Making It Work

Break Through Location Restraints to Create Incredible Stores

Prime real estate doesn’t always come easily for retailers. A location opens up in a desirable market but it ends up being in a historical district with strict building guidelines or a high traffic spot with out-of-this-world exposure goes on the market but it’s a two-story space whose footprint is about half the size the retailer’s model is used to. Whether it’s landlord stipulations or awkwardly-angled architecture, the “perfect” location may not be so perfect after all.

Reasonably, one would think that retailers would pass on these logistical nightmares and head for more perfectly-fitted pastures that can accommodate their current store models. Retailers, however, are defying logic and taking on these challenging spaces –and are doing so with much success. Let’s take a look at three common hiccups prime real estate can present and what retailers are doing to make these imperfect locations work for them.

Obstacle #1: Landlord, city, and/or committee design and building restrictions
You’ve found that perfect slice of real estate. It’s in the best market possible and it’s almost as if the location was made specifically for your store. But then your dreams of a smooth move-in are dashed by a clause in your lease agreement or some demand from a governing committee.

Historical districts are well-known for their building stipulations, but lately, newer developments are also stepping up with demands of their own. Essentially it all comes down to achieving a design aesthetic, and it’s not at all uncommon for that aesthetic to be completely different than the one currently outfitting your stores. Retailers like Wal-Mart have begun developing multiple store models from which one can be chosen that best fits the local landscape and ultimately pleases developers and planning committees. Other retailers like Best Buy, who recently tackled some tough landlord demands in its Columbus Circle location in New York, are investing their time on a store-by-store basis to find things –often colors or graphics or display design– that can be brought into the new space to make it recognizable to customers and they modify the rest fit the requested design aesthetic.

Obstacle #2: Small lot size
A common conundrum in urban environments, small lot sizes can present big challenges for retailers used to the sprawl of Suburbia. Still, for the perfect spot, retailers are stepping up –literally.

Multi-level versions of typically single-story stores are popping up in cities across the nation, allowing retailers to achieve at least the same square footage on half the acreage. While building up adds costs like elevator installation and extra staff that you wouldn’t have in a traditional store, retailers like REI, Barnes & Noble, and even The Home Depot have been willing to open multi-story locations to be able to call some pretty desirable spaces home.

Another option for neutralizing a tight fit is to open a smaller version of your full-size store. Trimming down the number of displays can help open up a space and editing your product offering can eliminate crowding. A prime example is those retailers like Brooks Brothers that you commonly find in airports. Their pint-sized stores still create the same environment as the full-size stores, just with half the product and half the space.

Obstacle #3: Awkward architecture
Elevation changes, jaunty angles, an unsightly structural support –buildings hide some pretty interesting things inside and out. These unique architectural elements can give locations a charm all their own; however, they could also become major design dilemmas.

The way I see it, there are two options for retailers as far as awkward architecture is concerned: you can either embrace it or hide it. Retailers have been successful at doing both. Embracing an element means investing some time in the design. February’s issue of DDI magazine features one retailer who did just that when designing for its small, awkward storefront on Toronto ’s trendy Bloor Street . Capezio took direction from the location’s dramatic ceiling, a structure that starts out at 20 feet tall and ends up just 7 feet from the floor, and created origami-inspired display pieces that play off and play up the ceiling’s angles. The company liked the resulting look so much that they are planning to incorporate the angled fixtures into its new stores.

On the other hand, some retailers do their best to hide unsightly architecture. Interestingly enough, hiding architecture takes extra thought as well. Some ideas that I’ve seen retailers employ include framing over uncooperative angles to create a more workable area, mounting slat wall to bulky support columns and turning them into product display areas, and painting out elements to get them to blend into the background.

Found that perfect spot but think it can’t work out because of all the strings attached? Think again. Many retailers have stepped up to the challenge and created functional and attractive stores in unconventional (for the retailers anyway) spaces. The key is to be flexible and willing to think outside the box. If you can do that, design stipulations, too-small properties, and imposing architecture won’t be able to stand in your way of realizing an amazing store in a desirable location.