As retailers experience drops in sales and bemoan the rise of online shopping, it becomes evident that the future of physical retail depends heavily on the design of the store itself and its ability to provide something new, personal and enticing for shoppers.

The Retail Design Institute Awards, announced at an event at the InterfaceFLOR showroom on Tuesday 18 October, sought to recognise those stores and window displays that created a unique experience for visitors.

“The future of retail has so much to learn from the idea of the communal experience and making the shopping experience human once again,” said e-2’s Alex Ritchie, the MC for the evening and himself an expert on brand-focused experiential environments.

“All this adds to creating a ’return on experience’ for the shopper and therefore drives loyalty and repeat visits.”

Third place at the Awards went to Hunter Gatherer by DEA Australia, a brand new store in Melbourne’s Royal Arcade.

More than just a second-hand clothing store, Hunter Gatherer hand-picks each of its items, stocks jewellery from local artisans and partners with emerging Melbourne designers to create upcycled garments from donated clothing that can’t otherwise be used.

Hunter Gatherer deliberately brings the normally sub-cultural vintage movement to the normally conservative customer base of the Royal Arcade.

The Retail Design Institute awarded second place to Juicy Design in collaboration with David Caon, for their Audio Technica store in Westfield Sydney.

Juicy and Caon created an immersive, interactive space for the Japanese headphone company, featuring ’soundscape lounges’ made of layers of Woven Image EchoPanel. The fit-out provides an ideal way for Audio Technica to demonstrate and sell its products.

First place was awarded to Ryan Russell for Russell & George, for his design of the Crumpler Doncaster store, which reinvents the notion of a traditional retail interior.

Russell designed the space to be considered more a woven object than a store. The traditional transparent shopfront becomes a changing, dynamic element that changes with the viewer’s perspective.

Retail Design Institute
retaildesigninstitute.org.au