Store Design

It’s been long established that music has the power to stir emotion and influence consumer behavior. In 1973, business professor Philip Kotler first addressed the science of sound in retail when he coined the term “atmospherics” for the practice of designing store environments to project a specific image and induce certain behaviors. In an article…

The department store Belk is collaborating with the home goods and furniture retailer Conn's HomePlus to launch a store-within-a-store concept later this year. The new store format, which will launch under a new brand name soon to be announced, will give Belk customers access to Conn's home product categories, including furniture, home electronics and appliances, and…

Even before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19, the brick-and-mortar retail industry was in trouble. Anchor tenants in malls were closing their doors, transforming once vibrant shopping centers into ghost towns. Independent retailers were struggling as they faced strong competition from online stores that didn’t have the high overhead of operating in expensive downtown areas.…

The way people shop in stores is changing. Concerns of safety still exist, and many people continue to practice social distancing. Furthermore, with the emergence of COVID-19 variants, in-store shopping behaviors are prone to shift overnight. Although all retailers are now operating in the same pandemic era, there's no consensus among them on what in-person…

It's not news that the global pandemic has continued to complicate both back-of and front-of-house operations for retailers, but the holidays are coming, nonetheless. Several factors will serve to increase the pressure on physical retail locations this year. There's an increased desire to shop in stores and to shop earlier. Consider: 47 percent of consumers…

In episode 323 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Andre Persaud, chief retail officer of Rite Aid, the trusted, everyday care connector operating over 2,500 retail pharmacy locations across 17 U.S. states. Persaud discusses Rite Aid's RxEvolution strategy, how the business is redesigning the in-store experience for its customers, and the internal cross-functional…

For decades, big-box stores drew in foot traffic by offering a combination of convenience mixed with a healthy dose of selection and savings. Shelves were fully stocked with a variety of trusted brands, all available at the low price only large-scale chains can offer. Because the stores created a one-stop retail experience outside of urban…

In this interactive webinar, our speakers will be addressing how retailers can prepare their stores for the forecasted surge in demand.

There’s no question that physical retail has changed forever, thanks to the pandemic. Stepping into a store looks dramatically different than it did a year ago, and retailers will be adjusting their store experience long after COVID-19 has been contained. The need to do so is confirmed by a recent study by First Insight, which…

Walmart will remodel 200 of its Supercenters by the end of 2020 to encourage a more "digitally enabled shopping experience" featuring bolder signage, contactless checkout, and airport-inspired crowd management techniques, according to the company's Chief Customer Officer Janey Whiteside. The retail giant's remodeling project will expand to 1,000 stores by the end of 2021. The…