While driving traffic around the perimeter of this new university bookstore, the design created a fixture package that was well below $12.80 per sq. ft., including all freestanding fixtures and custom casework. Designer Michael Lopez compares this to national benchmarking of $20 to $25 per sq. ft. for store fixtures and custom casework for bookstores of this quality.

“I always seek to incorporate a sense of retail theater,” Lopez said. “I design durable fixtures, but place emphasis on the merchandise without sacrificing image or quality. The key is to design and engineer store fixtures and equipment that can withstand the rigors of day-to-day operations and of seasonal movement, and that can flex with inventories to give the perception that the store is well-stocked when the selling season is winding down.”

With a 12-ft.-wide corridor through the center of the store to link two areas of the campus, the challenge was to entice the community to shop the entire store, yet allow the textbook area to be turned into a desk service operation after rush. A set of 11-ft.-high glass sliding doors partially close off the 12-ft.-wide textbook entrance. Traffic flow was facilitated by situating the entrances to the textbook and general sales merchandise sides of the store directly opposite each other and extensive use of perimeter and aisle signage and graphics.

Flexibility was built into the design, with many fixtures on casters for easy relocation and floor counters designed to allow for the insertion of extensions.

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