December: 2022 Round Up

From a pastel playscape to a futuristic fashion funhouse, this month we round up our favourite 2022 pop-up shops and new store openings from brands and retailers across the globe.

#1 The Inkey List Phygital Walkthrough

The well-established, natural, no nonsense skincare brand wanted to further amplify its presence within the beauty sector via an empowering pop-up store in Covent Garden. The week-long event was an immersive ‘phygital’ walkthrough of the brand’s recommended 5 step skincare routine. The skincare journey began with a QR code which prompted customers to build a ‘myINKEY’ profile allowing them to build their own skin recipe throughout the experience. As there were no products available to buy on site, with the focus of the pop-up being an educational but fun experience, products that were of interest could be scanned using their QR code, added to your personalised skin recipe and then delivered straight to your door. Within each target area were interactive games and knowledge building quizzes with the chance to win prices including a year’s supply of Inkey products.

#2 Jacquemus Le Bleu

Jacquemus has taken to London! The luxury French fashion label has transformed Selfridges’ iconic Corner Shop into a surreal interpretation of founder, Simon Porte Jacquemus’ own bathroom by taking everyday items and displaying them in a disproportionate way...and it’s all blue! The space offers exclusive colourways of the brands popular bags as well as a handful of apparel from their latest ‘Le Splash’ collection. In addition, Jacquemus is the first brand to take over the Selfridges Mews…and its open 24/7! A key feature within this space is the vending machine stocked with the famous Chiquito and Bambino bags which customers can purchase at the push of a button. To complete the trio is “Le Vestaire”, an immersive 3D locker room installation staged in the old Selfridges hotel, which offers customers an experience centred around sensorial discovery.

#3 Black Star Pastry Galactic Patisserie

Black Star Pastry, home to the ‘world’s most instagrammed cake’, has built its first ever international flagship store in Shanghai. With the help of design agency, Linehouse, Australian-born cake and coffee brand have converted a traditional red brick villa into a futuristic fantasy. The store isn’t your average patisserie, the store spans across 2 floors hosting areas for retail as well as a concept eatery which combines art, design, lifestyle, and dining! In this new world where social media is so prominent, simply delicious tasting food just isn’t enough, it’s got to look good too – and so does the store! With its metallic décor and galactic inspired tearoom/cocktail bar, Black Star Pastry definitely ticks all the boxes.

#4 Argos x Pinterest The Mood Hotel

Data is at the fingertips of every brand and retailer, making it possible for brands to get a clearer insight into the unique preferences of their customer. This might include places in which customers are likely to spend their time and the type of products on which they are most likely to spend their money. Thus, it is possible to curate a bricks-and-mortar retail environment that is suited to a brand’s specific customer profile, with a strategy to match! The Mood Hotel By Argos x Pinterest is a great example of this. The duo designed “The Mood Hotel” based on popular interior trends revealed by Pinterest engagement data, as well as Google Search Terms. This immersive, Pinterest-inspired hotel which was open for three days at the Town Hall Hotel in Benthal Green, London, housed shoppable Argos collections, including furniture and homeware from the Habitat range.

#5 Bala Pastel Playscape

Scaling up its range of fitness products to create wonderful sculptures that highlight the products’ unique form, Bala created an immersive pastel playscape in its New York studio pop-up that wraps customers in the brand’s intriguing visual identity. Further interjections and opportunities for play are encouraged within this shapely interior as Bala invites customers to interact with the brand and join its enriching community via a full schedule of body-sculpting fitness classes.

#6 Moxy Hotel Universe

A very impressive gamification activation which looks not only to bridge the gap between our digital and physical worlds, but also to engage younger hotel stayers, is the unique ‘Moxy Universe, Play beyond!’ AR experience that you can find at 12 of the Moxy Hotels by Marriot International in the Asia-Pacific region. This AR experience transforms the hotel into a phygital playground. To activate the gamified guest experience, guests simply need to scan a QR code to unlock the games and interactive challenges across the hotel. Moreover, guests can create digital avatars and take photographs that combine computer-generated overlays with the backdrop of the hotel to share their experience on social media.

#7 Mango Teen

Earlier this year, fashion retailer, Mango, opened its first-ever store aimed at young teens in Barcelona. This Mango Teen playscape is “capturing teenage dreams” through its immersive, interactive, and altogether dopamine-provoking interior. Vibrant green and orange walls and exhibition elements are embellished with LED lighting and illuminated signage, whilst tunnel arches and mirrors create the appearance of a futuristic funhouse. Alongside featuring a mock hotel reception in place of traditional cash desk and a faux washing machine inviting customers to recycle their old clothes, this playscape is brimming with striking installations employing unexpected functions for a more memorable experience.

#8 Netflix x Fever Reality Theatre

Reality Theatres allow an audience to participate in a narrative and become completely immersed in a brand. Actors will interact with this audience in new ways and create unique episodic moments that keep people coming back for more! Following the success of Stranger Things, Season Four, Netflix collaborated with Fever to bring us ‘Stranger Things: The Experience’ where fans are launched into the world of supernatural mystery and 80s nostalgia. Navigating the parallel universe, guests become main characters of the narrative as they are welcomed into ‘The Sleep Study’ at Hawkins Lab before being transported to the small American town to experience Stranger Things themed-eateries in the real-life Starcourt Mall, including the iconic Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlour!

#9 SuperRare Curator Space

The decentralisation of the art world has led to the rise of NFT art and more democratic ways of gaining exposure. Traditionally, artists must live in hardship before ever getting representation in galleries, but with the rise of platforms such as Instagram and Patreon, artists are going straight to consumers to present their work. SuperRare is an innovative company that acts as a digital space for customers to view their digital art. Art lovers are able to browse and buy work from current and emerging artists using NFT’s, in the form of $RARE tokens. Once purchased, the art will then be displayed in the physical spaces via high-res digital screens, making each experience within a SuperRare gallery unique.

#10 Swatch, Battersea Power Station

On the Battersea Power Station’s re-debut, customers were queuing outside of this store from 7am in the hopes of purchasing one of the highly anticipated and ultra-exclusive Moon Swatches! Each collection is separated into distinct categories that work together for a cohesive aesthetic. The largely wall mounted product displays allow for sufficient walkway space so that customers can seamlessly navigate and browse the product on offer within the store. The power station’s original structural columns break up the space, allowing for moments of discovery within the customer journey – such as at the Swatch X You station here customers can enjoy an experience of personalisation. Throughout the cool-lilac and white store, motion and tactility is achieved through interactive touchpoints, rotating product displays, and digital screens which can be seen from the outside – inviting passers-by into Swatch’s world.

#11 Galeries Lafayette Wellness Floor

“As a beauty lover, the Wellness floor at Galeries Lafayette Haussmann was great to shop. I browsed through haircare, skincare and wellness products from more accessible brands to very high-end luxury brands, each in their dedicated space. The way brands were able to express their identity through the standard Galeries Lafayette furniture was great to see and it gave the space a lot more life and interest. The rooms around the perimeter were great at creating intrigue and the ability to indulge in a variety of beauty treatments – you could easily spend the day there!” - Alina Tulah, D4R Account Manager

#12 Gentle Monster Dataized Future

Gentle Monster have done it again! In August, the luxury eyewear brand opened a brand-new flagship in Beijing. Not straying from their themed flagships, this one is called “Dataized Future”! As visitors of the flagship journey around the store, Gentle Monster narrates a trio of abstract stories through illustrious art installations and magnificent stage settings. This novel retail store displays a broader range of products than other Gentle Monster stores, and offers a free repair service, as well as the opportunity to talk to a licensed optometrist.

#13 JINS Eyewear Maebashi City

Japanese eyewear brand, JINS, has created a retail space centred around community within the brand’s hometown of Maebashi City. The uniquely shaped building and terrace, which has been named “JINS Park”, accommodates a bakery/café, a garden, and a play area for children, alongside a retail space displaying JINS eyewear products. This brilliant multi-functional space creates the perfect environment for eyewear to be browsed and purchased, from the practicality of its hospitality to the environment design that connects the brand to the natural elements of the outdoors.

#14 Coty "Around The World" Pop-Up

Coty launched a temporary multi-brand beauty pop-up in Haikou GDF Plaza housing some of our favourite fragrance brands, including Chloé, Miu Miu, and Marc Jacobs. This “Around the World”, hot-air-balloon-inspired fragrance pop-up sought to inspire travellers with its interactive set-ups and “retailtainment”. The Chloé podium featureed floral illustrations and fragrances, the Miu Miu zone featured heart-shaped visuals, and the Marc Jacobs area combined illustrations and classic daisy graphics.

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