After the year we’ve had, we’ve learnt not to take the feeling of shopping in-person for granted! These retailers located around Melbourne are each perfect examples of how interior design and architecture can be used to enhance the shopping experience—and they’re all spaces we’ll definitely be visiting once lockdown is over to admire their unique and amazing designs!

Camilla & Marc Armadale

Nestled in an original terrace on High Street, Camilla and Marc’s Armadale flagship by Akin Atelier is anything but traditional. It’s sleek and contemporary, feminine in a modern and understated sense by championing those peachy, apricot hues. Clean and minimal yet still charming and vibrant, it successfully captures the design ethos of the fashion icon itself. The highlight for us, of course, are those glorious walls; finished in that softly brushed texture which gleams in the light, they provide the perfect backdrop for the products inside.

Photo credit: Sean Fennessy

Aesop Chadstone

We think that every Aesop store in the world is worth a visit, but the Chadstone location by Mlkk Studio in particular is one of our favourites—not least of all for how it absolutely rocks that darker colour palette. Monochromatic and sparse, it’s a welcome escape from the busy, bright, and chaotic environment outside. The only adornments are the products themselves—which form a decoration of their own sitting in perfect little rows—and large fragments of Basalt rocks, which bring an element of the natural world to this suburban shopping centre. Our team installed Terradec natural stones here to the entrance.

Photo credit: Aesop

Viktoria and Woods, Chadstone

It’s no secret that we think Vik & Woods Chadstone is the crème de la crème when it comes to retail interiors (we’re looking at you GOLDEN). From its celebration of that signature neutral colour palette, to its soothingly simplistic design which reflects the luxe minimalism of the apparel within—it’s a space where brand identity and customer experience have both been carefully considered (and where the beauty of X-Bond is on full display). It also contains the comfiest, chicest armchair in all of Melbourne.

Photo credit: Timothy Kaye

Kloke Melbourne CBD

Kloke’s Melbourne CBD store (designed by Studio Goss) takes inspiration from the geometric and textural characteristics of brutalist architecture. The collision of rough stucco and smooth concrete forms an interesting juxtaposition, and one which both embraces and softens the bare, grey aesthetic the brutalist movement is known for. "The aim was to convey a sense of mass, as if the space had been carved out as a single, sculptural object," said Studio Goss founder David Goss. The surfaces are therefore beautifully dynamic, blending and moulding into one another; the roof is seamlessly conjoined to the walls, the countertops melt into the floors. It’s a retail space certainly worth visiting for both the clothes and the shop itself.

Photo credit: Rory Gardiner