2022 Trends Part 3 of 3
We believe in a re-envisioning of retail as the third space for the working-from-home era.
Embracing the paradigm shift to working from home/hybrid working, 2022 will also recalibrate the intersections between retail, co-working, leisure and hospitality – spurring a new era for retail’s third spaces that will revalidate physical brand environments.
Image: reMarkable, Oslo
Early advocates are already conceiving spaces to capture the groundswell of global ‘roamers’ created by freshly flexible working policies (in America, 2020 saw a 50% surge in digital nomads). These include Norwegian writing tablet start-up ReMarkable’s members-club-meets-library pop-up in Oslo, and the show-stopping Zhongshuge bookstore in China, which houses a cinema, café, reading hall and events space.
In-store content creation studios will similarly sate the professional appetites of younger consumers seeking social-media-era vocational support.
This megatrend will also include the rise of events-first retailing – exemplified by Selfridges’ new in-store gaming destination, and the Biophilia-Based Brand Engagement boom, where work and leisure meet retail therapy amid the increasingly vital and calming influence of nature.