Did any of these 13 trends start your interest in retail?

[nims57]

1. store closings in general

2. store relocations in general

3. store rebranding in general

4. store reopening in general

5. stores that were cancelled and never opened in general

6. stores that closed but their signs never got taken down

7. stores within stores (such as McDonald's at Wal-Mart/Walmart)

8. badge engineering (when the exact same store uses a different name in a different region)

9. hidden stores (stores that are hard to get to from the main road)

10. duplicate stores (like the Target less than a mile from the other Target in Philadelphia)

11. changing decor packages within the same chain of stores

12. logo changes

13. when one store forced another store to move

[gu4ever]

This is a great topic nim57.
I've always had interest in retail design as far back as when I was just a little kid. The biggest thing that draws me to the nostalgic retail is having had the opportunity to actually visit and shop at locations like Zayre, Ames, Bradlees and of course Grand Union.
Then after locations closed and reopened as reuse buildings I would visit them and could clearly recall how they were set up and enjoyed seeing the original sales floor tile, lighting, venting, doors and windows being repurposed but with clear character of it's original use.

Most of you know me on here pretty well and know the Grand Union story that was in my profile from the old forum page.

[ynkeesfn82]

I've always had an interest in retail since I was a little boy. Probably because I used to dream of owning my own store one day. Of course the fact that I grew up in a small city of 60,000 people with a dying mall in the downtown area helped fuel my interest. I used to dream of opening stores there and transforming the dying mall into a successful one. Of course now that it's gone, it doesn't matter.

[shore72]

I guess my interest is purely rooted in nostalgia. It's about remembering the stores that I went to as a kid: their sights, sounds, even smells! (I always liked the smell of the soap aisle at the A&P!) With few exceptions, all of those old places are gone now. Woolworth's, Ames, McCrory's, Salisbury (MD) Mall, and many more...they are part of my life. My interest in modern retailing is rather limited, though I do find some of the discussions about it very interesting.