Unbranding the Brand II: The Strategy of No Brand

by | Jun 4, 2012

      This Effort by Starbucks describes a store design problem that is related too, but not exactly the same as “unbranding.” It is telling us that the market is saturated and cannot support the same shop over and over again. My idea of...

Unbranding the Brand, Part I: Finding Main Street Retail

by | May 21, 2012

At the AIA convention this week I attended an event entitled:  Bathesda Row a Retrospective Look at a Retail Icon.  For anyone not familiar with it, Bethesda Row it is a highly successful mixed use development project that took place over 17 or so years.  It is a...

Expert Decision Making

by | May 4, 2012

<►>Night Maximizing the visibility of an unshaded East facing exterior storefront for a business that has both day and night time traffic is an undeniable design challenge.  This one is successful because of some expert decision making.  Someone decided to...

To Mall or Un-Mall?

by | Apr 26, 2012

Old Town Alexandria, VA Crocker Park Shopping Center, Westlake, OH For some time I have wanted to compare a real town shopping district  to one of the fakes that are popping up around the country.    We humans have this acute sense of the authentic, leading me to ask,...

From Static Design to Dynamic Update

by | Apr 16, 2012

Theatrics in display merchandising can be very effective if applied in moderation and arranged for maximum impact.   So what has gone so wrong? Red and black plays to the idea of drama, but here it is overwhelming.  Students often fall into the trap of designing...

“Cafe Incognito”

by | Mar 19, 2012

<►>View from North West New shop owners, even those who are very successful, would do themselves a favor by looking at pictures of their storefronts taken from several directions.  When this recently opened cafe is put to such a photo test, it becomes...