Store format for Mamas & Papas is Four IV’s baby

Premium nursery retailer Mamas & Papas has begun a Four IV-designed store roll-out, as it looks to expand internationally.

The first of the stores opened in Bristol last weekend and will be followed by a shop in Glasgow on 14 October and a Manchester outlet in December.

M&P deputy chief executive Richard Faulkner also confirmed the company is looking to develop a retail presence outside the UK, particularly in major European cities, and has already received a number of approaches.

The format for the 930m2 shops was conceived by Four IV managing director Chris Dewar-Dixon in collaboration with M&P founder Luisa Scacchetti and her internal design team.

Four IV has undertaken an 18-month review of the entire M&P brand and retail concepts, after being selected from an unpaid pitch against five consultancies and a subsequent three-way paid pitch. Its remit encompassed the company’s identity, merchandising, ticketing, materials and interiors.

‘We were originally brought in to translate the larger store formats into smaller, mall environments, but the development process ensured that the format works across both shop sizes,’ explains Dewar-Dixon.

Two additional marques are introduced to the M&P visual identity. The first, a retail logo, is a version of the existing logotype and will endorse products. The second is an ’emotive signature’ that is generated by rotating the M&P ampersand on to its side.

Faulkner says a key element of Four IV’s brief was to engineer a calming environment for shoppers. In-store consultation areas, for example, are ‘softer and more inviting’ than the previous ‘office- like’ areas.

Existing stores will be ‘tweaked’ by Scacchetti to introduce elements of the Four IV design. The first mall-sized store to use the new format will open in Dundrum, Ireland in March 2005.