Sensorial Playground, Part III

International Visual Competition First Place Winner
Temporary/Pop-Up Retail Space
"Roots Canada – Roots Legends on Newbury with Bergmeyer"
Submitted by: Bergmeyer, Boston

Canadian lifestyle brand Roots (Toronto) decided to test the Boston market with a pop-up located on the city’s well-known Newbury Street. Designed in partnership with Bergmeyer (Boston), the brand – known in the Great White North for its salt-and-pepper knit fabric and leather goods – needed help reinventing the 3250-square-foot, five-room space it had secured, working with a tight budget. The design teams would only have a 6-week project schedule to work with and 24 hours to complete the full installation.

Natalie Fagen, Senior In-Store Manager, Marketing, Roots, explains: “We were here in Toronto and we had found this beautiful space in Boston; the goal was to figure out how to use the space in an engaging way to introduce each of our iconic items and create a love for them in the Boston market.”

Despite the time constraints, Bergmeyer helped create a “winter wonderland” theme for the pop-up, which included a range of vignettes showcasing the brand’s story, as well as a “home for the holidays” feeling – and plenty of Instagrammable moments.

A “salt-and-pepper” room, where everything from wallpaper to furniture, was designed to look as though it was made from the retailer’s iconic sweatshirt material; another featured a plethora of salt-and-pepper socks hanging in an undulating wave over an Adirondack chair for the perfect selfie moment. The tailgate of an antique Jeep did double duty as a bench in another room, as if it had just been driving down a wooded path, presents and luggage overflowing from its trunk. Even snowy tire treads were visible on the floor beneath.

“The element of surprise was the most brilliant piece of the storyline that was created from the Roots team on how to bring consumers room to room – there was a wow moment from the time you walked into the store and all the way through. It was a consistent message throughout,” says Stan Kubinski, Senior Associate, Bergmeyer.  

VMSD competition judges Jalpa Patel of ZenGenius Inc. and Haley Kunka of ChangeUp both commented on the impeccable use of textures and graphics to create an immersive feel.

Photography: Richard Cadan, Fairfield, Conn.

For Part I of the International Visual Competition coverage, please click here. 
For Part II of the International Visual Competition coverage, please click here.