PONHU Luxury Lifestyle Store situated at the iconic fashion center of Beijing, Sanlitun, is devoted to transitioning PONHU's online professional platform of identifying, collecting, maintaining and selling second-hand luxury goods into an offline brick and mortar retail center. UNFOLDESIGN was commissioned to design and build its first offline flagship store in Beijing. UNFOLDESIGN re-defined the 'second-hand retail shop' into a 'transit station' with modern interpretations of shopper's trending 'attitudes'. In doing so, the traditional luxury retail design and service models had to be deconstructed and reconstructed based on the following focal points: 'collectibility' - retaining the value of goods through transparency in service and design; 'cultural significance' - the creation of themed zones that reduce the psychological of 'barrier to purchase'; and enhancement of 'single item value' - product display methodology to downplay the cost of goods while encouraging sells. In order to supplement these design elements, the store is also packed with technological retail tracking systems that make the second-hand luxury goods exchange process standardized, digital and transparent. 
 

All the themes in the space were developed to ensure the penetration of a new PONHU brand story allowing for better emotional connectivity with its customers. The design itself, along with the process, was supported by a series of rational planning by UNFOLDESIGN to ensure a precise portrayal of the new offline PONHU brand: cost and time control, area-effectiveness planning, customer circulation, distance and time consideration between entrances, storage and security system, proper dynamic lighting control and respective color temperature usage based on desired product display quality, and background music selection to support theme captivation. 

 

The 1,200m2 indoor space includes 5 themed spaces: 'Civil Culture', 'Precision Manufacturing', 'Entertainment', 'Spiritual Fortress' and 'Glimpse of the Future'. Each area corresponds to different design devices and sculptural features, with social attributes for intrapersonal connectivity, which creates a dramatic but lineal storyline that enhances the shoppers' experience. 

 

 

 

I n the adjacent area, the emergence of a turbine-shaped display booth and dynamic ceiling device form an island in the hub, which becomes the gathering place for indoor circulation. Collectible toys and dynamic floating bags depict the entertainment experience of a metropolis under the backdrop of color-changing  light features and shadow. The magnificent scenes described above are all along the street side which attracts people's attention, but as you funnel towards the back of the space, it becomes catered towards a virtuoso's exploration. There are a series of spaces with limited edition products, jewelry and watches, along with VIP salon, certification and recycling booths. These areas are inspired by the themes of 'Spiritual Fortres' and 'Glimpse of the Future' and designed to create an undisturbed and immersive experience through rammed earth colors, silver texture, vault door, pixellated art wall, fiberglass robot and other elements. 

 

 

The design intent of this project is not limited to just the physical space. UNFOLDESIGN hopes to take advantage of modern technology and the advantages of social media to redefine customer value by exploring the relationship between people and objects, and communication mediums between time, space, and emotions. These ideas may turn a traditional brick and mortar retail store into a 'transit station' that reaches far beyond the idea of purely selling goods but to help retailers explore new retail omnichannel potentials to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the future retail market place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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