Retail Innovation: Reviving Malls, Shops & Brands
Retail’s Revival:
Fixing What’s Wrong With Malls, Shops & Brands
Recollections of a Shopaholic
For me, shopping has long been an emotional journey. The joy of seeing shop windows artfully displaying their wares. The thrill of discovering something unique and beautiful. The nervousness of hoping what I desire is available in my size.
I was born in Europe and lived there until my mid-twenties. Back then, shopping was more than just a chore. The event was exciting. It involved choosing outfits, deciding who to go with, planning which stores to visit, and where to have lunch.
I had a great time exploring European cities. The outdoor shopping areas were charming. I enjoyed strolling through lively neighborhoods and streets.
Interesting things filled the stores. I walked on cobblestone streets. Going to the mall was more convenient of course, and back then, malls had a bit of magic and charisma. Luxury brands and distinct retail chains comingling with restaurants, bookstores, and even pet stores, all under one roof.
I was thrilled to work with the Dubai Shopping Festival, a well-known event for shoppers in the Middle East. This festival is extremely popular among shoppers in the region. I was excited to be a part of it.
Picture a city bustling with life, filled with numerous malls offering discounted goods for an entire month. Enjoy special events and live entertainment happening all around you! I still think it is one of the best events in the world.
Retail’s Downfall
I started working with retailers, brands, malls, and developers because I am passionate about it. I wanted to create events and experiences that would attract more customers to their venues.
But as the retail landscape began to change, the shoppers were coming less and less. Many people have been discussing the decline of brick-and-mortar stores. However, e-commerce is not the only reason for this decline.
I blame retail’s demise on greed and ubiquity.
Shopping centers and districts began as places of culture, community, discovery. The shopping experience was more emotional, less transactional. Take the story of young architect Victor Gruen, considered the father of the modern shopping mall. In 1956, he designed the first fully enclosed and climate-controlled shopping complex, Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota.
He wanted to create a community hub like the one in Vienna. It would have shops, culture, and entertainment. People could gather and socialize there, just like he did back home. Gruen’s vision, he said, was to provide;
“the needed place and opportunity for participation in modern community life that the ancient Greek Agora, the Medieval Market Place and our own Town Squares provided in the past.”
When Southdale opened, people regarded it as a revolutionary concept in urban development. A sprawling wonder with fountains, an aviary, tropical foliage, art installations and year-round cultural programming.
Flash forward fifty years and Gruen’s beautiful vision became usurped by greed and ubiquity. Shopping malls sprang up everywhere, bigger and bigger, with more stores and parking spots, less wonder and no culture.
All the stores look the same, all the malls lack character. All the brands focus on faceless transactions. And we wonder why everyone would rather buy online!
Reincarnating the Culture of Shopping
We have forgotten the sensual, tactile experience of open-air bazaars. The community bonds fostered in lively piazzas and squares. The lure of crafted goods and unique shops as conduits to fulfil our desires.
In our connection-starved world, consumers crave a return to more personal, immersive moments of engagement. Technology has its merits, but you cannot feel the softness of silk or cashmere through a screen. You cannot share your journey of discovery with others by clicking and adding items to your cart.
We have to go back to what it means to shop. To remember how to build a culture and transform spaces into hubs of culture and community once more.
And we have to think more intentionally about the customers we are trying to attract. People derive motivation not only from sales and discounts. We feel before we think. Knowing how customers feel is important for creating a positive shopping experience that attracts and retains them.
Here are some ways to restore culture and magic to our shopping centers and stores:
Malls + City Streets & Squares
Become a community hub:
Develop your shopping environment through a placemaking approach, striving to become the heart of your community. Seek to create a small city within your city; design spaces and places of culture and community. Or as Fellini said, create “un piccolo universo.”
Foster a sense of place, with an eye toward what makes your destination special or unique.
Invest in the experience, programming and curating anything and everything, from annual events to unexpected occasions, social opportunities and special happenings. Collaborate with your tenants and retailers to create the magic together with you.
Add new experiences and ideas to enhance your space, making it more lively and innovative. This will attract more people and give them more reasons to visit. Sales will follow!
Cultivate beauty & innovation
Humans love to surround themselves with beauty, so bring culture and the arts. We desire and appreciate talent and craftsmanship.
Think of attractions, landmarks and icons - create them or temporarily borrow them.
Partner with artists, creative people, designers, philosophers, anthropologists and people who love to shop!
Evolve, innovate, create something new. Creativity is what makes a space or place unique.
Retailers & Brands
Be more personal, less transactional:
Shoppers are loyal to brands they feel a connection with. Store design should communicate what your brand stands for, going back to your roots, your essence. Tell your story through personal touches that make us follow, respect, admire and tell it further.
Be distinctly yourself and create your own lane. Avoid copying others, or you’ll be seen as inauthentic, or, worse, ubiquitous.
Go beyond your annual global events, which may play well on social media, and think of your individual stores and their identities. Act local to create destinations of desire.
Work with new talent, experiment, curate, program, create. Seek out extraordinary, designers, artists and makers. They can elevate your brand and add unexpected impact.
Extend your brand through every touchpoint:
Be memorable in all you do - from advertising to packaging and product, service and storytelling.
Your shop window is as important as your annual fashion show or a product launch. So is your sales floor.
Your staff are your brand ambassadors. Train them well and treat them well so they tell your story with pride, and provide an experience that motivates shoppers to want to return.
