Out and About EDGE Portico Shop, National Gallery London, UK
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EDGE designs new concept Portico Shop for National Gallery Company.
whilst forming an overall cohesive story to reflect the wide range of products available. We wanted to ensure that the shop had the same values as the Gallery itself, meaning that the shop needed to show it had really curated the products on display.”
The National Gallery Company research found that customers had a wide range of what they wanted to see in the Portico shop on level 2. The Gallery would always provide merchandise for those wanting an emblematic keepsake inspired by the great masters but many customers also wanted quite different things beyond typical reproduction artworks. Responding to this brief EDGE has re‐designed their shop, finding new ways to increase turnover. “The design process began by establishing a clear picture of the shop’s core target customer groups”, EDGE Director Michael Fern explained “Once that was ascertained, we began to draw up retail categories and design language that directly addressed each customer segment, ranging from tourists and day‐trippers from the Greater London and home counties areas to dedicated cultural tourists and casual passers‐by.” They analysed flow and movement through the existing store, noting any issues the store had with peak volumes and bottle‐ necks at critical times.
“Our ‘big idea’ was the concept of a visit to an artist’s studio”, Fern continued, “where the objects and artefacts on display are arranged in seemingly eclectic groupings,
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There are now fewer floor fixed units and a new centralised island till. There is also a series of over‐sized wall bays along the perimeter and the furniture used to display has the feel of artist’s equipment for example displaying postcards based on easels. Two of the areas are given over to the perennially‐popular product ranges inspired by the works of Monet and Van Gogh. The third new themed grouping is the most purely art‐based collection, made up of postcards, catalogues and art books representing a wide range of artists found at the Gallery. The final area is a fun and play based section which has dedicated its products for children, with bespoke ranges of books, toys and art products for either children shopping with adults or as an inspiration for gift purchases. EDGE was part of a team on this project which included Project managers ab associates (who also oversaw the initial tender process as well as handling product sourcing logistics) and shopfitters and contractors Newman Scott. “This was a hugely enjoyable project”, Michael Fern commented. “We had some excellent focus groups along the way who gave us a very positive response to the
new concepts, whilst, as a client, The National Gallery Company was truly engaged at every stage and completely dedicated to the process of change. The client team completely embraced the rationale for reducing product densities and our desire to increase the time customers took browsing, with more space and time and original product mixes to inspire them along the way.” Trading director of the National Gallery Company Douglas Gilmore, concluded “We are very proud of this new shop fit. It was important to us to make best commercial use of limited space, so we’ve taken the visual merchandising higher, used an open perimeter system to create a greater sense of depth and incorporated a jewellery fixture into the central till unit. Signing the different product groups with enormous prints of details from the Gallery painting that inspired them is a great touch and connects the store with the Gallery in the customer’s mind. You can shop online in this store and watch our DVDs or listen to our CDs on an iPad before you buy. There is a really interesting mix of colour and materials from oak, metal, kydex to even some marble. The enhanced LED lighting and lightened floor tone add to the cohesive effect. We worked with some great people and I’d particularly like to thank EDGE, ab associates and Newman Scott for design, project management and main contractor services respectively. They, along with my colleagues, all played their part in delivering this project early and within budget.”
Contact EDGE
+ 44 (0)20 7993 9790
www.edge.gb.com
www.a1retailmagazine.com
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Portico Shop gets the
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