Setting Sail

West Marine Inc. (Watsonville, Calif.), the country's leading boating supplies retailer, has announced plans for concept shops for its casual apparel line. The program, to be installed in 24 of its 247 stores nationwide, will be done in partnership with Entolo Corp. (Minneapolis).

Entolo has manufactured the shop fixtures and done the environmental design, and will be installing the shops.

“The environmental concept is designed to fit into a multitude of locations with all different sizes and store configurations,” said Entolo project director Wayne Nodsle. “The idea is to connect the soft goods apparel section of the store to the nautical theme, with fixtures and other elements that resemble physical characteristics of boating, while incorporating authentic marine components. The mast fixture, for example, is reminiscent of a sailboat mast and uses West Marine riggings for a visual accent.”

The shops, plus 131 dress kits, are scheduled for completion by summer 2002. The prototype was recently installed in a Santa Cruz, Calif., store.