Alpen Group
project by: Other Desert Cites and The Brand Architect Group/CIA, Inc.
Alpen Group of Japan has the quintessential problem of the ‘big-box’ store: a massive amount of product at accessible prices but the appearance of ‘cheapness’ and a congested spatial organization of product.
Other Desert Cities teamed with The Brand Architect Group to provide a design strategy that created a simple but sophisticated spatial organization of displayed product vs. stored product, integrated new interior zones for emerging sports lifestyle markets, and clarified brand identity. Specific cues were taken from higher-end stores such as REI and Niketown focusing on lifestyle and simple but high-impact graphics for signage. These cues allowed an otherwise ‘discount’ store to appear to be of higher quality. Product zoning was refined and a translucent ‘stock-wall’ was suggested to allow for the appearance of an availability of an abundant amount of product while allowing the floor to remain easy to navigate with a more articulated selection of product.
