Problem: Spector’s wanted a contemporary-yet-sophisticated setting for its men’s store in an Albany, N.Y., mall, but the landlord was footing the bill for design and build-out and the budget was tight.
Solution: Designers found a wood veneer “wallpaper” that fit their budget and gave the 100-year-old retailer its sense of tradition and history.
Spector’s apparel store (Albany, N.Y.) is the kind of local family business where the clientele list goes back for generations. And it’s a clientele that can drop $10,000 on a few suits, some shoes and a pair of cuff links in a single day.
A few years after Spector’s moved to Albany’s Colonie Center, mall-owner Feldman Mall Property began renovating the two-level enclosed complex to make way for a cinema, new stores and restaurants. In the process, Spector’s was to be relocated to make way for a new Cheesecake Factory. But since the property owner valued the apparel store, it offered to front the design and build-out costs for the relocation. The only catch: an $800,000 budget, or little more than $120 per square foot.
“Obviously, there was a budget challenge,” says David Kepron, principal, retail design, at spg3 (Philadelphia), the design firm handling the renovation project. “We wanted to marry tradition with refreshed ideas so we could reposition the company with new clients and its new location. So the question became: How do we establish a sense of tradition through materials?”
Looking at the haberdashery-like environment of a Polo Ralph Lauren store, designers turned to the idea of using wood inside Spector’s. “Wood has a layered quality that offers you lots of depth in color and texture,” says Kepron. But could they afford the material on such a tight budget?
The design team reviewed many solutions, including wall panels and wood strips applied to the walls in a decorative fashion. “But all the ideas had extra layers of installation costs,” says Kepron. “Plus, you’re limited by wood lengths.”
That’s when designers remembered a product called Sanfoot, a flexible wood wallcovering that includes five layers of architectural-grade veneer, paper, foil, glue barrier and paper backing. “The beauty of this product is that you can wrap it around surfaces,” says Kepron. “And you apply it like wallpaper, so it can be installed by the general contractor.”
But rolls of Sanfoot come in 9-foot lengths and Spector’s walls are 12 feet tall, “so we had to create a design that allowed the wood panels to float,” Kepron says.
Since the material is hung like wallpaper, the sheetrock work had to be precise and corners had to be straight. So a Sanfoot product representative gave the installers a day-long tutorial on hanging the surfacing material.
Since Spector’s wanted to present new merchandise groupings within its updated store environment, spg3 wrapped the wallcovering with a Madagascar ebony finish around wall dividers that stand out from the perimeter and define product categories. “In a way, the material enrobes the store,” says Kepron.
The material is also used behind the cashwrap and mounted onto impact-resistant sheetrock on the store exterior.
One unexpected result was a design within the design. Since the veneer is made from natural lumber, there’s a repeating pattern to it. The product comes on numbered rolls so installers can match the grain as they put it up. “The striated effect resembles a herringbone pattern, which ties back nicely to the merchandise,” says Kepron. “It’s a fun coincidence.”
What’s your problem? Have you helped a retailer overcome a recent design-related problem and can share that experience with readers of VMSD? Send an article proposal to VMSD managing editor Anne DiNardo at anne.dinardo@stmediagroup.com.