Market Sector: Specialty Retail

Vans

Translating an iconic brand across borders

The Vans brand celebrates individuality and the culture of outdoor sports like skating, surfing, snowboarding, and BMX biking. In expanding in Mexico and other markets, VF Corporation needed to translate the Vans store concept into new store designs that reinforce the iconic brand with cultural sensitivity.

MG2 has collaborated with Vans to implement consistent architectural design and planning programs for more than 30 stores across North America.

In each location, the design concept is effectively tailored and efficiently implemented through MG2’s knowledge of cultural trends and the nuances of local developmental processes.

Moncler

Transcending high standards for a luxury icon

Moncler sets the standard for luxury outdoor sportswear with a clientele that expects nothing but the best. With store locations around the world, Moncler was looking for a partner to bring the French-Italian lifestyle brand to life in new boutiques at The Shops at the Bravern in Bellevue, WA and the Forum Shops at Caesars in Las Vegas.

MG2’s expertise in specialty and luxury retail as well as retail center design created an effective bridge between Moncler and the retail center developers to achieve the objectives of everyone involved.

That process involved working on-site with Moncler’s installation teams to ensure unique materials, such as stonework from Italy and chêne fumé French wood paneling, were incorporated effectively. As a result of MG2’s work, the Las Vegas and Bellevue boutiques successfully uphold Moncler’s brand standards and the high expectations of the Moncler customer.

UNIQLO

A tailored approach to expressing a unique brand

UNIQLO is the fourth-largest apparel retailer in the world with a growing network of more than 1,400 stores offering high-quality, casual apparel. As UNIQLO continues to expand, they work to integrate the cultural characteristics of each market into their retail stores while staying true to the brand’s core design.

When entering new markets, UNIQLO has strategically raised brand awareness by utilizing pop-up or temporary store locations. MG2 partnered with UNIQLO’s US and Japan teams on a series of such pop-ups as well as in-line mall stores and a flagship store. One particularly unique pop-up was located in Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall Marketplace and will be followed by a nearby flagship store reflecting a striking blend of UNIQLO’s modern aesthetic and the heritage of the nearly 200-year-old Quincy Marketplace building.

In each store location, MG2 interpreted the key UNIQLO brand and design values to fit the distinctive features of the market. UNIQLO’s signature design elements — from a precise approach to symmetry to a focus on strong visual impact upon entry — ensure that every store stays true to the UNIQLO brand while attracting a new set of loyal customers.

  • Project Details

  • Location Multiple locations, U.S.
  • Client Fast Retailing Co., Ltd.
  • Market Sectors
  • Size 2,500 - 15,000 SF
  • Services
Perspectives

The Future of Beauty

June 2020 / By Melissa Gonzalez

Just months ago, beauty relied on high-touch sensorial environments. With a raised awareness around high-touch environments, the beauty industry must appeal to customers that responsibly tackle the “touch and feel” interaction associated with product testing. Shop! Association asked our team how stores can create inviting and authentic experiences while balancing digitization and human interaction responsibly?

Melissa Gonzalez, Min Jae Kwon, and Lauren D’Archangelis explore design solutions in which The Future of Beauty can tackle this challenge through innovative gondolas, parallel play and mood lighting, interactive and shoppable store walls, and new checkout methods. Cleanliness and hygiene will be a key priority for both brands and consumers, but the emotional experience of discovery will still shine through.

Perspectives

Rethinking the Fibers of Store Design

June 2020 / By Melissa Gonzalez

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

Perspectives

Rethinking Play

May 2020 / By Melissa Gonzalez, Mitch Pride

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.

Read the article

Tommy Bahama

Restoring the sand into the brand

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.

Evereve

A window to the soul

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.

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Nordstrom Local

Nordstrom Local

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.

Manhattan Beach, CA
New York City, NY
Manhattan Beach CA
Manhattan Beach, CA

Allen Edmonds

Recrafting an American original

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.

  • Project Details

  • Location Multiple locations, U.S.
  • Client Caleres, Inc.
  • Market Sectors
  • Size 1,200 SF
  • Services

Burrow House

Enabling the retail evolution of a D2C brand

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.

Press Coverage