Content about Hot Concepts

Imagine a store with a back staff of robots, where items appear, almost magically, in the fitting room. A store where customers can pay for merchandise without interacting with a single salesperson. You can stop imagining …check out Hointer, an apparel (mostly men’s jeans) shop in Seattle. A second location is set to open by the end of April, at Stanford Mall, in Palo Alto, Calif.

1. Baby & Child, Santa Monica, Calif.
A brand new concept from Restoration Hardware, Baby & Child offers a hip, modern take on upscale children's’ home furnishings. With its taupe tones and sophisticated stylings, this new format is far removed from the pastel, whimsical universe of Pottery Barn Kids and most other kids’ stores. Read More

Build-A-Bear Workshop has gone high-tech. The company has debuted a new store design that combines its signature hands-on bear-making experience with innovative technology that’s right in line with today’s digitally savvy kids. The new format, which premiered in Build-A-Bear Workshop’s renovated location at West County Center, St. Louis, also provides more interactive options to keep shoppers coming back.

A new, kids-only sports store in Manhattan, Rookie USA, is utilizing the latest in innovative HD projection and audio-visual technology to engage and inform shoppers.

The technology, the Tensator Virtual Assistant, projects an image of New York Knicks’ player Carmelo Anthony that, at nearly 7 ft., captivates shoppers with its 3D look and feel. The image provides store and branding information, and even shares basketball tips. It also incorporates surround-sound audio and video.

J.C. Penney Co.’s visual transformation has begun. The company has rolled out three shop concepts to nearly 700 stores nationwide. The shops, the first wave of many more to come, are dedicated to three brands: Levi’s, I Jeans by Buffalo, and The Original Jean Co. 

Click here to take a video tour of the new shops.
 

A new application at a Gap store in Manhattan takes the hassle—along with the unsightly cords and wiring—out of digital signage.

The retailer has deployed tabletop digital signage displays that run on rechargeable batteries, eliminating the need for any external power. The freestanding portable displays, from BrightSign, measure 10.5” x 19.9” x 9.9,” and feature a built-in 12.1” high-resolution screen and media player. They are self-contained and enclosed in a sleek steel display tower.

It’s an intriguing scenario: This summer, a weekend soccer player will enter Adidas’ store in downtown Manhattan to buy a pair of top-of-the-line F50s. He will turn down offers of help and saunter to the right of checkout where four 46-in. touch-screens are stacked. He will tap the play button on a video showing two pros putting the $270 shoe through its paces on the pitch and then removing the digital MiCoach tracking device in the sole and plugging it into a computer to review their performances.

Loblaw Companies Limited has transformed the famed Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto — an iconic Canadian landmark and former home of one of the most famous hockey arenas in North America — into the ultimate upscale supermarket destination. Massive in scope and ambition, the 85,000-sq.-ft. store more than lives up to its billing as “Toronto’s new crown jewel of food stores.”

Zara, part of Spain’s Inditex Group, has opened its biggest U.S. location, a 32,000-sq.-ft., three-level flagship on a primo stretch of Manhattan real estate: Fifth Avenue at 52nd Street. The store is part of a 90,000-sq.-ft. retail condominium that also houses Hollister and Uniqlo flagships.

Chicago Sports Depot, a one-stop shopping destination for all things White Sox as well as other Chicago sports teams, offers consumers the ultimate in sports merchandising. The 15,000-sq.-ft. store was developed through a close collaboration between Delaware North Companies and the Chicago White Sox, with RGLA Solutions, Schiller Park, Ill., serving as the design architect.

Pollo Campero, the fast-growing Latin chicken chain, unveiled a new prototype designed by Interbrand Design Forum. Created with the American consumer in mind, the new design debuted in Webster, Texas. Two other locations are due to open in the Houston area by yearend.

T-Mobile is rolling out a new design to nearly 400 stores across the country (see related story). The new format, which the company adopted from parent company Deutsche Telekom AG, has a streamlined, ultra-modern look, and includes a variety of service options, from standing counters on the sales floor for quick transactions to more private individual service desks where customers can meet with sales associates.