Following last year’s opening of its first offline store in Shenzhen, an event we’ve covered in a previous post, Chinese underwear and socks retailer Banana in 蕉内 has accelerated its brick and mortar expansion, opening a third outpost in the country’s undisputed fashion and lifestyle hub Shanghai. The store occupies 150 sqm. (1,615 sq.ft.) unit with two floors on the premises of a 1940s brick structure alongside Huaihai Zhong Lu and which was built for a major silk trading company. The interior design sees a renewed collaboration with Some Thoughts, a design and research practice based in Shanghai. The design codes are rooted in the existing architecture and its diverse cultural legacy embedded in the site by re-examining the basic elements, resulting in a meticulously curated a retail space that both signals Banana in 蕉内 brand vision and appeals to its savvy target demographic. Avoiding as many interventions as possible, both floors have uncluttered spatial configurations that feature only two forms of columns which combine its technical functionality with being part of an evocative design narrative. The lofty ground floor sees a configuration of opaque acrylic pillars, encapsulating a variety of display units, take centre stage, while the walls are lined in suspended displays and shelving.
The floor is clad in PVC laminate in different colours, paired with whitewashed walls and sections covered in laminated wood, and last but not least a ceiling dipped in a shimmering silver hue. Below the staircase a seemingly makeshift sales counter can be found, placed on wooden pallets and still partially wrapped in protective fabric. One floor up, at the top of the stairs, shoppers come across a somewhat tweaked setting. Less voluminous, the upper floor offers a slightly different setting, but with four opaque acrylic pillars which protrude from the floor, demarcating a plexiglass-covered cutout, and as such, becoming a focal point. It’s surrounded by wall-mounted shelving and display units, and in the corner, a cluster of suspended shelving units with sides in orange plexiglass. A large wooden crate is displayed with a hand pallet truck, but is in fact used as a fitting room, and arguably is the boldest reference to the aforementioned re-examination of the basic elements. The new Banana in 蕉内 store presents top-selling underwear and socks on the ground floor, as well as gift boxes and other small items, while the upper floor is dedicated to women’s underwear, homewear, and bath towels.
Banana in 蕉内
858 Huaihai Zhong Lu (Xintiandi)
200021 Shanghai
Publishers Note
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