Taking the concept of pop-up retail to a new level, ShopWithMe introduced an interactive retail store in the heart of Chicago for the holiday season featuring brands TOMS Shoes and Raven + Lily. The store merges the best of offline and online shopping under one roof, while creating a personalized experience for every shopper.
ShopWithMe itself is a 3,000 sq.ft. mobile store, or ready-to-travel retail environment. Different brands can inhabit the space, whether a traditional retailer that is moving toward smaller, showroom locations or an e-commerce retailer looking to get started in physical stores.
Within the store, products are RFID-embedded and placed on smart fixtures. Beacons are located throughout the store which enable customers with the ShopWithMe app to receive product suggestions and personalized messages. While in-store, the technology offers an endless aisle as shoppers can scan items to find more options, request items to try on, build a cart and check out.
As if the environment and technology itself weren’t cool enough, the building is a mobile and tensile architectural system that allows for easy assembly, disassembly and transport to anywhere in a matter of days. “Why should a new store have to be physically built for every brand?” proposes Danielle Jenkins, ShopWithMe’s co-founder. “At ShopWithMe, we change the files, not the fixtures, to create a new experience. Today the store can be TOMS Shoes, and next week it can be an entirely new brand without us having to rebuild the store.”
Allison has had a lifelong interest in multiple facets of design. Growing up between a sewing machine and a sketch pad, she went on to fine-tune her skills through studies in fine arts and fashion design. Upon entering the design/build industry, she continuously researches trends in various markets, including retail, hospitality, exhibitory/events, interiors and architecture in order to provide valuable educational and inspirational resources to clients.
