INSIDE D E S I G N
Time Well Spent Designing a destination for Teddy Baldassarre at Crocker Park By Bonnie Hakes & Tommy Chesnes | Photos by Brian Riedel Photography
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uccess in retail often creates its own set of design challenges. For Teddy Baldassarre, a nationally recognized watch retailer whose digital presence has grown dramatically through YouTube, that challenge became clear: the brand had outgrown its previous store. What began as a highly specialized retail concept evolved into something much larger. Baldassarre’s online following, built through deep product knowledge, trusted commentary and in-depth luxury watch reviews, expanded the company’s reach far beyond Northeast Ohio. The previous location could no longer support the volume of traffic, the range of products or the type of immersive experience customers were seeking. The move to a new 4,200-squarefoot space at 167 Market St. in Westlake’s Crocker Park would provide not just more space, but also an opportunity to reimagine the in-person brand experience and create a destination for Teddy CIRCULAR CONCEPT Inspired by the mechanics of a timepiece, the store’s central hub creates a Baldassarre’s clientele. focal point around which brand displays, customer interactions and gathering spaces are organized. The new store represents a significant leap forward in both scale and ambition. Approximately four The new store addresses each of those reflect the sophistication, precision and times the size of the previous space, the limitations. It provides room not only sense of discovery associated with luxury new location allows the brand to show- for more merchandise, but also for more watch collecting. case a much broader range of product meaningful interaction, from first-time Onyx Creative helped bring that offerings, expanding to roughly four times buyers discovering luxury timepieces to vision to life by drawing inspirathe number of brands previously dis- seasoned collectors interested in longer tion from the essential geometry and played. But the value of the new space conversations, brand comparisons and mechanics of a watch itself. The conis not measured by square footage alone. community events. cept was translated directly into the The former store had become conIts corner location at Crocker Park plan. Brand-specific retail zones were strained in several important ways. also gives the retailer something equally organized around the perimeter of the Display capacity was limited, making it important: visibility. Prominently posi- store, reminiscent of the established difficult to fully represent the range of tioned within one of the region’s most numbers on a watch face. This strategy products customers had come to know active shopping environments, the store maximizes display opportunities while online. Event hosting was challenging. now has a physical presence that matches giving each brand its own identity and Opportunities for extended consulta- the strength of the brand it represents. sense of presence. tions were restricted. And for guests At the center of the space, the design who travel from outside the Cleveland Translating a timepiece into design team created a flexible experiential hub area, the previous environment lacked From an architectural perspective, anchored by a bar-height counter. Much the comfort and flexibility needed to ownership was seeking to create an as the hands of a watch revolve around encourage visitors to stay, explore and upscale experiential environment that a central axis, the store’s activity is orgaengage at a deeper level. would function as a destination and nized around this core. Surrounding it are 44
Properties | July 2026