British company Lush has opened a new concept store in Florence, focused on the brand's fragrances line.

The Perfume Library, a combination perfumery and bookstore, features the largest collection of Lush fragrances in the world, including six new perfumes created especially for the Florence store.

The bookstore part carries more than 70 books about essential oils, aromatherapy, scented history, regeneration, perfume making, botany, sustainability and more.

The store also offers perfume consultations based on humoural theory -a system of medicine adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers.

The city was specifically chosen because of its rich history as a crossroads of intellect, art, science, modern perfumery, craft and industry during the Renaissance.

The Lush Perfume Library

Jil Sander has opened its newest boutique on one of Milan's luxury shopping destinations, Via Sant'Andrea, dedicating the minimalistic space to both rotation exhibitions and a curated retail assortment. The experimental concept store hosts temporary installations that highlight themes within brand collections and showcase unique artist collaborations. Complementing the Milan flagship in Via Pietro Verri, the smaller Via Sant'Andrea space takes on a distinctive new role with rotating exhibitions to explore a range of ideas throughout the year. A reimagined store that functions as both a retail space and a gallery, the new Jil Sander pop-up project will update the exhibitions on a monthly basis.

For the first instalment, the label has drawn inspiration from its offering of down coats to create an exaggerated presentation of the puffy material. The display seeks to illuminate the "sculptural properties" of the material, bringing to light its functional, yet surreal appearance.

Jil Sander Gallery

Jil Sander

Via Sant'Andrea, 16

Montenapoleone, 20121 Milano MI, Italy

Luxury British multi-brand retailer Flannels, owned by Sports Direct, has opened a 1 670sqm flagship boutique and concept space on London's Oxford Street. This is the retailer's 45th location in the UK and it introduces a new design concept that creates a dynamic and luxurious space to allow Flannels to tell its story and the story of its brands. The new luxury "department store" shows off what Mike Ashley, CEO of Sports Direct, initially envisioned to be the future of high-end department store House of Fraser.

The flagship spans four floors and houses a curated mix of men's and women's luxury designer clothing and accessories, featuring catwalk collections to the latest streetwear drops, from emerging designers and luxury's biggest names including Balmain, Burberry, Ganni, Gucci, Off-White, Versace and Vetements.

The new store has a unique concept floor that hosts a range of services and experiences with permanent and guest collaborators and concessions set to include luxury sneaker customisation, sneaker re-selling, curated watch edits, technology and high- end homeware, creating a lifestyle destination and a place of discovery. In addition, exclusive product drops in collaboration with luxury labels will drop throughout the season, with the aim of offering shoppers truly unique products, only available at Flannels.

The dedicated concept space houses a changing line-up of immersive experiences and events, alongside interactive store elements including art installations, while on the exterior there is a three-storey curtain walling of 4K digital screens which hosts W1Curates, one of the world's biggest permanent digital public art installations, as the flagship aims to become a "theatrical retail destination" for London.

Flannels London Oxford Street also debuts the brand's 'Style and Collect' service, enabling a luxury shopping experience on and offline by marrying the convenience of click and collect, with the store's premium shopping environment. Shoppers can purchase online and have their order delivered to the London store, where their pieces will be ready to try on in its luxury changing suites, with assistance from the brand's fashion advisors. Visitors will also have access to one to one appointments, providing edits of the latest collections tailored to each customer.

Flannels

Flannels

161-167 Oxford Street

Oxford Street, London

Chinese streetwear brand Hipanda opened its largest flagship store in Omotesando. After originally exhibiting at the V&A museum in London the brand received a cult following and branched out into apparel. The immersive store brings together architectural elements, AR and physical retail. Before even entering the store the AR experience starts; by holding your smartphone against the logo above the door you can watch a panda jump out on the screen.

The world of digital may offer limitless possibilities but the physical world still holds a place within retail – as proven here. The gallery space displays products in constant movement through the use of AR and the continually changing digital displays draw attention to the collection. By using the app visitors can navigate the 'haunted house-style' panda house and discover which characters are hiding as they make their way around the space.

*Watch the video and see the pictures below.*

Hipanda

*HIPANDA OMOTESANDO

4-21-8 Jingumae Shibuya-ku, Tokyo*

hipanda tokyo: watch the video

Aviator Nation is a 1970s-inspired California lifestyle brand born in Venice Beach in 2006. The brand currently carries apparel, accessories and surfboards. The line includes apparel for men, women and children with most styles being unisex and all crafted in California. The brand uses natural fabric deconstruction, hand-drawn graphics, burners, handmade stitch-work, as-well-as appliqués, and uses sewing machines popular in the 70s to maintain authenticity.

Aviator Nation

Football brand Unisport has opened a new flagship in Paris, close to Les Halles. It is the second physical store of the Danish brand which already had an online presence in France since 2016. The first store is located in the brand's birth city of Copenhagen.

The new experiential concept store is filled with technologies to offer customers a new experience. The windows are all covered by LED screens to show the latest football content. Once customers step inside, they are greeted by the initiative zone where the brand always highlights the latest and greatest football products and innovations.

Inside the 500 sqm store, besides from the 250 pairs of sneakers on display, there is a Staircase Football Museum that showcases different pieces (jerseys, shoes …) filled with history. It started with an exhibition focused on  the outfits worn by the French National Football team during the 2018 World Cup.

The premium football store sells limited editions along new releases and best-sellers.

Customers can also attend filmings of Unisport videos shared on the brand's Youtube Channel, as a recording studio has been installed in the store, for everyone to see.

There is also a customisation stand where customers can have their own names printed on jerseys. Other features include the possibility for customers to scan a QR code to check for size and availability of any item in the store and a click-and-collect desk for online orders.

Unisport

*UNISPORT

4 rue Berger, 75001 Paris - France*

Goop Lab is the extension of Gwyneth Paltrow lifestyle blog Goop. The store is organized to feel like a "Brentwood bungalow", with each "room" having its own distinct focus. First you enter through the greenhouse. Then you step into the kitchen, which is filled with cookbooks, chic housewares and cooking tools, and which is fully functional —the store hosts cooking events. Next to that there's the bathroom, complete with a 360-degree vanity and a vast array of high-end natural beauty products. The back of the store hosts a living space showcasing a selection of clothing (from Goop and other brands).

*GOOP LAB

at Brentwood Country Mart

225 26th St Suite 37, Santa Monica, CA 90402, USA*

Goop Lab

Headquartered in LA, Industry of All Nations launched with a pair of biodegradable espadrilles. Now it has extended its range of eco-friendly goods to clothes and homeware. IOAN makes alpaca sweaters, organic cotton basics, organic denim, teak folding chairs and wool blankets.

Launched online in 2010, the label opened its first brick-and-mortar store in Venice in 2015.

Industry Of All Nations

Madeworn: the full report

The designer, the brand

Born and raised on a farm in Montana, Blaine Halvorson is a hands-on creator with artistic talent across multiple mediums. He first launched Junk Food Clothing in 1998, a global leader in vintage and music nostalgia apparel, which he led to its successful public offering in 2005. He created MadeWorn in 2013 in Los Angeles as a luxury lifestyle brand that harks back to simpler times. Composed of fine art, ready-to-wear apparel, customized footwear, accessories and beauty products, the collection reflects Halvorson's aesthetic of using vintage materials to craft goods with a modern, edgy twist. Focusing on sustainable manufacturing and locally sourced materials, MadeWorn is one of the few companies that can boast that all their creations are absolutely and entirely American made. Halvorson oversees every aspect of production, from the weaving of organic cotton T-shirts at his downtown Los Angeles factory, to the setting at his Fairfax District showroom.

The showroom

The space is part of Halvorson's "experiential retail" model encompassing art, music and fashion that he hopes will trigger innovation in his clients. Anything can be purchased in the private, appointment-only location, which keeps the space changing as things sell, creating a new experience every time customers return. The 12,000-square-foot, indoor-outdoor compound houses MadeWorn clothing and lifestyle brand in addition to a taxidermied giraffe and lion, a butcher fridge packed with fake raw beef made of a rubber and plastic mix and a room styled to look like a bathroom —non-functioning but complete with graffiti— that replicates the Rolling Stones' "Beggars Banquet" album cover. Each of the rooms of the space has its own theme and accompanying merchandise for sale.

Hollywood

Not only does he host appointment-only visits for numerous A-List celebrities, he also welcomes Oscar and Grammy parties as well as other elite private events in his West Hollywood studio. In the last years he designed the costumes for the movies The Revenant and Aquaman.

*MADEWORN

731 N. Fairfax Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90046*

MadeWorn in pictures!

Madeworn: the full report

Secret Location is known for selling off-the-shelf design oriented products, and it is the first of it's kind in the historic Gastown, Vancouver.

The minimalist furniture, inspired by melting chocolate or ice cream, was designed by Melnichuk, in collaboration with the architects at B+H, who created a visually playful space which is  half shop and half restaurant. Guests enter the dining room, through a cool minty green tunnel which leads to the store space. The narrow and long 10,000 sqft shop is lined with concrete columns and creative display shelving and custom designed tables for clothes, books, cameras, and accessories.

Founder and owner Carey Melnichuk said: "Before establishing Secret Location, I was living in Milan […] and had the idea of opening my own store, toying with a few different names and themes. In Milan, it's common for a fashion event to be held at 'a secret location'. I went to many of these events and had no preconceived notion of where I was going, what the neighbourhood would look like or what kind of venue we would be in. With little expectations, I found my experience to be unique and different from anyone else's. I was greatly inspired by the idea of a destination that led to the unknown, knowing only a few details."

The predominant theme of Secret Location is quality & design. Within this theme, they highlight a particular lifestyle and the objects that are suited to this way of life. They also highly value the way the products are sourced: everything in store has been responsibly produced, with a strong commitment to respecting the environment and the culture where it was made.

*SECRET LOCATION

1 Water St, Gastown

Vancouver BC V6B 2H9, Canada*

Secret Location

full Report "secret location, Vancouver"

Vancouver men concept shop GOODLAD combines good coffee, men's clothing and hair cuts.

GOODLAD is a passion project of Shane Meier (who handles the clothes), Christopher Glenn (barber), and Mike Hong (coffee master).

Meier is a former actor and after having spent a number of years working in Los Angeles, he wanted to bring a unique men's shopping experience that he had enjoyed during his travels, back to Vancouver.  "Adding the barbershop and coffee shop to the clothing concept was a 'no brainer'. Men want quality service quickly, so to be able to buy clothes, grab a drink and get a shave all in less than an hour makes for a pleasurable experience" a shop's release said.

The shop carries high-end men's denim as well as outerwear, Ts, sweaters, hoodies, socks, underwear, shorts, boots, and "endless apothecary". Brands include AG, Nudie, Kato, Canada Goose, Barbour, with smaller local brands like 18 Waits, Outclass, Viberg Boots, and Vancouver's own Reigning Champ and Wings and Horns rounding out the collections.

The team sources its coffee from West End Coffee Roasters and also offers Bullet Coffee, a high-octane blend of espresso, grass fed butter, coconut oil, and pure MCT oil.

Hair services, meanwhile, include cut and buzz cut; shave; beard trim; wash, blow dry, and style; and cleanup. "GOODLAD follows the 60/40 rule: 60% cut, 40% experience. Our clients aren't after a quick cut or an in and out astrosphere; they come to us for advice, community, an effortlessly cool vibe and experience that they really can't get elsewhere" Christopher Glenn said in the statement.

Goodlad pictures

PDF Report "Goodlad, Vancouver"

NYC's Hudson Yards megaproject opened on 15 March 2019 and consists of a shopping mall between two office towers among others; the full complex is still under construction.

The retail complex, dubbed 20 Hudson Yards, is a 720,000 sqft (approx. 219 456 sqm) luxury shopping mall spread over seven floors. The new 190,000 sqft (approx. 58 000 sqm) Neiman Marcus (the first one in NYC) occupies the top three floors of the space. There's also a major dining complex, with restaurants run by celebrity chefs. In total, the space features 100 stores and 25 food and beverage offerings. Not all the space has been leased yet.

See exclusive pictures of the complex:

Hudson Yards pictures

exclusive pictures of hudson yards nyc - full report

download full report: the last bookstore, los angeles

The Last Bookstore

The Last Bookstore is California's largest used and new book and record store, having opened in 2005 in a an abandoned bank in Downtown L.A. It has grown since into a softly lit labyrinthine collection of books and records, with space for literary, musical and theatrical events.

It encourages selling and trading of books and records based on its fluctuating inventory needs, as part of a mission to "keep the paper and ink book business alive in an era of e-readers and digital downloads".

The marble pillars and mile-high ceiling remain from the old bank, but in place of patrons and guarded stacks of cash, bookshelves line the walls and artful displays of books abound.

The bookshelves are placed every which way all throughout the store, and sculptures have been custom-built from overstocked or damaged copies. There are even hidden nooks, like the old bank vault itself, where books are actually displayed like a vault.

*Downtown Los Angeles

453 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90013, U.S.A*

Nike has unveiled its new flagship store on Manhattan's illustrious Fifth Avenue and it's a six-floor immersive brand temple that seeks to redefine the retail experience.

Surpassed in terms of efficiency and convenience, most physical retail spaces, particularly on this Midtown stretch of Fifth Avenue, have been turned into shrines of worship for each brand, where tourists (and only the most faithful devotees) dare to pay homage.

This is there that Nike has chosen to open its landmark store.

Spanning six floors and measuring 68,000 sq ft, the Nike House of Innovation 000 is a carefully orchestrated retail experience that will hypnotise both fans and passers-by, alike.

Designed as a celebration of the sports brand's spirit, the store gives visitors a peek behind the curtain of how things are done and created at Nike.

NIKE FLAGSHIP STORE- New York pictures

full report "Nike - Flagship store"

Nike unveiled Shanghai 001 — the first House of Innovation — as a cross-category, consumer-focused experience with four levels, 41,150 square feet and located in the world-famous Nanjing East Road shopping district. The new store concept is a peek behind the curtain of Nike's biggest innovation moments, matched with personalized and digitally-connected shopping journeys.

Another Nike concept store should open in New York City this fall.

What makes Shanghai 001 so special is the selection of hyper-local, exclusive products and gear that shoppers will find on the  first floor Shanghai Shop.

House of Innovation stores will also be one of the first to launch Nike's latest products; at Shanghai 001, that includes the LeBron 16, Air Jordan 33 and Pegasus Turbo styles. At the store's Nike Arena, in the center of the first floor, shoppers will find key styles and installations — from the Zoom X live to a Battleknit LeBron sculpture — that rotate regularly. At the digitally-enabled "Center Court" they can enjoy speaker sessions, workshops and digitally-led trialing sessions.

On the top floor, Nike Expert Studio gives NikePlus members unrivaled access to gear up, get styled and get matched with exclusive and personalised product picks in private sessions with Nike Shanghai's most highly-trained store athletes.

In addition, at Nike by You, NikePlus members can have one-on-one sessions with a designer to customise select shoes — adding dip-dye, embroidery and more — and walk away with freshly designed footwear.

NIKE - Shanghai 001 pictures

full report "Nike - shanghai 001"

DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse announced the opening of its newest store concept on the Las Vegas strip. The store is half the size of a typical DSW location but delivers "the experience and spectacle Vegas crowds expect," according to the company. It features a new store design, based on its Polaris lab store near Columbus, Ohio.

The experience begins at the entrance: a video-covered passageway creates a sensory experience that gives customers the sense that they're flying over a city, swimming under water or walking through a desert. "In reality, they're [traveling] down an escalator into the new DSW sales floor, where more unique experiences await," DSW Chief Executive Officer Roger Rawlins said.

Among other features, the store has a "Shoevator," a wall of shoes with three elevator lifts over the sales floor, which operates like a vending machine. Customers order shoes from the wall via the DSW app or a tablet, alerting an associate to pick the ordered shoes and send them to the sales floor for the customer to pick up.

Customers also can win a pair of shoes by playing the Heat Vault Keymaster machine, an arcade-like game that lets shoppers get shoe-related swag if they can insert a key into a keyhole using a joystick.

DSW, in the Showcase Mall

3785 S. Las Vegas Boulevard

Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA

DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse PICTURES

full report "DSW", las vegas