Erica Zook, portfolio Throughout my career, I have had the privilege to work on a variety of retail projects. These have included specialty prototypes and rollouts, outlets, kiosks, airport locations, movie sets, fixtures development, off-mall prototypes, international flagship stores, shop-in-shop rollouts and moderate and high-end department stores. Included are images of some of my work.
Project list Waldenbooks, new prototype – Las Vegas Borders Express, rebranding Borders Airport stores, “The Terminal”, movie set design Neiman Marcus, Austin Bloomingdales, South Coast Plaza – Costa Mesa Macy’s, off-mall prototype Pavilion Parkson, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia The Foundry, specialty: Big & Tall JCP, Manhattan Mall JCP, LEED certified store JCP, Call it Spring, shop concept national rollout JCP, Levi, shop concept national rollout JCP, Arizona, shop concept national rollout JCP, Izod, shop concept national rollout JCP, home rollout White House Black Market, Plaza Las Americas – Puerto Rico White House Black Market, Yorkdale – Toronto White House Black Market, Mall of Millenia – Orlando White House Black Market, Resort Concept – Santa Monica Boston Proper, various locations
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Waldenbooks, The Meadows Mall – Las Vegas, NV In 2003, Waldenbooks hired Grid 2 to design a new concept. The prototype was approved and the in-house design team was charged with implementing the conceptual design in under 5 months. As the store designer, I was primary lead for refining the store layouts and merchandise plans, FF&E specs, fixture package, CD set coordination, site visits, graphic enhancements and coordination with the brand’s visual and ops team.
By Grid 2
Borders Express, 4 Market Re-Branding Test After the opening of the Las Vegas store, the new design evolved into a 4-market company re-branding test, Borders Express. I was a crucial member to that team and worked on every store conversion. The Borders Express stores were located in Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. My main role included verification of regional surveys, dĂŠcor plans and signage approvals and coordination.
Borders Airport stores, Boston Logan and Dulles International Airports Airport stores owned by Borders Group Inc. were operated under the specialty division (Waldenbooks) and typically branded Borders. The Waldenbook stores were being converted to use the leverage of the Borders brand but budget was very limited. The design criteria was very strict and you had to get approvals from the landlords and Airport Authorities. My responsibilities included design approvals, CD set, site visits and project management to see the successful completion of the re-branding.
Boston Logan International Airport, Terminal C
Dulles International Airport, Terminal D
Before
After
“The Terminal” Borders store The set was designed by DreamWorks for the movie “The Terminal”. The entire movie set was built from the ground up in a massive hangar in Palmdale, California’s aerospace alley. Construction took approx. 20 weeks and involved more than 200 artisans and workers. I worked with their team to coordinate blueprints, finishes, materials, fixtures and merchandise for our “airport store”.
By DreamWorks Studio
By DreamWorks Studio
Neiman Marcus, Austin I worked on the space planning, design detailing and merchandise capacities for this 2-level store in Austin, TX. Work included lighting layouts, fixture layouts, flooring layouts and construction details.
Bloomingdales, South Coast Plaza RYA partnered with Bloomingdales on several store locations including: San Francisco, South Coast Plaza, San Diego, Chestnut Hill and New York City. My role on these projects was the acting project manager for South Coast Plaza as well as store planner for San Diego and Chestnut Hill. I worked on the store layouts (space, fixtures, lighting, flooring, dĂŠcor plans), design detailing, merchandise capacities and coordination with our team and with the client and their consultants.
Macy’s, off-mall prototype RYA partnered with Macy’s to create their first off-mall prototype. My role as Project Manager / Senior Planner included managing all client interactions, executive presentations, team management, timelines and budgets. I also worked on the store layouts (space, fixtures, lighting, flooring, décor plans), design detailing, merchandise capacities and coordination with our team and with the client and their consultants.
Parkson Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur Located in the heart of the trendy Bukit Bintang district, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur is considered the company’s flagship store. It is regarded as a world-class and has comprehensive services for shoppers such as beauty spas, personal shopper area and cafes and a good mix of global brands housed within it’s 4 levels. Parkson Pavilion has won “The Overall Best Retail Outlet 2011/2012 as well as “Innovative Shopping Outlet (Department Store) 2008/2009.
The Foundry, jcpenney JCPenney engaged Callison to design a Big & Tall specialty store for an underserved customer in a rapidly growing market segment. We rolled out 10 stores within two separate markets to test the concept. The design features a pool table inspired display table; a keg located in the cash wrap bar, brewery inspired tanks for dressing rooms and oversized chairs for hanging out. Flexible, industrial racks and adjustable wall fittings work together with brick, wood, steel and glass materials to complement the masculine attitude.
Manhattan Mall, JCP JCP opened it’s first NYC store in August 2009 located in Manhattan Mall. It’s two-levels, 153,000 sq.ft store located near the Herald Square subway station – with more than 250,000 people access daily. It features nearly 100 registers with an electronic queuing system. With 8’ ceilings, all fixtures and lighting had to be specifically developed for this location.
LEED Certified store, JCP In August 2009, JCP opened it’s first LEED certified store in Fairview, Texas. It is expected to use 21% less energy and 40% less water than the average similar building. High reflectance sidewalks, regional plants and drip irrigation, day lighting, regional and recycled flooring, waterless urinals and an Energy Management System are some features added to reduce environmental impact.
Call It Spring Shop Rollout, JCP JCP and Aldo partnered together to rollout their Call It Spring line to 600 JCP stores. The program concept launched in 2010 in Penney's Manhattan store in Herald Square as well as 2 local test stores. As store design manager for this project, I had direct responsibility to design and implement their concept into our existing shoe departments. It was a good collaboration and one of our first at JCPenney. I was responsible for fixture development, construction criteria, budget and rollout implementation.
Levi Shop Rollout, JCP JCP partnered with Levi Strauss & Co to create one of the first national shop-in-shop concepts, rolling out to 700 stores on 8/1/11. Staffed by speciallytrained Levi’s Fit Specialists, Levi’s Shops offer the added convenience of mobile checkout, marking the first time this technology is available in JCP stores. Taking on the design lead was a rewarding experience which lead to a good deal of collaborating between companies as well as our internal men’s and women’s divisions. As the design manager, I was responsible for fixture development, construction criteria, budget and rollout implementation.
Arizona Shop Rollout, JCP The Original Arizona Jean Co. has been a popular back-to-school brand for decades, and I helped create our first dedicated Arizona Shops for guys and juniors. As design lead for our first private brand shop, I went thru several concepts before getting approval on The below shop design which was Route 66 inspired. Design responsibilities included store planning guidelines, construction criteria, budget and rollout implementation.
Izod Shop Rollout, JCP In September 2011, JCP launched the Izod Men’s shop into 700 stores. Our design and merchandising teams partnered with PVH Corp. to develop a 500 and 1000 sq.ft. shop that could be rolled into various store applications. My role in this was to work intimately with PVH to develop fixture needs, flooring, lighting, signage and budgets. As the design manager, I was also responsible for construction criteria, budget and rollout implementation.
Home Redesign, JCP As Store Design Manager for the Home division, I was the lead for revamping the home department for JCP. The goal was to redesign all aspects of the Home store environment by re-planning all stores into a new “street� concept, adding in 6 new home shop-in-shops, a Martha Stewart test kitchen, new checkouts and an all new fixture package. I partnered with our construction, visual team and vendors to create a 20,000 sq.ft. test store in Dallas. I was also responsible for prototypical space plans, training the planners and architectural teams, developing all fixtures, flooring selection, lighting plans, signage, construction criteria and individual and overall project budget.
KITCHEN WORLD
Demo Bar/ Kitchen
The Street
FURNITURE/ DECORATIVE WORLD
BED/BATH WORLD SHOPS
Service Desk
White House Black Market, Plaza Las Americas – Puerto Rico This high-volume remodel included elements that we were testing for our “Store of the Future” prototype including ellipse door handles, dark wood flooring and Carrera marble storefront and entry. It became a launching pad for several special project locations.
White House Black Market, Yorkdale – Toronto This was the first international store for Chico's FAS and the first for WHBM. It required weekly meetings held with a cross-functional team to make the business move into international waters. We also had to redesign the cashwrap for Canadian codes and new POS equipment. From a store design perspective, we were challenged with a very large storefront and went thru multiple designs and executive presentations. Our small team came up with a beautiful 3 story tall storefront that won multiple awards.
White House Black Market, Mall of Millenia – Orlando This was our “Store of the Future” prototype that culminated into a store environment showcasing all the added features and technology we had tested in various locations as well as new fixture packages and fitting room designs. The iconic black and white striped awnings, ellipse panels, Carrera marble and chrome finishes create a feel of classic sophistication and style.
White House Black Market, Resort Concept – Santa Monica This prototype was inspired by the relaxed So Cal lifestyle and “resort” atmosphere in Santa Monica. The concept was supported by playing on the iconic black and white stripes, ellipse panels and chrome décor and infusing organic elements such as sea glass, weathered wood, concrete floors, exposed beams and “cabana style fitting rooms” to soften the environment. Another added piece was the introduction of technology with digital window screens, in-store monitors and a tech table crafted from a surfboard.
Boston Proper – multiple locations Boston Proper was acquired by Chicos FAS and hired Kramer Design group to develop its first brick and mortar prototype. Our team acted as liaison during the development and build of the first 5 stores. We then transitioned the store design over to our group in 2013 and began a series of VE exercises and creating prototypical details to work within our capitol budgets while still keeping the integrity of the original concept.