Principal
Michael Lopez Designs Inc.

A 42-year veteran of successful store planning, merchandising, and design in all phases of new store, fixture prototype, and P-O-P rollout programs, Michael J. Lopez, ASID, is principal of Michael Lopez Designs Inc., a Troy, Michigan-based organization.

Prior to incorporating MLDI in 1978, Lopez served Hart, Schaffner & Marx in Chicago as in-house store planner to the corporation and Allied Store Corp. in New York, as regional store planner. He received early training as a project engineer for Grand Rapids Store Fixture Equipment Co. and Merchandising Equipment Group of Grand Rapids, Mich. In 2003 after completing a five-year contract with Kmart Corp. as design director and director of design and corporate purchasing, Lopez returned to private business service, focusing on the collegiate store and specialty store markets.

Lopez is the author of numerous publications, including the tutorial-primer Retail Store Planning & Design Manual, for which he won the American Society of Interior Designers Educational Foundation's Joel Polsky Prize in 1996. A frequent speaker on store planning and design, Lopez has served as president of the Chicago Chapter of the Institute of Store Planners and is associated with the National Association of College Stores, the National Association of College Auxiliary Services, and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.