The frontage does not pull anyone in
Most of the decision to enter is made in a few seconds from outside. Sightlines through the glazing, the brightness of the interior relative to the street, and what is visible at the threshold are what decide it.
Commercial space
Showroom and Retail Interiors
Retail design is measured, not admired. Whether people come in, how far they walk, what they touch and what they buy are the tests, and lighting does more of that work than any other element.
Before anything is drawn
What this room
Customers stop just inside the door
There is a well-known dead zone immediately past the entrance where people are still adjusting. Putting the first display there wastes it. The layout should carry people past it before asking for attention.
The lighting flattens the product
A uniform grid of downlights makes everything look the same, which is the opposite of what retail lighting is for. Accent lighting, a decent colour rendering index and contrast between display and circulation are what make product look worth buying.
Get them across the threshold
Everything before the door is doing the hardest work. From the pavement a customer reads the brightness of the interior, how far in they can see, and whether the entrance is obviously an entrance. An interior that is dimmer than the street reads as closed. A frontage you cannot see into reads as intimidating. Both are fixable at the design stage and expensive to fix afterwards.
Plan the walk
There is a decompression zone just inside the door where people are adjusting and are not really looking. Anything placed there is wasted. Beyond it, circulation should give customers a natural route that passes the product you most want seen, with room to stop without blocking anyone behind.
Lighting sells
If there is a single line in a retail estimate not to cut, it is lighting. Contrast is what draws the eye, so display zones want to be noticeably brighter than circulation, accent fittings need to be adjustable because merchandising moves, and colour rendering matters more than wattage for anything where the customer is judging a colour or a finish.
The room itself
What this looks like
Specification
The materials that
- Floor
- Rated for the footfall it will get and for trolleys or heavy stock where relevant. Circulation routes wear far faster than display zones and can be specified differently.
- Display systems
- Modular and re-configurable wherever the range changes seasonally. Fixed joinery is beautiful and becomes a constraint the first time the merchandising plan changes.
- Lighting
- High colour rendering, which matters enormously for anything where colour is part of the purchase, plus adjustable accent fittings on track so the scheme can follow the product.
Come prepared
What we will
These are the questions that decide the design. Having answers ready makes the first meeting worth twice as much.
- What is the product, and does the customer need to touch, try or be fitted?
- What is the frontage width, and how much of it is glazed?
- How often does the range or the merchandising change?
- How many staff are on the floor, and where do they need to stand?
- What are the mall or landlord rules on signage, shopfront and working hours?
Projects involving this room
Rooms this one usually comes with
Draft wording.This page was written by us from your brief rather than by you. Read it, change anything that is not how you work, and we will set it exactly as you want it.
Let's begin
Your space
Tell us about the property and what you want from it. We will come back with a plan and a detailed estimate.