Visual Merchandising and Store Design | VMSD.com

A behind-the-scenes look at what it took to create a chic pop-up shop in Soho in a New York minute.

By Mary Scoviak

Last August 30, Aerosoles packed up the last of its former Soho flagship, leaving behind 2200 square feet of raw space. The next morning, the White House|Black Market (WH|BM) Construction, Planning and Visual teams started work on transforming this shell into a chic pop-up worthy of the brand. They had all of six working days (given the Labor Day holiday) to make magic happen. “We didn’t even have the construction permit or the Landmarks approval,” says Johnson. “And, all of the work had to take place between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. because of an agreement with the residential tenant upstairs.”

Being fashionably late was not an option. WH|BM had to open its doors September 10—the date for the city-wide Fashion’s Night Out and the kick-off for Fashion Week as well as the launch period for the fashion retailer’s national fall marketing campaign. Thanks to intensive preplanning and close collaboration with manufacturers throughout the design and installation the space was red-carpet ready on a fast-fashion deadline.

Big Branding in a Small Space

From the outset, WH|BM had a clear vision of the challenges and opportunities of the location. “To keep the brand aesthetic intact, we concentrated on cleaning up the space as much as possible and incorporating select, iconic pieces from our premier store environments,” says Victor Johnson, WH|BM’s director of store environment. That included signature WH|BM elements such as dramatic crystal chandeliers; a mixture of contemporary and antique fixtures and furniture; showcases featuring national advertising and, of course, the black-and-white stripes that show up in a variety of materials and configurations.

One element Johnson couldn’t borrow from permanent stores was a luxurious footprint. “Most of our design decisions were driven by the non-negotiable physical parameters,” Johnson says. The small sales floor meant only an “edited” merchandise assortment and a limited number of sizes could be displayed. “We anticipated that a great deal of selling would take place in the fitting room lounge, since sizes would need to be pulled from the stockroom,” says Johnson. “Since lower Broadway is dense with foot traffic, we tried to accommodate as many fitting rooms as possible to make the store feel comfortable and special for as many customers as possible.”