See how who the Association for Retail Environments (A.R.E.) Design Awards based on the theme of "retail mixology" this year.
Read MoreLearn how customer expectations leaning towards a multifaced customer experience is driving the next retail business model as uncovered by PWC's new survey
Read MoreWant to try out untried in-store signage and display options before committing to real-life versions of the same? Find out how to go about this.
Read MoreIn the wake of news that Amazon — the very same mega-retailer that put a generation of old-fashioned physical storefronts out of business — is allegedly planning the opening of its first brick-and-mortar store, it becomes apparent that all bets are off in the land of predictable retail development. Which explains the success of Storefront, a clever new operation that …
Read MoreThere was a time that the only way retailers could know for certain which areas of their store were favourites with shoppers was by the wear and tear of the carpets in front of displays, and the relative dishevelment of the displays themselves. But increasingly sophisticated customer-tracking technology has, mercifully, made waste of such primitive attempts to understand how we shop. Spurred …
Read MoreIn an age when we can pay for a bedroom suite with a cellphone and buy a pulled pork sandwich with a stash of digital cash (Toronto’s first Bitcoin ATM has just been announced; Vancouver’s already got one), it should surprise precisely no one that the age of the MintChip is upon us.
Read MoreNo doubt 2013 was a game-changer for retail (could we have imagined a day when we’d buy dinner with our telephones?) and the pace of technological development was furious, but — and here’s where things get interesting — the full potential of many of these nascent additions to the retail scene is far from being realized.
Read MoreCintas Canada has announced the winners of its annual Best Restroom Contest and, this year, a humble gas station in northern Alberta has scored top honours. The Valleyview Shell Super Station has won first place for its tidy, assiduously scrutinized and surprisingly luxurious facilities.
Read MoreThe marriage between brick-and-mortar stores and their e-commerce outposts was an inevitable one. The wedding, predictably, was lavish and multifaceted. And the honeymoon stretch includes lots of instances in which the sweet, smart logic of the union is on full display.
Read MoreJust as the Germans have added a third gender that gives parents another box to consider ticking at their baby’s birth, a new concept shop in New York has introduced another category to the retail industry. To brick-and-mortar and online stores, add the notion of the permanent but ever-evolving pop-up shop.
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