Tween Treat: Allen Solly's new store to woo the young

Having drawn in men and women, the 1744 established brand Allen Solly has now set its sights on the little ones with its first kids store at the Phoenix Mall in Bangalore adorning a new retail identity.  In order to better reflect the brand values and upgrade consumer experience, the label has refreshed its identity for the mother brand.  Spread across 740 sq.ft carpet area, this new store is located at the kid's zone of the Mall.

"The Phoenix Market City Juniors exclusive store is the first step that we have taken towards accomplishing our objective in creating a large business for Solly Juniors. So far the brand has been selling in our mainline exclusive stores and through departmental stores and multi brand outlets across the country. The new store is keeping the brand proposition alive in a never before manner and is making shopping exciting for the kids and the parents. The store, the retail identity and the merchandise command attention and stand out,” explains Suman Saha, Brand Initiative Manager, Women's wear, Kid's wear and Accessories, Allen Solly.

Created and designed by 4 Dimensions and international design firm Dalziel & Pow and, the kids store sings in chorus with the brand's other retail spaces. "We wanted to create similar atmosphere specifics to the junior's category,” avers Amit Pande, Retail Director at Allen Solly. He further informs, "Identity of the mother brand was adapted for the 'Juniors' concept store and the brief mentioned to the agency, was to develop the personas of the boy and girl character and express that in the unique Allen Solly way.” The basic elements of Allen Solly identity which include white and wooden flooring, columns with brick tiling, fancy lights, and cornices can be viewed similarly at this new store because of its wide acceptance and easy conversion possibility. "In terms of identity, the brief was to keep the elements same as the regular Store so that if required it can be converted to Mens or Women's store without much change and further CAPEX investment,” shared Bipin Barma, Group Manager Projects, Allen Solly.

A curved façade flaunting a neat implementation of the Allen Solly brand mark and the Logo has been emphasized at the store. The store front has two facets wherein one part of it depicts the concept and stories which act as a bridge of association between the brand and young adults, whereas the other part is more interactive. "As, it was an existing store; it was a great challenge to connect the STAG and the Allen Solly Branding flawless. Thus, cleverly a contemporary look was created yet again graphically with'Electric' treatment given to the store signage,” says Anuraag S, Head VM-Allen Solly. The same strategy has been extended in store with the use of bright colors, cross merchandising, propping and interactive messages on visuals.

A clear delineation of the two categories which include boys and girls has been achieved using the two most prominent walls present on the left hand side and right hand side of the store. Apart from this, with the help of backlit visuals and prop zone, further balancing was created on the non-merchandise zone.  The store mainly houses complete offering for both junior boys and girls which include shirts, trousers, shorts, skirts, jeggings and jeans. "We are focussed on the 'tweens'. So the merchandise reflects the brand aesthetics of Allen Solly and is suitable for the 'young adults' today's tweens consider themselves,” says Amit

Allen Solly Juniors focuses on the'tweens' with the adaptation of the concept from the existing stores. A grey background adorned with subtle pink and orange has been brought into play at the space. Further the colour flows from bight hues to the shades of blue, while the material pallet inherits the quality of texture, where wood has been highlighted in a combination of backdrop, fabric print and props with the base of rubber wood, allowing freedom of movement. Besides this the tweens have been portrayed with bold solid graphics. To increase the twist, mood lighting has been created with the play of general- flat lighting and concentrated- low degree task lighting whilst the windows show CDMT lights.  
There is a baggage counter shaped almost in the design form of a fireplace showcasing many interactive things for the junior customers. Whilst there is a football placed at one end  of this fireplace to entice the Juniors, the other end show some interesting discovery and learning books along with comic books, puzzles and Rubik's cube.

Speaking about the future plans of expansion for this similar concept, Suman sums up saying, "We are sure that the kid's wear market is a large one and is constantly growing. Depending on various market reports one refers to, it is believed that the segment is expected to clock a CAGR of 10% over the next decade. We believe a large part of the demand would be for branded offerings. While we continued to build the business through our business partners in wholesale we are going to intensify our focus on junior's exclusive retail stores. We are opening the second exclusive store in Jayanagar within the next few weeks and have aggressive plans for expansion for next couple of years.”

CREDITS:
Architects and Project Management Consultants - Four Dimensions Retail Design India pvt Ltd.
Fixtures - Arvind interiors Pvt. Ltd.
Lighting - Asian Retail Lighting Ltd.

VM Team - Anuraag S, Richa Shrivastava, Ritu Sahay, Srinivas M, Arun Kumar, Wasim & Bosco.