The One Off works on Best Buy retail designs

The One Off is working on retail designs for Best Buy’s UK debut.

The US-based electronics retailer appointed The One Off in January 2009 following a four-way creative unpaid pitch, tasking it to translate the Best Buy format to the UK market, according to the consultancy.

The first four stores, in Thurrock, Southampton, Birmingham and Liverpool, are sized between 6000-10 000m2, and will have up to eight feature areas in which customers can interact with products, claims The One Off creative director Richard Collier. ’Best Buy’s focus is on teaching customers about the connected technological world, in which your phone, your laptop, your stereo and your television can all talk to each other, which is a very alien concept to most UK consumers,’ says Collier.

The One Off was also tasked with designing Best Buy’s recently opened Turkey store (pictured), on which it began work in March. Collier is not revealing details of the experience areas in the UK outlets yet, but the Turkish store includes a gaming area with large-scale screens and gaming chairs, and a hub called The Connected World.

’You walk around a traditional electronics store like Comet and everything is locked away – there is nothing to engage with and you cannot get your hands on the products,’ says Collier. ’We will be tailoring the feature areas to the UK market and consumers’ favourite products.’

The stores’ look and feel will be about ’drama and contrast, and accentuating the products’, says Collier. The One Off has also created digital projections and on-screen interfaces for the store to explain Best Buy products and services. Thurrock will be the first Best Buy store to
open, in April, says Collier.

Best Buy launches in the UK – 2010 openings

  • Thurrock Hedge End, near Southampton
  • Merry Hill, near Birmingham
  • Aintree, near Liverpool
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