Retail can reveal a city's essence.
From Lina Bo Bardi to Rye Lane in one shortish newsletter. Also feat. Bookshop! Brooks Bros.! Retention Strategies!
Over the last 6 months or so I’ve been working with a design studio, helping them with research and strategy on a number of projects. One of our clients is a local BID (Business Improvement District) and it’s had me thinking about the role of shops, shopkeepers, street cleaners, landlords, and citizens in general. This issue of Nation of Shopkeepers reflects some of that thinking, and perhaps builds on some of what I wrote back in February 2021
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“The city is a public space, a great exhibition, offering all kinds of subtle readings. And anyone who has a shop, a window display… has to assume the moral responsibility that requires their window display might help to shape the face of the city and to reveal something of its essence.”
Lena Bobardi - Stones Against Diamonds (currently reading)
I found this via a wonderful lecture by Peter Barber. Highly recommend the first 20 mins if you’re interested in cities, design, and life.
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“IT IS EASIER TO IMAGINE THE END OF THE WORLD THAN THE END OF SHOPPING” | RETAIL APOCALYPSE
In the last issue I missed this show that closed in Jan. Luckily the CCA in Toronto has a very handy overview on its website. ^ This video ^, narrated by Jack Self of Real Review, and featuring Samuel Ross (ACW), Rami Atallah (SSense) and Samir Bantal (AMO/OMA), is worth a watch too.
Might need to get the book: “Retail Apocalypse, a compendium of cases studies, interventions, and object lessons rescued from the bonfire of retail culture”.
Fingers crossed the Design Museum or somewhere else closer to home brings the show this way…
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LSD: LISTEN, SEE, DO™️
LISTEN: Articles of Interest: American Ivy
I really enjoyed this series (and this episode, in particular). The part on Brooks Bros. is fascinating: just how pioneering the brand was: creating mass-produced ready-to-wear clothing in the 19th Century, and how it was tied up with America’s newfound democracy.
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SEE: Working (Netflix)
Fans of the aforementioned Studs Terkel: if you’ve not seen Working (presented by Barack Obama) on Netflix, it’s worth your time.
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DO: Hidden Voices: go for an audio wander around Peckham
Now this is such a nice idea - created with funding from Southwark Council’s High Street Recovery Fund and delivered by local architecture studio, Deft.Space. ‘The project has been co-produced with local businesses featuring their stories of Rye Lane, Peckham and their vision for its future. It has been produced at a critical time when the town centre is at the cusp of significant change.’
As I work on Rye Lane a couple of times a week (at Market which I recommend, esp for the food and drink spots on the ground floor), and pass through it regularly, my fondness for it increases. There are few places that host such vibrant street life, and cater for such a broad array of people.
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RETAIL IS DETAIL, BABY (AND TVs IN STORE ‘ARE DEAD’)
Beware the 'ugly wallpaper'! (Path to Purchase / P2Pi
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Detail pt. 2
And if you’re really serious, you ought to be commissioning a bespoke carpet design, just like the old arcades used to. (Rob Ball)
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THE ART OF BOOKSELLING (IN THE 2020s)
Fascinating read on Bookshop. It launched in Jan 2020 and the pandemic saw it grow rapidly. According to the article, it’s become a critical part of indie booksellers’ business / financial plans.
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LINKS OF NOTE
Retention strategies. Subscription models and the inherent risk. Great stats. (FT Strategies)
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Lots of ‘No shit, consultant person’ in this: Great merchandising never goes out of fashion (McKinsey)
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Collapsed company merchandise is a thing. I’d love to know what Studs Terkel would have made of this. (Modern Retail)
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Online archives to browse: Sainsburys | Pirelli (lmk of any others you find - this feels like an interesting ‘thing’.
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As ever, I love to hear from readers and am always open to chat whether it’s retail / experience or brand related. You can find me here on LinkedIn, or just reply to this!