Ralph Perone

After 42 years, store planning has never been more exciting for Talbots’ Ralph Perone. The managing director of store planning and design for the Boston area-based specialty apparel retailer has made it his mission to think outside the gift box and give the Talbots shopper something different – new technologies and design ideas that avoid the typical cookie-cutter layout.

Perone began his life in retail at Ohrbach’s, the now-defunct department store chain, while earning degrees in industrial engineering from Hofstra University and construction technology from New York University. He later signed on as the vp of store planning for BATUS Retail Group, the one-time U.S. subsidiary of British American Tobacco, which then owned Saks, Kohl’s, Gimbel’s and Marshall Field’s. Then he moved on to Talbots, where he’s managed the creative development of the retailer’s more than 1100 stores for 21 years.

Store planning even occupies Perone’s extracurriculars – he’s been a member of the Institute of Store Planners since 1976 and was recently a judge for the ISP/VM+SD 2007 International Store Design competition. 

So just what does it take for a store to win the competition’s highest honor? “Newness and imagination. And not just for the sake of being different,” he says, “but newness that totally reinforces the brand.”

As an ISP judge, what were you looking for in a winning project?

It’s sad to say that most stores today are looking alike with a trend toward safe neutrals, especially white. I was looking for unexpected use of color and materials, creative space planning and innovative lighting and fixturing that supported the essence of the concept.

You’ve been a member of ISP since 1976 and working in the field for 42 years. How has store planning changed since you first began?

Years ago, it was all about getting stores opened quickly to support the expansion plans of the company. In some cases, stores were oversized and if a layout was wrong, it wasn’t critical to the profitability of the store. Booming sales more than compensated for errors in judgment. Now the planning process has become more analytically driven and more of a science.

Why store planning? When did you first know you wanted to do this for a living?

Marrying form, function and fashion has always intrigued me. I became interested in store design in high school when I interviewed and shadowed the manager of my local department store. I was hooked.

What’s been your biggest challenge for Talbots?

Constantly trying to evolve our designs, while at the same time attempting to standardize everything because we are in a rollout mode.

Finish this thought: Nobody knows that I…

Hide Twizzlers in my desk drawer.

Name one famous person you’ve met.

Actor Danny Thomas.

What quote do you live by?

“If you never get lost, you’ll never know another way to get there.”

If there was a movie made about your life, who would play you?

The Fonz, Henry Winkler.

Name one thing you can do only in Boston.

See the Red Sox win at Fenway Park.

If your TiVo were suddenly (and mysteriously) erased, which TV show would you be most upset about losing?

The History Channel’s special on the American automobile.

So you’re a car fan. Classics? Hot rods? Muscle cars?

I love restoring, driving and showing classic cars.

And one of your New Year’s resolutions was also car-related?

Yes, to get tickets to the Daytona 500. But as most resolutions go, I didn’t keep it.