Are we underutilizing our most valuable urban asset?
A couple days ago, while strolling through central London, I was struck by a contradiction.
It was early evening, with summer’s sun still lingering, and SoHo was teeming with activity. Revelers at newly reopened restaurants maximized makeshift picnic benches. Live music and theater goers were spilling out into the streets. Young people mingled on sidewalks to the point that it was difficult to walk in a straight line.
As I turned onto Tottenham Court Rd, however, the sounds of laughter and liveliness died away.
I passed home store after home store — Dwell, West Elm, Heal’s, IKEA, and Habitat — all quiet, all closed. Through the windows, pristine dinner tables displayed fake fruit. Books on shelves sat unread. Cozy couches and armchairs — all unused. Seemingly the only inhabitant was a man down on his luck, pitching a tent under an awning, in a poignant picture of just how far we still have to go.
This newsletter isn’t designed to tackle big societal issues, but in that moment, I wondered, why are we not making better, more meaningful use of our stores?
We can do so much better.
In 2009, on the heels of the last crisis, Uber was founded on a simple idea. Rather than letting an asset as valuable as a car sit idle ~95% of the time, why not create a sharing economy platform to help everyone ‘get there’?
Airbnb riffed on the same idea. Why let a second home or spare room sit empty when it could generate revenue, connect people, and help travelers ‘belong anywhere’? Even our unused food is starting to go to more efficient use through apps like Olio today.
Most of the stores in central London are open from 9 or 10am to 6 or 7pm. Which means, these locations are sitting empty nearly two thirds of the time.
What if these spaces were used more imaginatively? Imagine extending them for co-working and coffee dates, for theatrical, artistic, and music events, for salons and dinner parties, or for student or tourist housing?
Underutilizing an asset as valuable as central London real estate is a shame. Below are ideas and inspiration from retailers paving by making our stores more useful, equitable, and joyful.
Accommodation: Turn ‘Off’ Hours On
It may initially sound far-fetched, but there are plenty of interesting examples of retailers using stores to create space for a snooze, ranging from booking in a quick nap to buying a permanent home. New regulation allowing mixed commercial and residential spaces in cities like London will only help speed up this trend.
Here are a few players blending the line between hospitality and retail:
- Marine Layer, the US-based apparel company, has created Airbnbs in Chicago, Portland, and New Orleans, where fans of the brand can ‘sleep inside a store’.
- Shinola Hotel is a multi-purpose hospitality and retail space in Detroit, saying, “From retail to hospitality — it’s time to go beyond products. It’s time to build a community.”
- The iconic Paris department store, La Samaritaine, has been reimagined as a combined hotel, offices, stores, nursery, and even 96 social housing units.
Dining: Join the Dinner Party
From food halls to coffee stalls, bringing dining into the store is not a novel concept, but opportunities abound to push the concept even further.
Could all the closed furniture stores with their sad empty tables, instead be used for community dinner parties? The rise of dark kitchens and high-end delivery options could make the proposition hassle free. Here are some examples of who’s setting the table:
- Kit & Ace, ‘performance cashmere’ brand and extended Lululemon family member, has hosted monthly ‘Real Talk’ supper clubs in every store to connect with the local community.
- Pantechnicon, the recently opened Nordic-Japanese shopping and dining destination, has seamlessly woven in an edit of beautiful lifestyle goods with a café, rooftop restaurant, and whiskey tasting bar.
- Selfridges, famed British department store, has taken on the most intimidating occasions, offering in-store wedding ceremonies, dining and entertainment for the whole wedding party.
Entertainment: Art of the Possible
In addition to inviting guests to rest, refuel, and connect, stores have a huge potential to be a more dynamic force for creativity and art in our communities.
So many stores use stock imagery or play generic Spotify playlists. Think of the potential to collaborate with local artists, musicians, poets, and parfumiers looking for fresh eyes, ears, and noses. A couple examples for consideration:
- Away, the travel brand, has partnered with SoFar Sounds, hosting live BYOB concerts to support local artists, and draw in an audience that might not have visited otherwise.
- L’Occitane has installed a collaborative art exhibition with MTArt Agency artist Claire Luxton at their Oxford St. flagship to lift lockdown spirits and bring Londoners fresh public art.
- For the Clash collection launch, Cartier hired poets to craft personalized haikus for guests, along with an open-to-the-public record shop and book store.
Whether experimenting with artistic collaborations or diving into full-on hospitality businesses, our retail stores can’t afford to sit empty — or uninspired.
We need to stretch our thinking.
Not all stores will survive, but those that do will bring more imagination, liveliness, and lifeblood to our streets.
Cheers to that!
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Cream of the Shop is a passion project dreamed up by me, Christina Herbach, and co-created by my growing community.
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