Retail Design Twists & Turns

(Wednesday, October 01, 1997) - Today's major design trends reflect the shrinking moments that retailers have to connect with their customers.

As retailers attempt to establish identity and build foot traffic, retail design is more and more a reflection of the evolving age in which we live. The pomp and extravagance of the 1980s has given way to a smarter, leaner 1990s sophistication. Retailers, in an information-rich, attention scattering age, are using eye-catching, user-friendly and functional concepts to help their stores stand out in shoppers' busy field of vision.

Coffee and the Internet Screenz Digital Universe has given the happy marriage of coffee and Internet services a new relative. The Chicago-based retailer has created a user-friendly, 1990s version of the coffee shop, serving old-fashioned java along with warp-speed Internet access. With dozens of CD-ROM entertainment and education software titles from which to chose, a network of 45 Pentium-based workstations are staffed by knowledgeable "Explorer Guides" to help first-time cyber surfers take advantage of the newest technology.

The design goal was to give high-tech a communal, friendly atmosphere instead of a techno-edgy feel. The brightly lit interior, natural woods, large graphic images, deep purples and golden yellows draw customers in as they walk by the store.

"The key [to the design project] was mixing socialization with computer fun in a space that was truly welcoming and comfortable," says Screenz's visual marketing and retail planning director Randy Sattler. "We're mass marketing the [store's] socialization aspect as much as we are the technology."

View all Screenz Computing Centers Press Releases

This article has been read 161 times.

Printer Friendly