Bell Distribution, the retail arm of telecommunications services firm Bell Canada, is facing changes:

• The convergence of wireless, satellite TV, and internet technologies is propelling a migration to simpler devices.
• To expand its market, Bell needs to get past its perception as “your parent’s phone source” to appeal to a younger customer base.
• New forms of communications, primarily Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), are coming into play while the importance of Bell’s legacy services of long distance and land-line telephone are eroding.

To address the changing retail needs, David Milne Design Associates created a retail program, executed by Provincial Store Fixtures, that simplifies the high-tech and makes product and service offerings transparent in a nearly wireless, paperless environment.

The Process
The design team first distilled hundreds of sketches down to one dividing the store into a “lab” side featuring stock products and merchandising displays and an applications side featuring displays of application solutions. Then to develop a system, they inserted common data points into a 3D store map with a grid wrapping around all of the surfaces. A “triage” desk at the front of the store allows a greeter to direct customers to the appropriate area for their needs.

To differentiate the store, they wanted it to seem transparent—open to the mall, with the store’s offerings readily apparent. “The metaphor is that Bell’s services are also transparent; they’re obvious, direct, and customer service-oriented,” Milne explains. To accomplish this while enhancing product credibility, they created an “anti-storefront.” In lieu of traditional storefront signs, the store’s name and logo are digitally projected onto a clear storefront glazing. A sense of this use of digital technology as well as the inside store space was provided to the retailer via a computer model.

To eliminate the clutter created by wires and cables being added over time due to technological changes, the design team incorporated environmental controls into the store layout. Blue panels flanking the customer service desk separate the zones of the store and prevent the encroachment of devices, wiring, and other items into the customer service area. To encourage consultation, the area was designed as a 12-ft.-long advisory P-O-S station.

The next step for the design team was developing fixtures. The team considered forms, materials, textures, and finishes as well as details such as how panels would be joined. “I try to avoid plastic laminate coming together in three edges by using a higher-end material that can elevate the finish but still be economical to produce,” Milne explains. For a harmonized look for the store, all the fixtures include the same connections and details. An important element was built-in flexibility so that the fixtures could be adapted easily to meet the retailer’s changing needs. For the cash counter, for instance, cubbies suspended from the countertop can be changed out to meet future needs without affecting the overall structure. Flexibility also was considered in the flooring for the lab area, where access pieces allow for items to be moved around, additional wires to be run, etc., to meet future needs.

The team then sketched out the details. For example, “sneeze guards,” featuring the store logo to reinforce the brand, were created to hide the backs of the monitors from customers’ line of sight; the drawing detailed the placement of each screw, the type of assembly to be used, and the finish on the plexiglass. Such details were followed precisely by Provincial Store Fixtures for the all-custom fixturing.

The plan was to build a prototype in a warehouse. Bruce McLaws, Bell’s associate director of corporate retail design, obtained approval not only for the unusual use of technology, but for two actual prototype stores to be built.

In the finished store, the “anti-storefront” is made of a self-frosting, electrically charged glass called Privalite. Its default position is frosted, but it becomes transparent when a current runs through it.

The Proof
To ensure that the system could translate over Bell’s range of footprints, the team developed two prototype stores: the 1,500-sq.-ft. store with the winning P-O-S station and a 375-sq-ft. store. After opening in November 2004, the stores achieved sales up 147 percent from sales of eight similar Bell stores using the old format. Youth traffic and sales of bundled products also rose significantly.

The model is being evolved to be applied to other stores in 2006. One change under consideration is pushing the “anti-storefront” back so that demonstration product can be placed at the lease line and projected onto the glass. The flexible medium would enable Bell to project its Web site, commercial spots, or any kind of digital media and to change the message to reach target demographics, such as kids getting out of school or mall walkers early in the morning.