Regionalism in store design: how retailers and brands convey local flair

In our globalized world, retailers are looking for ways to create a bond between their brands and potential local customers. To do this, they often rely on regional cultures and designs that convey a tradition or attitude to life in their stores around the world.

From the charm of British city parks at Burberry to Cologne landmarks in the Thalia store and sporty city portraits in Singapore – we show how retailers, brand manufacturers and store design managers create a shopping experience with local flair.

With a global pop-up store initiative, Burberry is celebrating its tradition of iconic outerwear spanning 165 years – under the motto 'It's Always Burberry Weather', alluding to the unpredictable and sometimes uncomfortable British climate. To reflect the functionality of the outerwear – the protection against wind and weather outdoors – in the store design, the design picks up on the aesthetics of British parks.

Natural materials such as wood and stone, Victorian pavilions, spacious areas, dark green walls and metal pillars all contribute to this. Details such as benches, street lamps, street signs and public chessboard tables reinforce the impression of walking paths in a well-tended park landscape. The pop-up stores will open in Milan, Munich, Shanghai, Dallas, Osaka, Dubai, Leeds and Melbourne, among others.

The converted Thalia flagship store on Neumarkt in Cologne focuses on a mixture of local identity and contemporary architecture. Store fitting elements refer to the local connection to the city on the Rhine and pick up on world-famous impressions of the Cologne cityscape. These include five yellow gondolas floating in the stairwell, which are modeled on the Cologne cable car. Customers can even sit down to read in two of the gondolas. The famous Hohenzollern Bridge with its thousands of padlocks cannot be left out either. A cobblestone-look carpet is reminiscent of the streets of the old town and the entrance area is modeled on the historic Neumarkt marketplace.

The Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, is one of the first open-air shopping centers in the US, which became a popular shopping location in the style of European esplanades in the 1980s. In addition to large retail properties on either side of the pedestrian mall, the central corridor is characterized by a number of smaller kiosk stores. When the Taiwanese bubble tea brand Odd One Out Tea wanted to open a new store in the middle of the promenade, numerous architectural specifications had to be adhered to in the design so that the store would blend in harmoniously with the overall appearance of these kiosks.

The result is an exciting design that combines Taiwanese elements with the Californian lifestyle in the Santa Monica sun. This includes the open entrance area, the large windows, the pavilion's characteristic roller shutters and the illuminated exterior signs. The bubble tea store is intended to become a meeting place that reflects the community flair of the Promenade.

Nike's Orchard Road store in Singapore wants to integrate itself into the city's sports community – and expresses this vision in the form of colorful murals by Ella Zheng. The walls of the studio tell stories of Singaporeans playing various sports at different locations in the city. This creative homage to local sports culture inspires customers and aims to strengthen community and brand loyalty by portraying sport as a unifying element.

Regionalism in modern, globalized retail should create meeting points, convey brand messages and build fan communities. The interior architecture and design of stores is an effective tool for this.