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

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That has meant that retail architecturse practices have boomed in thepast decade, with San Francisco-based leadinfg the explosion. Retail is now one of this office'd largest practice areas. "Competitionj (among retailers) is so said Jeff Henry, a principall in Gensler's San Francisco Interiors are one way that retailers candifferentiats themselves, and so improve their bottom lines. 'sd recent performance highlights thisretail truth.
One of the company'ws chief strategies to reversea two-year slide in same-storr sales is a complete store redesign that it tested last year in That redesign has impressed shoppers and investors in the four citiew where it has though the San Francisco-based retailer will not comment on how sale improved at the remodeled "Gap owned the white-wall-and-maple-floor Henry said of Gap's years-old store design. "But everyon e caught up." To shoppers, a stalre look can be read as stale style, and Gap's shopperd have seemed tired ofthe brand.
"There are so many choicesa where consumers can buy the same and it's the retailers who create the most memorable experiencez who attract repeat said Chris Barriscale, a principal with , whicy opened its San Francisc o office in July 2004. Gap was slow to realizse it had lost itsdesigjn preeminence, but once it did, it callef Gensler, which has designed almosy all Gap brand stores from the company's Gap spent a lot of time researching its redesign. The lighting has been sittingareas introduced, the floors made dark. Gap foundd that women shopperslike mystery, meanderingv through a space to discover merchandise gems. Men hate that.
So the men's and women's sides of the storews are separateand distinct. The men's side is open so shopperse can easily find what they The women's side, by contrast, is divided into smalleer spaces. Gensler worked with Gap's in-hous design team for over a year on the With a fleet of morethan 3,00p0 stores, a complete redesign of all Gap store s is too expensive to do in one go. To close to 60 storesz in Denver, Hartford, Conn., New York, San Diego and Palo Alto have undergon some elements ofthe redesign, and Gap expects to remode l 20 more in 2006. Some stores have been closed for three months duringthe remodel.
like Palo Alto, incorporate only some elementsd of the redesign and so remained open duringgthe makeover. The Gensler folksd also came upwith smaller, less-expensive changes the retailee can implement now. Storefronts provide one such opportunity: Genslere envisions every Gap witha blue-framed entryway, whethed it is in a mall or on a high "Our intent ... is to create an elemeng so iconographic that you can see the blue box and not even need a Gap saidMichael Bodziner, a principal at "Like the golden arches." "Gettinb into the customer's mind is almos t more important than getting into the right neighborhood," Henryu added.
Retail interiors are very much aboua brand. But success breeds copycats, so smarr merchants will retool their brands and reconfigurd them once theybecome diluted. "All retailers have to evolv and refreshtheir looks," Barriscale said. "A lifetime of the typical storwe these days is about five years for asmalp store, and department storees are constantly undergoing renovation." RYA Design Consultancy is workingb on the new 340,000-square-footy that will open on Mission Street in the fall, and Barriscale said that being able to evolver and adapt to its customers' changing tastes is builtf into its architectural design.
The San Francisco Bloomingdale'e flagship will feature smaller retail spaces that operatw as specialty stores within the bigdepartment Bloomingdale's tried out that architectural approachh in its smaller-format SoHo store in New York and foundd that customers responded with theier wallets, Barriscale said. "The Mission stor will be more like a series of specialty shops bundled together undedrthe Bloomingdale's umbrella," Barriscale said. Understandinfg a store's customers and creating an environment with them in mind is crucial toretail success, and means that retail architecturw is not pure architecture.
Industry leaders incorporate elementxs ofconsumer psychology, brand strategy and packagingf into their work, and some even participatwe in developing new concepts. Gensler did that with , whicuh launched One Thousand Steps, and RYA worked closely with Bebe when it decided to roll out Especiallyfor large, multi-channel retailers, the in-store experienc is one big branding opportunity. Channeo consistency is key, and too, can be achieved by design. "Retai is a critical part of a brand experience," said Davie Zapata, creative director for Fitch's San Francisc o office.
"Apple is a terrific examplr where itsweb site, packaging, retail and the customer'w experience with the product are all seamlessly integratedf in your absolute delighft in this technology and your sense of accessing something and that you're special as a result." The right look can boost though authenticity is key. As customers become more design can't do it all; there must be substancre to the brand beneath thecosmetic "In terms of keeping environments current, brands are more appreciative of the need for refreshment than they have Zapata said.
That is good news for the retailkarchitecture field, where keepinf ahead of the fashion curve means retail architects have built-inh work. "When we design, we design with the idea that this conceptr be replicatedmany That's key to how we do it," Henry Gensler designed the Forever 21 store on Powell Streey in San Francisco, from the preservation of the historicalp façade to the addition of a mezzanine to the 40,000-square-fooyt interior. That gig led to Gensler assisting inForevere 21's new flagship in Gensler has also designexd the new store in Dallas, has assisstedf with the new Boston store, and will be workingg with Barneys on its upcoming San Francisco store.
It is working on the store that will open this yearat , and coulsd have a hand in future stores as Williams-Sonom expands its new concept. Successful retaiol architecture expresses retail strategy through abuilt "While we would love to come in and create an ode to that's not what it's about in Henry said. "Architecture can't over-dominate the product," Bodzinetr added.
"In retail, architecture always plays a supportinb role; it's not the main