A well-designed retail precinct doesn’t feel like it’s been designed at all; it just feels right.

There’s a consistent tone and standard carried through the whole space. Stores complement each other and operate smoothly, and customers walk away with a positive experience. Happy customers make successful tenants, and successful tenants make flourishing developments – so everybody wins.

This is what good retail design is about. Every store should express its own brand and personality, but also feel like an intuitive part of the centre as a whole. If tenants have free reign over the design of their store, it can lead to an overwhelming, mismatched atmosphere - but keeping them boxed in with strict rules produces stores that are too similar, and a centre that feels clinical. The path to a pleasant, vibrant environment is a fine line, but it’s an important one to walk. 

What does it involve?

At studiopillane, this is one of our less-understood roles. Beyond designing the interiors of a retail centre, we’re often involved in making sure the design of each store fits the overall project vision. This might mean working with our client to set an aesthetic for their retail tenancies, writing design guidelines for tenants to adhere to, or taking a hands-on role in ensuring these guidelines are implemented throughout the fit out.

This is a service that spans many kinds of retail developments. In West Village, nestled in Brisbane’s West End, we’ve been involved in the delivery of more than 20 tenancies to date, working alongside tenancy coordinator Karyn O’Brien from Setting Up Shop. Studded with heritage buildings and green space, West Village is a premium retail centre designed to serve as an inner-city oasis - so one poorly executed tenancy could impact the feeling of the whole precinct. From the bathhouse and beauty salon to restaurants and cafes, we worked with a range of tenants to ensure that each store exemplified high-end, high-quality design.  

Brisbane Airport

Retail design management has also been a big part of our ongoing work with Brisbane Airport. Having hosted 22.6 million passengers in the last financial year, it’s a place that relies heavily on its retail spaces to create a positive experience. Of course, the tenancies need to be visually cohesive and highly functional - but they also need to accommodate a wide customer demographic and pose no interference to the operations of the airport.  

As designers, we need to think about how a range of people might experience these spaces on any given day. Can a person who uses a wheelchair access this cafe table? Can a customer keep an eye on their gate from where they’re sitting in the restaurant? Can this furniture withstand daily use from hundreds of people? 

In addition to this, each tenancy within Brisbane Airport plays a role in embodying their sustainability values. Requirements for energy and water usage, waste management and material and furniture selection are written into the tenancy design guidelines for their International Terminal. In this way, they’re leveraging thoughtful retail design to instill sustainable practices from the ground up, and set a high standard for the airport across the board. 

Good retail design is a delicate balance, and it’s not just about aesthetics. It's about creating environments where each tenant thrives individually while contributing to the success of the whole - and ideally, to the betterment of our communities.