Greenvale, NY Horst Design International (HDI), a global retail design consultancy, has transformed a vanilla box space within a retail strip center, into one of Long Island’s most dynamic fashion shoe environments.
Recognized for its unique design and interior brand image creations worldwide, HDI has renovated the existing 2,300 s/f footprint (formerly a Banana Republic store – at the Wheatleigh Plaza shopping center into a stylish and new brand image for JILDOR shoes, which has been a Long Island fashion footwear retailer since 1949. The president of JILDOR, Larry Bienenfeld has operated several Long Island stores in upscale shopping districts in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties – and established a loyal fashion following customer base. JILDOR and HDI have worked together on multiple previous projects. HDI was tasked to develop a contemporary environment that reflects the high quality and trendsetting styles of the extensive product line.
The environment consists largely of various shades of white materials, with accents of satin steel and neutral taupe materials. HDI developed a clean, modern, contemporary interior that would appeal to a variety of customer age groups. “As guests arrive to the shopping center, they are greeted by an all glass/dramatically lit storefront which provides a dramatic welcoming view into the contemporary environment,” said Doug Horst, president – creative director, HDI.
The lit window displays showcase the latest trends and help to draw the outside viewers into the store. From here the guests will enjoy an open view thru-out with a tremendous assortment of footwear and handbags neatly displayed. The perimeter wall merchandising is backed by floor to ceiling high gloss panels with dramatically back lit edges. The wall panels then extend across the ceiling in the same fashion and return down the opposite wall – thus enveloping the entire environment into a neat shoe box.
The center of the floor is adorned with custom long/low merchandising tiered tables that are under-lit to keep the atmosphere bright and easy to shop. At the center of the store hangs a specially designed shoe string chandelier fabricated from over five miles of white nylon strings hung in rows of random lengths and lit from above by continuous strands of LED lighting. Below this lighting display is a multi-tiered shoe platform that sets the center stage of the store.
In the rear of the sales floor, the customers will find the white marble encased service counter with a dramatic custom mural wall anchoring the view. The mural adds an accent splash of color to the environment in shades of blue, which has historically been the JILDOR corporate color for many decades. The photo mural is an actual enlarged image of snowflakes which is reminiscent of the owner’s passion for skiing while celebrating the organizations recognizable blue logo color.
In preparation for JILDOR’s unusually large shoe inventory, and to create easily accessible shelving systems for the JILDOR staff – HDI incorporated a double-deck shoe stock system.
To accommodate the required clear heights for this new two level stock room, the existing rear concrete floor slabs were lowered 24” and an industrial erector type self-supporting & high volume stock shelving / staircase system was installed.
The illumination thru-out the entire store is energy efficient, LED 3500 k in various forms of general, cove & accent spot lighting.