Last December, Steve Madden Ltd. (Long Island City, N.Y.), designer and marketer of fashion footwear and accessories for women and men, continued its ambitious expansion plan with the opening of a new 1500-square-foot store in Madrid’s Gran Plaza 2 shopping mall. The brand, whose trenchant viewpoint is inspired by rock ‘n’ roll, and a touch of irreverence and sex appeal, teamed with Grottini Retail Environments (Porto Recanati, Italy) to design an in-store environment appropriate to the brand’s edgy style.
The approach to the new store concept was to capture Madden’s sometimes wild but chic style by positioning product offerings as actors on a selling stage and framing them with a set design evocative of the urban lifestyle that the retailer often references.
To that end, the materials palette produces a wide-ranging tactile experience. The metropolitan vernacular of the space is defined by an envelope of washed concrete surface treatments, including the floor, ceiling and walls. The application of concrete on several surfaces offers a tangible 3-D experience. Additionally, black laminate tables are detailed with rust-clad steel inserts and cold-plated metal to enhance the store’s city style.
A soft quilted couch, upholstered in a violet jewel-toned fabric, is positioned as a focal point on warm wooden planks, juxtaposed against the hard concrete floor. The back wall completes the urban aesthetic with aged pine planks featuring irregular thicknesses, and black steel vertical uprights.
Customer engagement, as well as a sense of time and place, is further enhanced by the seamless integration of high-resolution monitors and strategically positioned, interchangeable magnetic environmental graphics.
Steve Madden will continue its global footprint as the new store concept is rolled out to emerging markets, including the Middle East, Israel, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, South Africa and Mexico.