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PRODUCTS STORE DESIGN & DISPLAY
ALL DRESSED UP
Ryan McNeish has taken Housing Units further upmarket with a thorough redesign
When stores get the green light to re-open, they’ll need to make a good impression on every customer that steps through the door. This month, Furniture News talks to a handful of showroom design and installation experts about their latest projects, overcoming pandemic barriers, and why good design matters …
The sourcing and fulfilment challenges brought about by Covid-19 have kept many retailers busy in recent months, yet with enforced closures through lockdown, some have turned their attention to longer-term improvements – including the evolution of their store interiors. Manchester’s Housing Units, for example, enlisted Ryan McNeish’s creative agency, Gregor Ryan, to completely refresh its interior late last year. Ryan – whose retail design portfolio comprises the likes of Lee Longlands, Sofas & Stuff and Gillies – jumped at the chance to apply his distinctive handwriting to the Failsworth-based furniture store.
“Housing Units Manchester asked us to create a high-end department offering in different product categories,” begins Ryan. “It’s always nice to have the opportunity to strip back a space, redesign it and evolve with a new customer base. The new department is visually stimulating, and we had freedom to pull this together with the buying team and still make something inspiring and relatable to customers who wanted a little bit more elegant glamour for their homes. “Using some of the individual brand assets and creating some retail theatre allowed us to execute a great mix of style options in an elegant living category.”
