design:retail - October 2016 - 44
044
With a revamped brand, a new
SoHo flagship store and four others
across the country, Vera Bradley
is ready to reach a new target
woman-the "Daymaker"-and
discover how #ItsGoodToBeAGirl
o understand how
far the Vera Bradley
brand has evolved,
you have to understand where it all began-on a
ping-pong table.
The brand, which now retails patterned and solidcolored cotton and leather duffle bags, purses,
backpacks, scarves, pajamas, fragrances and more,
began in the travel business in 1982 when the two
founders-Barbara Bradley and Patricia Miller-
went to an airport and noticed there was no great
luggage for women. They went back to Bradley's
house, laying out and cutting brightly colored patterns on the ping-pong table in her basement. The
creation was a duffle bag, and they sent it out to
Bradley's daughter in college-it became the first
product for Vera Bradley, a lifestyle brand known
for its signature cotton-quilted bags and a peppy
and "happy" line that was embraced by the preppy
crowd for decades.
For years, Vera Bradley (named after Barbara
Bradley's mother) was a fan favorite for customers who could be 8 years old heading to lacrosse
practice or 80 years old en route to the airport. But,
recently, the brand realized it had missed the mark
targeting an in-between, style-savvy Millennial
audience, and its new offerings and store designs
are an attempt to fill some blank spaces. It also
redesigned its brand logo into a less flowery, more
approachable design.
"We knew that there was a blank space for us
to expand our offerings both in the fabrication
market, but also to further expand the lifestyle of
the brand," explains Harry Cunningham, head
OCTOBER 2016
DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM
of store development at Vera Bradley. "It was
really about defining a targeted audience for us
that we're calling the 'Daymaker,'" an aspirationdriven, sophisticated Millennial woman, while
simultaneously recognizing the sweet spot of
targeting "women who were a bit older, who
aspired a bit younger," he says.
And what used to be a 100 percent cottonquilted bags business is no longer. In fact,
Cunningham says it only makes up about 50 percent of the business now, with new fabrics like
leather and microfiber filling in the gaps.
With a revamped product assortment, it was
time for new stores to house the expanded offering.
Vera Bradley teamed up with San Francisco-based
Gensler for its new store designs targeting the new
demographic of shoppers, including its corporate
offices in Fort Wayne, Ind., and its latest store openings in New York's SoHo neighborhood; Waikiki,
Hawaii; and at Disney Springs in Lake Buena Vista,
Fla. (The brand also redesigned and relocated its
Colorado store in Park Meadows and launched an
outpost in Schaumburg, Ill., at the Woodfield Mall.)
For the brand's SoHo store, it was important the
location reflect the warmth and welcoming vibe of
the neighborhood, with the spirit of SoHo and New
York's art community woven throughout the retail
environment, Cunningham says.
The multi-level store features oversized windows
and plenty of white brick. "It has a sophistication to
it that's not too overdone, and I think that's what
Harry and the Vera Bradley team really wanted to
do-stay true to their brand, but with a nod to the
neighborhood," describes Sharon Lessard, senior
GLOBALSHOP.ORG
associate and studio director of Gensler's Atlanta
office, who worked with the Vera Bradley team on
its recent stores.
In rolling out so many stores at once, Lessard
says that in addition to figuring out how to reflect
each market in a special way, they had to consider
unique architectural challenges and how to take
advantage of them. From there, she adds,"They
wanted to have a signature statement for each location." But, of course, with a common design thread
that runs through all of the stores.
For instance, the design team incorporated
custom wallpapers and textures in all stores,
but, Cunningham says, they "tailor fabrics and
wallpaper choices more to market." In Colorado,
there's a "woodsy" twist, while in Hawaii the wallpaper reflects the native palms and offers more
casual seating.
In SoHo and Hawaii, "there are moments of pattern in the architecture," Lessard says. But at the
Disney Springs store, pattern is impossible to miss,
running from front to back.
The conversation to open at Disney Springs began
over a jaw-dropping demonstration, where a Disney
representative started turning swirling colors on a
white scale model merely with a wave of the hand (a
demonstration so awe-inspiring that Cunningham
asked to see it twice!). Then, the Disney rep said:
"We really want you to excite your customers with
your store as much as you just got excited about that
model." At that point, feeling about 10 years old,
Cunningham replied, "We're totally in."
And so, color greets Disney Springs visitors at the
door: custom hand-blown glass lights, each with
http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM
http://www.GLOBALSHOP.ORG
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - October 2016
design:retail - October 2016
Contents
Editor’s Note
GlobalShop Talk
On Trend
We Love This!
Designer Picks
Clicks & mortar
Postcard
How’d They Do That?
Mingle
Have You Heard?
Perspectives
The Visual Eye
Searching for Steve Jobs
Vera Bradley
California Closets
Retail Design Industry 2016
Products
Backstory
design:retail - October 2016 - Intro
design:retail - October 2016 - design:retail - October 2016
design:retail - October 2016 - Cover2
design:retail - October 2016 - 1
design:retail - October 2016 - 2
design:retail - October 2016 - 3
design:retail - October 2016 - Contents
design:retail - October 2016 - 5
design:retail - October 2016 - 6
design:retail - October 2016 - 7
design:retail - October 2016 - Editor’s Note
design:retail - October 2016 - 9
design:retail - October 2016 - GlobalShop Talk
design:retail - October 2016 - 11
design:retail - October 2016 - On Trend
design:retail - October 2016 - 13
design:retail - October 2016 - 14
design:retail - October 2016 - 15
design:retail - October 2016 - 16
design:retail - October 2016 - 17
design:retail - October 2016 - We Love This!
design:retail - October 2016 - 19
design:retail - October 2016 - 20
design:retail - October 2016 - 21
design:retail - October 2016 - Designer Picks
design:retail - October 2016 - 23
design:retail - October 2016 - Clicks & mortar
design:retail - October 2016 - 25
design:retail - October 2016 - 26
design:retail - October 2016 - 27
design:retail - October 2016 - Postcard
design:retail - October 2016 - 29
design:retail - October 2016 - How’d They Do That?
design:retail - October 2016 - 31
design:retail - October 2016 - Mingle
design:retail - October 2016 - 33
design:retail - October 2016 - Have You Heard?
design:retail - October 2016 - 35
design:retail - October 2016 - Perspectives
design:retail - October 2016 - 37
design:retail - October 2016 - The Visual Eye
design:retail - October 2016 - 39
design:retail - October 2016 - Searching for Steve Jobs
design:retail - October 2016 - 41
design:retail - October 2016 - Vera Bradley
design:retail - October 2016 - 43
design:retail - October 2016 - 44
design:retail - October 2016 - 45
design:retail - October 2016 - 46
design:retail - October 2016 - 47
design:retail - October 2016 - 48
design:retail - October 2016 - 49
design:retail - October 2016 - California Closets
design:retail - October 2016 - 51
design:retail - October 2016 - 52
design:retail - October 2016 - 53
design:retail - October 2016 - 54
design:retail - October 2016 - 55
design:retail - October 2016 - Retail Design Industry 2016
design:retail - October 2016 - 57
design:retail - October 2016 - 58
design:retail - October 2016 - 59
design:retail - October 2016 - 60
design:retail - October 2016 - 61
design:retail - October 2016 - 62
design:retail - October 2016 - 63
design:retail - October 2016 - 64
design:retail - October 2016 - 65
design:retail - October 2016 - 66
design:retail - October 2016 - 67
design:retail - October 2016 - Products
design:retail - October 2016 - 69
design:retail - October 2016 - 70
design:retail - October 2016 - 71
design:retail - October 2016 - Backstory
design:retail - October 2016 - Cover3
design:retail - October 2016 - Cover4
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