From Thailand to Australia, progressive sports brands are emphasising and advocating for community engagement through spaces providing fun, bite-sized hands-on activities (moving the dial away from a focus on in-store talks). Offering the promise of hangouts for young people (see Socialising the Mall in Remastering the Mall), these taster formats include everything from in-store skateboarding to a rooftop basketball court.

Driven by affection for the (perceived) simpler joys of yesteryear (see Retro Romance in Milan Design Week 2024: Brand Experiences and How Frutiger Aero Reveals Gen Z’s Longing for Dumber Tech), retro aesthetics continue to thrive. Finding joy and comfort in the ordinary, the idiosyncratic and sometimes kitsch, notable designs evoked childhood memories and playful twists on non-luxe everyday formats.

The renaissance of prestige concept stores with a thrilling counter-cultural edge also proved a notable trend this quarter. Characterised by deliberately imperfect finishes and a distinctly anti-corporate, non-megabrand approach (see Dover Street Market’s rule-breaking strategy that’s deterred some of the luxury giants), they promise liberated luxury and low-fi haute couture vibes. Some offer scenographic odysseys convening creative identities and art forms.

Several brands in the prestige outdoors apparel and sports fashion space have tapped into the vastness of grand industrial settings (defunct factories in both European and Asian cities), amplifying their high-performance DNA with a style-centric edge.

Two cult American fashion brands, Madhappy and The Frankie Shop, are evolving our previously documented office-fetishising visual trend stemming from the post-pandemic appreciation for the office environment. It’s a trend with long legs: see Office Amour in Global Store Openings: Winter 2022 and Internet Trends 101: The World of Work.

From workshops for pathway-to-pro enthusiasts seeking serious upskilling from brands to more casual learning-meets-play spaces for fans who just like to aimlessly experiment, retail edutainment (education + entertainment) is evolving to accommodate all needs and interests. See also The Happy Hobby Boom.

Telling the story of the mythical garden of Eden and referencing the laid-back vibe of suburban surroundings, two notable concepts reimagine the long-running trend for biophilic retail initiatives (first unpacked in Biophilia-Based Brand Engagement) in a gentler, more gardenesque variety than its brutalist predecessors (see Brutalist Biophilia in Global Store Openings: Vol 1, March 2024).

Imaginatively leveraging the allure of heritage, a clutch of beauty and eyewear brands have used their new store openings to thoughtfully reference or reinterpret highly traditional architecture (or, in the case of Cubitts, architectural styles specific to the location) – in all instances paying celebratory homage to time-honoured crafts and artisanal heartlands.

A small but notable group of openings explored the digitalisation of physical spaces – specifically new uses of in-store screens – not as an operational omni-channel strategy but for pure entertainment and fan-inspiration value.