Friday, 10 February 2006 | caluser

Callison Designs SOGO Flagship Store to Relaunch Brand

Retailer meets business objectives with luxury store

SOGO Department Store's new 16-story flagship in Osaka, Japan, successfully re-launches the traditional, 175-year-old SOGO brand to overcome the stigma of its recent bankruptcy, rising to a new apotheosis among Japan's retail leaders. Callison designed a 628,600 sq. ft. store that balances a distinctive SOGO brand while seamlessly integrating the store among other high-end boutiques along the streetscape. The $228 million store, located on the site of the SOGO store built in 1935, opened in September 2005. The feminine-inspired design of SOGO defies current retail conventions.

Callison conducted a year-long research study to investigate the future of department store retailing from a global perspective while considering the regional demographics and attitudes of Osaka. The research revealed that, while many retailers attempt to lure Generations X or Y, in Osaka, department-store buying power rests with Japanese Baby Boomer women and their families. Callison leveraged that research to create the store's new design, which responds to SOGO's current business objectives: It reinterprets the art nouveau-based "taisho roman" and moderne influences of the original store to retain an element of SOGO's legacy, and integrates 21st-century retail merchandising to strategically target a specific demographic, the strong purchasing power of 40 to 60-year-old women.

The Osaka store nearly doubles the height of SOGO's former building to provide more merchandise. However, that strategy posed design challenges. Typically in Japan, the quality of department store's visual merchandising and merchandise declines as shoppers ascend to higher floors. Callison's design strategy retains interest on all levels and consistently draws shoppers higher. SOGO is designed so that from the store's base of exclusive boutiques such as Tiffany and Hermes, shoppers are drawn up the entire vertical "street", a series of stacked storefronts. Each storefront symbolizes the unique theme of each floor, enticing customers from the first floor and as they ascend escalators. Each SOGO floor not only sells specific merchandise, but surprises shoppers with a spectacular atmosphere - each floor a world of its own. For example, floor three is the "Crystal Palace," a gleaming crystalline theme to showcase cosmetics and jewelry, while floor five exudes the modern elegance of a "Parisian Apartment" and features upscale denim and contemporary women's clothing.

Located between regional, transit-oriented retail developments to its north and south, SOGO must entice subway and foot traffic from these two nearby nodes, creating a singular destination of its own. To do this, SOGO was transformed from a place to buy goods into a social center, a place for three generations to spend the day by incorporating after-hours attractions. Several destination attractions operate during and after store hours: restaurants, a four-story waterfall and atrium, an art and event gallery, a 275-seat performing arts hall, and a rooftop garden plaza. The rooftop garden is planted with orange and olive trees, surrounded by a reflecting pool and panoramic views of Osaka.

The most highly trafficked entrance is one level below grade, or B1, a common format for urban stores linked to train stations in Japan. At SOGO, customers streaming from the subway are greeted with a tremendous surprise. Entering the specialty food level, a vaulted ceiling and large-scaled blossom pattern starkly contrasts with Japanese department stores' typically compressed and labyrinthine basement food floors. Vendors of Japanese and Western specialty chocolates, tea, wine and bakeries entice shoppers in this unique environment. A large, curving two-storied atrium opens to the B2 food market below. Tall bamboo trees and two-storied rice paper lanterns, created by the nationally renowned artist Horiki, fill the atrium's space.

Curving, multi-layered backlit panels wrap SOGO's exterior skin, culminating in a three-level main entrance of layered glass. Multi-dimensional patterning - cherry blossom branches, blossoms, and ginkgo leaves - weave through the luminous façade. Throughout the store, Callison layered materials for rich, nature-inspired patterning, translucency, and luminosity. Many noteworthy arts and crafts installations from the original flagship were preserved and are now displayed throughout the store.

About Callison
Callison, the number one retail design firm in the world (World Architecture, Jan. 2005), plans and designs retail, mixed-use, hospitality, healthcare, and corporate projects worldwide. Seattle-based Callison is one of the largest architectural design firms in the United States with more than 500 professional staff. Callison's clients include Nordstrom, Microsoft, Cole Haan, Harrods, FedEx, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Boeing, HP, Intrawest, Franciscan Health System, Seibu Department Stores of Japan, and General Growth Properties.

Callison: http://www.dexigner.com/directory/detail/7220/