Retail Reimagined, Part III

First Place
Conversion – Specialty Store
Sales Area Under 10,000 SQ. FT.
Chilewich, New York
Submitted by: De-Spec, New York

The ambitious design behind textile supplier Chilewich’s first flagship was driven by the product itself. Comprising wall-to-wall pegboard fixtures, the vibrant range of products pop against the black, colored-through, MDF wall. With offerings constructed from similar fabrics, the store’s organizational scheme differentiates the each category: table runners are wrapped around protruding side-wall pegs above shelves holding placemats; flat-weave and shag rugs are rolled flush along the back walls.

Despite its functional simplicity, settling on the pegboard fixture system wasn’t an obvious decision for design firm De-Spec, which conceived the idea after conducting extensive testing on Chilewich’s catalogue of products and each possible way to display the items.

“We took these [product] categories and started charting them and eventually made a 3-D matrix of the quantity and variety [of product] they have, just to [visualize] it,” says Tom Shea, principal designer, De-Spec. “We then began looking at taking this variety of color and pixilating it and showing it as an overall display … that’s where this idea of the points in the wall immerged.”

VMSD competition judge, Claudia Cerchiara, retail client leader, BHDP Architecture (Cincinnati), appreciated the utilitarian approach: “The merchandise is the architecture … and they really succeeded,” she said.

Read more about the Retail Renovation Competition winners featured in VMSD's September 2015 issue by clicking here, and be sure to check vmsd.com throughout the month of September for parts I-VII of this Renovation Competition coverage.

Retail Reimagined, Part I
Retail Reimagined, Part II
Retail Reimagined, Part IV