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Emulating the warmth and charm of boutique shops, this new prototype increases customer browsing time. A series of vignettes and presentations, organized by type of recipient (bridesmaids, business associates, or male/female, for example) and by occasion (wedding, anniversary, new baby, life milestones, and others), help shoppers find new gift ideas and unique ways to personalize them.

Inviting graphics and wall features frame individual gift collections. Wood floors and indirect lighting contribute to a welcoming feel. Materials and finishes in a palette of silver, sage, driftwood gray, and slate provide textural background for colorful graphics and iconic products. Open sightlines from the sales area to the production area encourages shoppers to have gifts engraved.

The modular perimeter fixturing system, built by Leiden Cabinet Co., includes tall bookcase fixtures jutting out into the store to divide the space into “rooms.” The fixture package emphasizes vignettes and categories with jewelry display cases, round nesting tables holding seasonal products, vitrine−style pedestal tables, and metal etageres.

Dress forms with cut−away niches, provided by Lifestyle Inc., hold a variety of gifts and small objects and reinforce the homey, boutique ambiance. Risers provided by Chippenhook showcase product in and on the fixtures.

Bridging two management teams
Among the challenges of the project was a midstream management change. In late 2006, Gordon Brothers Group acquired the chain from Cole National Group, a subsidiary of Luxottica Group. “The new management team revised adjacencies concepts, space allocations, and organization of the store, with a focus on product presentation as well as personalization,” explains Ken Nisch, chairman of JGA.

Some changes to the already fast−paced project were implemented in stores under construction even as the design continued to evolve. “At times, prototyping and decisions were made daily. We were literally changing the design while Leiden had the wood in the saw. We didn’t have time to create CAD drawings for everything, so we reverted to the proverbial back−of−the−napkin drawings,” Nisch says.

Translating the napkin sketches to shop drawings and taking it from concept to reality was a challenge given the time frame, says Dusty Patterson, a Leiden project engineer. Pedestal tables, for example, were produced in six weeks. For Leiden, the tight schedule required careful coordination with the providers of materials, hardware, metal and glass components, and other supplies, notes Ken Lucas, sales director for Leiden.

The proximity of Leiden’s plant to Things Remembered’s headquarters helped keep the process moving. “It helped that Leiden could mock things up quickly and drive prototypes over to where the retailer had set up a series of vignettes in the warehouse for testing, condensing the decision−making process to just a few weeks,” says Nisch.

Tom Leiden, president of Leiden Cabinet Co., says, “Setting the fixtures up in their facility gave Things Remembered’s staff a chance to merchandise them and see whether they worked.”

When the finished fixtures were ready for shipping, Leiden’s director of sales and project engineer were both loading the truck at 4 a.m.—“as fast as the fixtures were coming off the line,” Lucas remembers.

The chain goes boutique
With positive response from customers and landlords as well as increased sales, the new design is currently in 27 of the chain’s 600 stores, and 39 more are planned by the end of 2008.