Architects picking up something at the shops - San Francisco Business Times:

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That has meant that retail architecture practicesx have boomed in thepast decade, with San Francisco-basec leading the explosion. Retail is now one of this office'w largest practice areas. "Competition (among is so fierce," said Jeff a principal in Gensler's San Francisco Interiors are one way that retailers candifferentiate themselves, and so improvee their bottom lines. 'e recent performance highlights this retail truth.
One of the company's chief strategies to reverse a two-yea slide in same-store sales is a complete storw redesign that it tested last year in That redesign has impressed shopperse and investors in the four cities wherde ithas debuted, though the San Francisco-basex retailer will not comment on how sales improvedc at the remodeled stores. "Gap owned the white-wall-and-maple-floo r look," Henry said of Gap's years-olxd store design. "But everyone caught up.
" To a stale look can be read asstal style, and Gap's shoppers have seemed tired of the "There are so many choices wherde consumers can buy the same and it's the retailers who create the most memorable experiences who attract repeat customers," said Chrixs Barriscale, a principal with , which opened its San Francisco officr in July 2004. Gap was slow to realize it had lost itsdesig preeminence, but once it did, it called which has designed almost all Gap brande stores from the company's start. Gap spent a lot of time researchintits redesign. The lighting has been sittingareas introduced, the floors made dark.
Gap found that women shoppers like meandering through a space to discoveemerchandise gems. Men hate that. So the men'as and women's sides of the stores are separaterand distinct. The men's side is open so shoppers can easily find whatthey want. The women's by contrast, is divided into smaller spaces. Gensler worked with Gap'e in-house design team for over a year on the With a fleet of morethan 3,00p stores, a complete redesign of all Gap stores is too expensive to do in one go. To close to 60 stores in Denver, Hartford, New York, San Diego and Palo Alto have undergonw some elements of the and Gap expects to remodel 20 morein 2006.
Some storesz have been closed for three months duringthe remodel. like Palo Alto, incorporate only some elementsx of the redesign and so remained open durinythe makeover. The Gensler folks also came upwith less-expensive changes the retailer can implement now. Storefrontsd provide one such opportunity: Gensler envisions ever y Gap witha blue-framed entryway, whether it is in a mall or on a high "Our intent ... is to create an element so iconographicx that you can see the blue box and not even need a Gap saidMichael Bodziner, a principal at Gensler. "Likse the golden arches.
" "Getting into the customer'd mind is almost more importantg than getting into theright neighborhood," Henry Retail interiors are very much about a brand. But successx breeds copycats, so smart merchants will retool theier brands and reconfigure them once theybecomse diluted. "All retailers have to evolvew and refreshtheir looks," Barriscale said. "s lifetime of the typical store theswe days is about five years for asmall store, and departmenyt stores are constantly undergoing renovation.
" RYA Desigmn Consultancy is working on the new 340,000-square-foot that will open on Missiom Street in the fall, and Barriscale said that being able to evolvd and adapt to its customers' changing tastes is built into its architectural design. The San Francisco Bloomingdale's flagship will feature smaller retail spacexs that operate as specialty stores within the bigdepartmentf store. Bloomingdale's tried out that architectural approach inits smaller-formagt SoHo store in New York and found that customerse responded with their wallets, Barriscalr said.
"The Mission store will be more like a series of specialtyy shops bundled together underfthe Bloomingdale's umbrella," Barriscale said. Understanding a store'sw customers and creating an environment with them in mind is cruciao toretail success, and means that retail architecturew is not pure architecture. Industry leaders incorporate elements ofconsumere psychology, brand strategy and packaging into their and some even participate in developing new concepts. Gensledr did that with , which launchec One Thousand Steps, and RYA workef closely with Bebe when it decided to rollout stores.
Especiallg for large, multi-channel retailers, the in-store experience is one big brandinf opportunity. Channel consistency is key, and that, too, can be achieves by design. "Retail is a critical part of abrand experience," said Davidc Zapata, creative director for Fitch's San Francisco office. "Apple is a terrificx example where itsweb site, retail and the customer's experience with the product are all seamlessly integrated in your absolute delighy in this technology and your sense of accessing something and that you're special as a result." The righg look can boost sales, though authenticity is key.
As customerws become more sophisticated, design can't do it all; therre must be substance to the brand beneath thecosmeticf surface. "In terms of keeping environments current, branda are more appreciative of the need for refreshment than they have Zapata said. That is good news for the retailarchitecture field, where keeping ahead of the fashiom curve means retail architects have built-in "When we design, we designh with the idea that this concept be replicated many That's key to how we do it," Henryh said.
Gensler designed the Forever 21 stor e on Powell Street in San from the preservation of thehistoricap façade to the addition of a mezzanin e to the 40,000-square-foot interior. That gig led to Gensled assisting inForever 21's new flagship in SoHo. Gensler has also designerd the new storein Dallas, has assissted with the new Bostoh store, and will be workinvg with Barneys on its upcoming San Francisco store. It is workinfg on the store that will open this yearat , and couldf have a hand in future stores as Williams-Sonomza expands its new Successful retail architecture expresses retail strategy through a built environment.
"While we would love to come in and creatse an odeto architecture, that's not what it's about in retail," Henry said. "Architecture can'tf over-dominate the product," Bodziner added. "In architecture always plays asupporting role; it's not the main event."