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The Future of Retail Stores: Global Flagships, Store Formats & Retail Innovation · The Retail Podcast

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  Both of those and in fact Zara Mann was was in my top ten last
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  year. Zara Serrano could easily be in
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  my top ten this year. I had to make a a painful
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  choice, but really fantastic. Hello and welcome back to
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  another wonderful episode of the Retail Podcast.
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  Now, when you think about stores and store formats, the one
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  consistent thing that's happening even through a crisis
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  is that store formats are changing and stores are changing
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  around the world. And I thought what an ideal
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  opportune moment and we'll meet Matthew in a minute, who's just
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  released his 10 unmissable global stores.
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  Maybe, you know, getting into the store format, maybe they're
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  not in terms of, but there's different variety of store
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  formats around the world. And I thought, who better to
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  have this conversation with than an expert in store design and
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  all things thought. Matthew.
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  Hello and welcome to the podcast.
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  Hey Alex, thank you very much for inviting me.
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  Oh, it's a pleasure. I remember meeting you in New
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  York actually, where I got this jumper Marine layer, thinking
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  there's someone I need to get on the podcast as sooner rather
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  than later. It's only taken 3 months, but
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  hey, we're here now and we're gonna go.
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  So why don't you tell us a little bit about Echo Chamber,
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  tell us a little bit about yourself, and we'll take it from
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  there. Grant yeah, well, I run this
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  tiny little retail trend agency called Echo Chamber, and my
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  elevator pitch is that I travel around the world taking pictures
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  of shops and then I talk about them.
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  That's my kind of core expertise.
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  I've been doing it for 26 odd years, maybe nearly 27 years.
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  So I can say confidently that I've seen an awful lot of shops
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  in 27 years and retail and physical retail is just getting
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  better and better year on year. So it's a pleasure to do the job
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  that I do. Thank you.
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  And in terms of where we are right now, where are we right
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  now when it comes to store formats, I know obviously
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  depends on the geography and and lots of different elements, but
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  where do you think we are in the evolution of stores right now?
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  I think what I often see are trends that kind of evolve and
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  they they get bigger and then some kind of edge off a little
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  bit. But we're seeing a continual
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  evolution of stores at the top end and, and, and that's not
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  necessarily a luxury trend. It's across value as well of
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  stores, but just becoming more, more interesting, more
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  immersive, more inspiring, more wow.
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  And we all know the reason why. It's essentially a competition
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  amongst challenger brands as well, but also against online.
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  And I keep thinking every single year that that there's nothing
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  more that retailers could do to be even more immersive and, and
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  exciting. And every year I'm happily
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  proved wrong. So, you know, it's, it's a, it's
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  a joy and a little bit of a turmoil to come up with a kind
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  of top ten list of whittling down innovation down to top ten,
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  when in fact there's many, many more.
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  Well, without further ado, let's just get straight into it.
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  What's the best way to go through this for us to get a
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  flavour? Do you want to?
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  Should I just click through and you talk about them?
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  Yeah, why not? Let's do that.
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  Absolutely. Yeah.
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  I mean, my summary again, as I just said, is, you know, every
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  year I keep thinking that retail just can't get any better and
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  every year it it's proved wrong. I think the big trends that I'm
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  seeing are really that Asia is absolutely flying in terms of
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  retail innovation across the Chinese market.
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  Just the brands are really doing super interesting stuff.
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  Seoul just remains the most unbelievably creative city.
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  But equally, Bangkok is really, really competitive as well.
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  I mean, in terms of European cities, I have to say the
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  standout city for me in the past year has been Madrid.
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  It's a kind of quiet, lovely city, you know, capital city, of
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  course. But actually, you know,
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  Barcelona always used to get a huge amount of the praise.
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  But actually, I think Madrid has really accelerated.
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  Saying that because we're based here, Alexander who's who's off
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  camera, but she's she's there listening.
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  She's going yes, yes, yeah. It's, it's such a charming city
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  and what's really interesting of course, is it's where Inditex is
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  really focusing a lot of its investment.
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  It's almost like a flagship city, a free text where they're
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  really, really pumping up new formats.
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  They did the first Zara Man concept with the Tsar Cafe in
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  Madrid last year. They've done the flagship Zara
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  Serrano, both of those. And in fact, Zara Man was was in
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  my top 10 last year. Zara Serrano could easily be in
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  my top ten this year. I had to make a a painful
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  choice, but really fantastic independent retailers, big
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  brands, great for food. And I kind of make the real
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  point, and particularly in terms of my top 10 is that my point is
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  that retail trends are global and they cross all sectors.
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  And so one of the key things that I do when I choose my top
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  10 is to try and have a global spread and also to do a spread
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  between beauty and fashion and home because we are seeing all
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  of these trends equally in every single sector.
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  It doesn't really matter what you're selling and at what price
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  point, you still have to do this amazing surprise and delight to
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  be at the top of the pile in retail.
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  I can't tell you how it, I mean, this is how sad or or cool I am.
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  I feel like I just need some popcorn.
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  I'm gonna sit back and let you take me because this is I
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  absolutely love some of the stores that you've got in here
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  and I haven't been able to go to all of them.
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  But I mean, this Mecca flagship store in Melbourne is this,
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  we're starting in at number 10. Yes, it's incredible, right?
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  It is absolutely beautiful and it and it really ticks all the
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  boxes on you know, when people say, how do you create a great
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  retail experience? What does a great retail
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  experience look like? What does a flagship look like?
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  One of the key principles to create something unique is to be
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  in a unique building to start with.
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  And so to borrow some of the prestige of the heritage
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  architecture and that's what Mecca's done really well.
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  They've taken the old sports girl flagship, this old
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  wonderful architectural Coleman house building with beautiful
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  architectural detailing and then inhabited it and brought it to
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  life with just a series of beauty experiences.
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  Really trying to think how do we create the ultimate beauty
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  flagship with obviously all of the hero brands across all of
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  the different categories. But then a cafe, then a hair
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  salon, then, you know, a news and event space, then a kind of
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  eventing space where they are running classes and education.
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  Beautiful design, fantastic visual merchandising.
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  It's a deliberate challenge to brands like Sephora, which are
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  going to come into the Australian market.
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  This is, you know, an independent business that now
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  has 100 stores. Super, super slick retailer, but
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  really pushing the boundaries because they know that the
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  competitive landscape is getting harder and harder every year.
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  And you just got to push the boundaries.
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  And it's just a fantastic example of what a great flagship
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  looks like. It's 10 #10 arbitrarily.
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  It's it's, it's not a judgement on the fact that other stores
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  are better. Yeah, but I thought it was a
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  lovely way to bring it in. You know, it's the other side of
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  the globe from me. I did want to bring food in.
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  I think it's really important. The Irish food landscape is
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  particularly competitive. I think Dublin is one of those
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  hidden gem, or in fact, the whole of the Republic of Ireland
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  is a hidden gem for food innovation, partly because
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  there's a small population size, but also because of the huge
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  challenges from ALDI and Lidl and from Duns Musgrave working
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  really hard there as well. And wonderful Independence and
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  Donnybrook Fair is of course a much loved premium food retailer
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  now owned by Musgrave. Refurbishing and restoring the
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  original Moore Hampton Rd flagship here.
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  And a fantastic example of retail innovation combining
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  design, merchandising and kind of more importantly like really
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  good fresh food solutions, you know, back to basics with a
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  proper butcher and a fishmonger. Real focus on expert
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  storytelling, celebrating Irish suppliers, celebrating the staff
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  that actually actually work there.
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  I love particular my favourite picture has to be the little
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  lemon fish that they've done. You know, the butcher fishmonger
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  did that himself. You know that lovely attention
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  to detail when we talk about, you know, retail is detail.
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  That's the kind of thing a tiny little thing that just really
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  elevates the overall principle. But just a fantastic food store,
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  you know, world class and open less than a year.
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  Fantastic. This I, I kind of wanted to only
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  do you know, one city per store, but actually I've done 2 for New
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  York and two for Madrid and I could have done more as well.
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  I chose this as an example of a detects format rather than the
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  Zara one because I think it's probably more important because
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  one of the things that people will always say is, oh, this is
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  all premium retail and you're only showing fancy luxury stuff.
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  I deliberately choose this because this is the value brand
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  from Zara Indetex. This is lefties and it's their
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  new flagship, which is the first time they've incorporated home
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  as well. This is is Primark price points,
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  but with premium looking design and fantastic experience.
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  It's all about, you know, making Gen Z Gen alpha excited.
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  So you know, it's got fantastic designer product presentation,
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  great pricing, but it's also got a florist, it's got a Bom, Bom
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  Boss Cafe. It's got a slide that you can go
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  down the, you know, love it down down between floors.
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  And then a lot of really interesting tech innovation as
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  well. So things like automated hanger
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  replenishment, RFI, ID, smart fitting rooms, you know, things
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  that add operational efficiency that Zara have really been
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  pushing, you name detects have been pushing with self payments,
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  RFID, you know, taking the friction out of out of retail
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  and adding a little bit of retail theatre at the same time.
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  So a really important store this and particularly so because
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  they're now announcing a major expansion of lefties across
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  Europe. So yes, is the new challenger.
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  This is what the bottom of the market looks like for customers.
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  This is the trend that I call the push for Posh, which is
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  really massively important. It's where value brands invest
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  in retail to create premium looking shopping experiences.
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  And it basically forces the mid market either to up their game
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  or frankly, to die. And you know, it was it was
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  things like this that really killed the mid market department
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  store. You know, COVID finished them
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  off, but they were really dead man walking for a long time.
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  You just cannot have a mid market proposition at higher
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  prices than this if you're going to offer a worse shopping
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  experience. And so this is probably the most
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  significant in terms of the case studies from a wider retail
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  perspective. Yeah, I'd be super fascinated to
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  see if this is the format that comes to the UK because I've got
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  7 stores I think planned for the UK and whether or not they do go
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  because it is a beautiful store. I remember going to their pop up
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  store that they had in Madrid and that was a lovely
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  experience. But then I was like, is this
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  just for the home market? Is this like the store that's
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  going to be exported around the world, as you said, super
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  interesting. Yeah, it.
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  Really is this is just, I think you asked me earlier what's my
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  favourite, but they're all wonderful stores.
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  But this one particularly resonated with me because it's
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  part of the thing that I'm seeing in retail.
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  But it's not just what the stores look like, but what's the
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  the passion and the feeling behind the business.
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  You know, and often customers don't necessarily know that, but
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  here it's really apparent. And I love the fact that Hoff
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  had taken their inspiration from one of my other stores in in the
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  top ten, had really understood the idea of creating a a proper
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  experience. And so it's just a wonderful
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  example of a of a business for a start.
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  I mean, it's not even 10 years old.
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  Founded in L chain in Spain, started as a digital only brand
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  and now has more than 50 stores worldwide.
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  Just opened a lovely store in Covent Garden, one in Amsterdam,
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  but this is their flagship in Madrid and they had a really
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  well trading smaller store in before.
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  And the founder Fran Marchina took the plunge to invest in
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  really a very big store here, you know, 700 square metres.
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  Yeah, I think it was the old pole star flagship and really
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  creating a physical space that represented what they thought
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  the brand was, which is about art and culture and community
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  and immersive experiences. And so the store is is just
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  fabulous. It's it's a beautifully designed
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  store. It's got art installations that
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  are permanent, part of the the fabric of the space.
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  It's got personalization, a little charm bar that combines
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  with a champagne bar. It's got this wonderful gallery
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  atrium space where people sit, and what I particularly like is
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  the attic area, which is a series of event and Co working
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  rooms which are there for events that they're running regularly.
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  But the Hoth staff in the management team also work out of
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  the store and it's a really nice way of often there's a
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  disconnect between management and the shop floor.
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  Yeah, and here it's much more that the management team are
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  intimately connected with what's happening on the shop floor.
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  It really feels like it's a much more connected business.
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  They have this coffee area at the front which is constantly
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  running different collabs with interesting brands.
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  The one that's currently running at the moment is this little
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  cheesecake, cool hipster cheesecake, both door called
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  Lunar or Rakanda in Justicia. So they're taking like the cool
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  independent retailers from the city and then bringing them into
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  store and sharing that kind of passion, that kind of expertise
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  to end of, you know, to elevate the entire experience.
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  It's which just I love. Every element of it is fabulous.
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  Yeah, it's going. I've got to be honest, from the
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  pictures. I'm gonna go on probably
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  tomorrow, the day after I'll be there.
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  It's got that 1940s solve like feel to it, but then it's got
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  this all very unique. They're not shelves these like
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  concrete blocks here where the the the trainers there really
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  cool. OK, moving on.
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  I want to talk about every single one and I keep looking at
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  the time going on. Oh, we can't talk about but
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  carry on. No, we're gonna do this.
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  Go. Let's go.
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  I mean, I had to put Prantal in. We were in New York.
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  I mean, yeah, I said, I mean, I, you know, we we we met at the
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  Marine layer personalization patch bar.
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  I could have put that into a top ten because it was such a lovely
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  idea of putting like a basement Speakeasy style where you can
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  personalise the clothes. I thought that was fabulous.
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  So where we met, you know, only in January was great.
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  There's far more than 10 amazing world class stores in New York.
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  But really I thought the big news for this year was proud on
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  taking the the bold step of moving into New York.
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  I mean, opening a concept department store at a tricky
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  time for department stores and also down in the Wall Street
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  district, which is, you know, not a traditional area for for
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  for retailing. It's just such an unbelievably
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  fabulous space. It's, it's, it's design
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  maximalism at the ultimate level.
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  It's again borrowing power from the heritage building.
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  So the red salon that you can see there, it's actually a
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  protected space in the sense that the, the mosaic walls were
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  already done by an artist that they've, they've inhabited a
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  space that they've taken over and inherited and then built the
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  fixtures around it to create this just fabulous playground
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  experience. It's reinventing the department
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  store. Instead of just being a a big
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  box with a bunch of concessions, it's a series of intimate
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  different rooms, each with their own personality and each with a
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  different hospitality element. So every single floor has
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  something in hospitality do. You think this works as a store
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  though? Do you think people like, do
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  they buy here or do they just visit here?
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  I that that's the first and only question everyone asks.
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  It's very quiet. It really is quiet.
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  How the numbers are trading, I don't know.
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  I suspect it probably is not doing the volume that it needs
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  to, but equally it might be the people that are buying are
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  spending enough to keep it. Going, going because it's
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  luxury. Right, I mean, I, I know it's,
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  it's, it's the obvious question people ask is, you know, what's
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  the point of spending money if it's not making money and it's
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  not returning? You know, I don't genuinely, but
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  it's had. Loads of column inches.
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  So, people. Have had.
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  Like I didn't actually go because I was like, I get it's
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  like show Fields gave me such a bad time.
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  Obviously Show Fields is gone now and it's a gym sharker
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  there, but I was like, sorry, go.
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  No, no, I, well, I agree, but I, but I, I, I didn't like show
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  fields as much, to be honest. I had a lovely experience at
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  Pronto and although I didn't buy any actual product, I did buy
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  food and drink. So I take part in the
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  hospitality offer and particularly that the wonderful
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  red bar down down there on the bottom left corner, just, it's a
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  fantastic space. It's it's a really intimate
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  shopping experience.