Exploring Retail Design
Steve Thomas-Emberson discusses how approaches to retail design differ on the high street compared with travel terminals.
All retail design is subject to restrictions and expectations, wherever the shops are situated. For passenger terminal shops, these restrictions are generally lack of space and the fact that they are open 24/7. Add on to this the vagaries of the terminal operator and it is easy to see how a retail designer could be tearing his or her hair out.
Is it simpler on the high street? Well, yes and no. Lack of space is not so much an issue, but whatever a design team comes up with has to work in all shop sizes and from Brighton to Barnsley. I am of course talking about a retail rollout design concept. In choice of materials, a heavy footfall is a significant issue; the wrong floor choice and you could be changing it in two years or less!
From the public’s perspective, there are some great shopping centres, Oxford Street in London is iconic, Manchester likewise, so why do consumers in Sheffield
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get on a train ‐ not a cheap thing today ‐ and travel down to St Pancras International railway station for a days shopping and eating?
The answer is in the brand offer and the retail design atmosphere, as David Redington of The Design Solution explains; “All passenger terminals, be they rail or plane, tend to have recognisable main brands, and a lot of these are at the luxury end of the retail spectrum. A terminal operator and the retailer will be able to work out a customer profile, which is why they are there in the first place. What is also so appealing is that the brands you see on the high street look so much different in a terminal setting, as the retail outlets tend to have more of a showcase environment ‐ light bright and clean.”
All this sounds very costly per square metre compared with the high street, so just how different in design and fit‐out terms are the two? Redington continues;
“Passenger terminal outlets are normally treated as flagship stores. The level of detail will be higher to ensure the quality expected and to meet airport or railway approvals submission requirements. The design approval that a company such as The Design Solution has to go through is one that does not exist for the high street. Our recent work in Scandinavian airports also had what is now essential for all terminals, a ‘Sense of Place’ ‐ retail units that are of the local city or country. Heathrow has Harrods and St Pancras had the London Olympic shop, both retailers are successful due to a sense of place. What is interesting is the fact that retailers will trial different concepts or elements in these sites that will inevitably be high profile, especially in new terminals, before working them into their high street store network.”
As Redington explained, the level of
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Retail on theMove
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