Statement stores: seven retail spaces that prove the high street isn’t dead

Diesel unveils an industrial foam-clad concept store in Milan

P.za San Babila 1/3, Milano, 20122
First opened in June 2023 as a futuristic, silver-lined concept store dedicated to the 1DR bag, Diesel launched its latest store installation in February this year. A stone’s throw from the main Diesel Flagship store in San Babila, the fashion giant’s new concept – aptly titled ‘Denim Takeover’ – is currently displaying an all-gender capsule collection of Glenn Martens’ stone washed denim bombers, shirts, trenches, and the iconic Grab-D Hobo bag. In contrast to this curated selection of high-fashion pieces is a floor-to-ceiling landscape of white industrial foam, complete with foam podiums and shelving units to intrigue shoppers with a monochromatic, “3-D textural experience”.

Turn errands to an experience with this Swedish supermarket

Bergtorpsvägen 45B, 183 64 Täby, Sweden
A collaboration between Swedish studio Westblom Krasse Arkitektkontor and fellow Swedish design agency Snask, this supermarket outside of Stockholm injects the growing concept of experiential retail design into even the most mundane of everyday tasks. Part of the ICA supermarket chain, the 2,200-square-metre ICA Stop in Täby now boasts attractive modern amenities including a blush-pink smoothie and juice bar, a champagne and seafood station and a vegan butchery, designed to evoke the feel of large-scale, high-end food halls.  Ribbed metal display shelves in pastel pinks, blues and lilacs give neatly stacked piles of fresh produce more room to breathe, split into colour-coded sections to enhance wayfinding, usability and visual appeal with distinctive colour blocking.

Dover Street Market set to launch a permanent Paris store

35-37 Rue des Francs Bourgeois, 75004 Paris, France
Now an iconic name known in fashion, streetwear and youth culture worldwide, Dover Street Market – the vision of Comme des Garcons founder Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe – can largely be credited with disrupting the conventional retail scene, popularising the notion of concept stores and introducing high-end stores inspired by street markets. Now operating a collection of unique, experiential stores in seven cities across the world (including Tokyo, Singapore, LA and London), the multi-brand fashion retailer is set to establish a permanent residence in Paris, where it has held a raft of temporary pop-ups and initiatives while waiting to transform the historic 3,500-square-metre Marais building. since 2021

Frama spotlights craftmanship in a 19^th-century apothecary

Fredericiagade 57, 1310 København, Denmark
Located in the historic and protected neighbourhood of Nyboder, Scandinavian design studio Frama boast an enviable showroom in the former St. Paul’s Apotek, a 19th-century apothecary. The Frama Studio Store carries a variety of furniture, lamps, and homeware in the brand’s signature natural finishes and straightforward geometry, showcased in the original oak pharmaceutical cabinets under impressive, ornately painted ceilings. A multi-use concept drawing Scandi design lovers from far and wide, the store also houses Apotek 57, run by chef Chiara Barla, with a rotating menu of house-made seasonal foods and beverages – turning the shopping experience into an evening of good food and fine wine.

FormRoom’s artistic inspiration for Converse ‘Toy Gallery’ pop-up

Well-versed in the world of concept stores and spatial design, retail and hospitality experts FormRoom brought their signature flair to the JW Anderson x Converse pop-up in Soho. Created in collaboration with multidisciplinary agency Anyways Creative, the footwear brand’s second partnership with Anderson saw the Northern Irish designer rework the classic Chuck Taylor All Star 70 trainer in ‘The Toy Collection’. FormRoom offered a lesson in experiential design by bringing the collection’s Playground theme to life, taking the recognisable visual language of an art gallery and turning it on its head with rough, terry toweled walls, vibrant PVC display plinths and bespoke soft play units.

David Collins Studio defines experiential design with Alexander McQueen

First accepting a commission from Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton in 2011, legendary design agency David Collins Studio unveiled its debut store for the fashion behemoth in Bal Harbour, Miami, back in 2012. Soon to follow would be the London flagship store in 2013, which received a full-scale overhaul, as well as the brand’s Paris flagship later in 2015. The latter still occupies two floors of a striking building on one of the world’s most prestigious shopping streets, Rue Saint-Honoré, reflecting the stylistic world of Alexander McQueen and the surrounding fashion capital with a classic yet contemporary colour palette and bespoke luxury furnishings.

These fashion flagships are just some of the strings to the British studio’s impressive retail bow, with David Collins also playing a major role in the expansion of industry giants including Jimmy Choo, Harrod’s, Gleneagles and Selfridges (as well as luxury hospitality legends like Mandarin Oriental, Nobu and the Ritz). What defines the studio’s longstanding relationship with Alexander McQueen, however, is the attention paid to elevating the retail experience into something bigger and better – a move we are now witnessing across the industry as we slowly depart from online shopping and return to real-world interactions.

Don’t miss our interview with the legendary David Collins Studio in our latest issue, Mix Interiors 231.

10·Corso·Como debuts an interior transformation by 2050+ studio Milan

Corso Como, 10, 20154 Milano MI, Italy
Capitalising on the buzz of Milan’s fashion week in February 2024, 10·Corso·Como – recognised as Europe’s first true concept store –revealed the first phase of its large-scale redesign by interdisciplinary agency 2050+. Executing the vision of multi-brand, luxury fashion retailer Tiziana Fausti, 10·Corso·Como centres its new concept around the idea of ‘selective archaeology’ – a process which aims to return the spaces to their original early 20th-century character by removing materials and elements accumulated over the years. These industrial design cues meet white, pared-back interiors that lend themselves to the first two renovated spaces: the Gallery and the Project Room.

Rethinking the flow of its interiors, the newly unveiled gallery and exhibition space both feature a series of self-supporting movable walls and modular elements, as well as grandstands set to host cultural talks and events. Described as “micro-architectures”, these additions were introduced to allow more flexible configurations while also maintaining the store’s recognisable style – that of a hybrid ‘Wunderkammer’ (or ‘cabinet of curiosities’). With these changes, the project envisions 10·Corso·Como as an even more efficient platform for cultural exchange, fostering a stronger connection between its multiple disciplines: fashion, design, art, photography, food, and urban nature.

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