In the last decade, there has been a trend towards brighter retail interiors. Selfridge's in London, Printemps in Paris, Myer in Australia, The Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, and many others, have created interiors that are brighter and lighter than stores in the past. These are also in stark contrast to Nordstrom, which tends to go for more subdued, slightly old-fashioned interiors. Let's have a look...
Selfridge's Wonder Room, London
Selfridge's Wonder Room, London
Selfridge's in London's 'Wonder Room' on the ground floor. They've created a lovely bright, upscale interior, using their trademark yellow as an accent colour. It's executed wonderfully... it's elegant, bright, and the yellow creates a sense of place that is uniquely Selfridges. A+.
Printemps Paris Hausseman, Ground Floor Entrance to Luxury Accessory Floors
Printemps Paris Hausseman, Atrium, Luxury Accessories
Printemps Accessories Floor
The flagship Printemps department store on Paris' Boulevard Hausseman has seen a spectacular renovation. It has a luxury accessories hall of three floors, being over 100,000 square feet. Canada's interior design team Yabu Pusselberg has executed the renovation in a spectacular fashion, creating one of the world's most productive and beautiful retailing spaces.
Myer, Melbourne Australia
Melbourne, Australia-based Myer has recently completed a renovation of its flagship store. It's light, bright, and a little strange looking... but airy and pleasant nonetheless.
Third Floor, Hudson's Bay Company Toronto Queen Street
Handbags Hall, Hudson's Bay Company Downtown Vancouver
Second Floor, Hudson's Bay Company Vancouver
Canada's Hudson's Bay Company department stores is also using the design team Yabu Pushelberg to renovate its Canadian stores. So far the new, brighter interiors have facilitated continually higher sales per square foot.
Neiman Marcus, Bellevue Washington
Neiman Marcus, Bellevue Washington
Neiman Marcus, Houston Tx.
Neiman Marcus, Short Hills NJ
The American retailer, Neiman Marcus, is well known for its bright, light interiors. The relatively large size of their stores and their clean, bright interiors, create an airy sense of luxury.
American retailer Nordstrom, as a contrast, uses a more conservative approach to their interiors. Nordstrom also tends to pack merchandise closer together than stores like Neiman Marcus. All Nordstrom photos are from Nordstrom at Westfield San Francisco Center, and are generally similar in all stores.
I personally prefer the brighter interiors. But that's just me. What do my readers think?
Nordstrom. It's a very popular American department store chain. The stores are often busy and profitable. The customer service is considered to be excellent. Some stores include piano players (a lovely idea that is mostly being phased out). Nordstrom is considered to be a 'prestigious brand', as per this article: Prestige Article
Nordstrom's roster of designers include some expensive top-of-the-line women's designers in a department called 'Collectors'. Think Balmain, Akris, Chanel, Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Versace, and so on. Men's designers at some flagship Nordstrom stores include Lanvin, Marni, Givenchy, Armani Collezioni, and others. Leathergoods at some locations include Valentino, Gucci, Prada, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, YSL, and others.
Nordstrom's somewhat underwhelming interiors
Despite the increasingly upscale range of Nordstrom's merchandise, I find their store interiors to be average, at best. Nordstrom aims to provide merchandise in an uncluttered, open atmosphere. More recently, they have included some designer shop-in-store concepts, starting with their Topanga store in suburban Los Angeles (including shops for Valentino, Chanel, Gucci, Dior, and others). The floor tiles in walkways, however, tend to be an ordinary beige variety, while ceilings are square tiled and a bit dated (with exceptions for marble flooring and smooth ceilings in designer areas at selected stores).
I recently attended their South Coast Plaza store in Costa Mesa, California, which has the highest revenues of any Nordstrom store (sales of over $180 million at 235,000 square feet). It was busy and had lots of shoes. And a designer 'Collectors' department. Despite the upscale offerings and store popularity, I was left feeling that Nordstrom could provide more 'punch' to the store's interior. The ceilings are dated square panels (like at the local library), and there are no vendor handbag shops. Just some bags in a bags department (Though some very expensive bags from various designers). I love the piano player by the atrium/escalators. But recently, piano players are unfortunately being phased out of most Nordstrom stores in lieu of recorded music, reducing Nordstrom's already challenged 'sense of place'.
Some experts believe that a shopping environment is almost as important as a store's merchandise. Luxury goods can be an emotional purchase, and presentation can affect sales. Awesome clothing displayed in a Wal-Mart or a Dollar Store environment will likely impress less than in a well-tailored retail environment.
September 2010. True story:
Nordstrom, Fashion Valley Shopping Centre San Diego, men's department:
Me: "Is Nordstrom planning on renovating this store".
Sales Lady: "We're almost done"
Me: "What!?"
Sales Lady "Yeah, they totally moved things around in here. This area used to be cosmetics"
Me: "Wow." [chuckling at the 1980's square-tile ceiling, average beige-tile floors, and boring carpeting]
Don't get me wrong. I like Nordstrom, and I'm loving their increasingly designer-oriented strategy. However, I feel that Nordstrom could benefit from a more 'glamorous', updated sense of place to go along with their upscaling merchandising strategy. I'm not sure exactly what this should entail, but I'd go to Printemps' department store in Paris and make up a cheat-sheet of what a good store interior can look like. I'd start cheating here: Printemps Paris
Though sales are often less at Bloomingdale's than Nordstrom, I still prefer Bloomingdale's store interiors. Here are a couple of my favorite Bloomies interior photos:
