea that life is “one long weekend,” Tommy Bahama, a lifestyle brand, is known for its relaxed, sophisticated casual wear and island-inspired victuals. To re-invigorate the retail experience, engage all the senses, and holistically reflect the brand, Tommy Bahama partnered with MG2 to develop a new design language. The ultimate intention was to cultivate a cohesive customer experience across their many stores, restaurants, and bars.
MG2 designed three unique retail concepts, Iconic Resorts, Family Retreat, and Island Bohemia, inspired by the authentic spaces one might inhabit throughout decades of sun-soaked, salt-water getaways. Iconic Resorts renders lush greenery, and geometric screens while Family Retreat features worn-in surfaces reminiscent of a 1960s beach home. Last but not least, Island Bohemia offers rich, unconventional textures with abstract prints. All three concepts provide an exploratory customer journey filled with layers of delightful, tactile experiences.
Equally important, the comprehensive system of fixturing, materials, and merchandising elements devised by MG2 affords Tommy Bahama the benefit of scalability as it continues to deliver each concept to multiple markets varying in size and programming.
Curated to accommodate styling sessions and women shopping with children.
Balancing sophistication with playfulness, MG2 partnered with Evereve to design a space for discerning women who work hard, care for their kids, and want to look fabulous.
Our designers worked closely with the styling company’s founders and visual merchandising team to create a new retail concept that elevates their brand stories. The “soul” of the store is the fitting room and lounge area where seating and tables are thoughtfully curated to accommodate styling sessions and women shopping with children.
Throughout the environment, pops of color, metallic accents, and eclectic imagery are juxtaposed against poured concrete, white brick, and industrial fixturing. The result is a space that feels energetic and visually communicates to women they don’t need to stop shopping for chic, fun outfits simply because they’ve entered motherhood.
The iconic 96-year-old upscale shoe manufacturer and retailer, Allen Edmonds, partnered with MG2 to redesign its in-store experience to align with their rebranding initiative. The new environment fuses industrial elements (a nod to the brand’s nearly century-old “made in the USA” heritage) with modern details, accenting the artisan craftsmanship of the footwear.
Elements of Allen Edmonds’ Port Washington, WI factory – where all its shoes are produced – are stitched into the customer experience through furnishings, finishes, and visual merchandising.
The integrated approach elevates the brand using a modern design language that feels high-end and radiates authenticity.
Allen Edmonds’ products are heirloom quality pieces that should last a lifetime if cared for properly. In that way, the value of quality and enduring style for each pair of shoes becomes immeasurable. The fresh store design from MG2 communicates that brand promise, differentiating the company to a new generation in an era of fast-fashion.
When Burrow—an innovative home furnishings brand part of the new direct-to-consumer retail movement—sought to follow up on the success of two pop-up shops with permanent flagship locations in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, the design of these spaces hinged on a central question: How could these new flagships transform a successful online retailer into a lively, exciting lifestyle brand shoppers would now have the opportunity to interact with in-person?
Partnering with MG2 / The Lionesque Group, the teams collaborated on store design, site evaluation, and project management to bring to life Burrow House: immersive, multi-faceted, award-winning retail environments designed to grow with the company’s product line and tell the brand’s story in an experiential way.
Designed to showcase what life would be like with their furniture, Burrow House illustrates vignettes from the smallest city studio apartments to sweeping suburban family rooms. They flow from one space to the next, curating distinct narratives that offer fully shoppable bed and living room experiences. Each Burrow House location is unique, individually scouted, selected, and modularly curated by designers to best represent the brand to its target demographic in each given neighborhood.
Sustainably sourced materials reflect an inviting and familiar, mid-century style within a refined atmosphere using temperate woods and warm paint colors. And, like their award-winning furniture, the store design is flexible and modular, allowing for the continued evolution of their interiors to align with seasons, design trends, new collections, and blossoming partnerships with other DTC brands.
With locations in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, and more on the way across the country, Burrow House is a memorable retail experience that emboldens one to redesign their living spaces far beyond a single purchase of a new couch.
Since opening its doors, Burrow House has been featured in Furniture Today as well as Forbes, and recognized by Fast Company’s Innovation By Design Awards for Retail Environments.
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