Once upon a time, a store was a simple transaction: goods on shelves, cash in registers, and a thank-you on your way out. But the 20th century saw the rise of the concept store—a whole new species of retail that wasn’t content with just selling stuff. Think of Biba in London or Fiorucci in Milan. These places didn’t just hawk clothes or records; they curated an entire world, blending fashion, music, and art into one intoxicating mix. You didn’t go to shop; you went to see, to be seen, and to soak up a scene. Today, that spirit of blending and bending persists, though the stakes have changed. With online shopping doing all the heavy lifting—price comparisons, convenience, and instant gratification—the physical store has been forced to evolve into something more abstract. It’s no longer a mere container for products but a stage for identity, culture, and lifestyle. You might walk into a store today and find no shelves, no checkout counter, and sometimes, no clear sense of what’s being sold. And that’s entirely the point. As retail scholar Paco Underhill notes, "The physical store is no longer just a place to buy things. It's a place to experience things."
15 stores that rethought what shopping even means
Retail environments, which have been rethought around the concept of “experience” since the last century, have undergone an even more profound transformation with the advent of e-commerce.
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- La redazione di Domus
- 13 December 2024
Take Apple Stores, for example. Through Norman Foster’s design, they redefined tech retail by turning it into a minimalist experience—glass temples where every detail, from the lighting to the way you swipe your card, feels designed to make you forget you're spending money. Or Supreme, where the act of shopping itself became a kind of performance art, complete with long queues and limited-edition drops that are as much about status as they are about style.
The physical store is no longer just a place to buy things. It's a place to experience things.
Paco Underhill
Meanwhile, brands like Tesla and Lynk & Co have taken the car dealership—a genre known for its strip-mall blandness—and reinvented it as something cool, sleek, and experiential. These are stores where you don’t necessarily leave with a product but with a feeling, an aspiration, or at least a good Instagram post.
The irony is that the rise of online shopping, which was supposed to spell doom for physical retail, has actually pushed brick-and-mortar stores into a new golden age of creativity. Freed from the burden of pure utility, stores are leaning into their theatrical potential, becoming more like galleries, cafes, or even clubs. They sell the story, not just the stuff.
Here are 15 stores that have completely redefined what shopping means in the 21st century.
Apple transformed shopping into a cathedral of tech, with its glass facades and near-religious aura. Forget shelves; this was a shrine to minimalism, where genius staff performed miracles on broken iPhones.
Queuing for hours to spend hundreds on a logo-covered brick? Supreme made that happen. It turned retail into performance art, with its stores as pilgrimage sites for the streetwear faithful.
An automotive store without cars in the window sounds like a joke, but Lynk & Co plays it straight. Instead, you’ll find coffee, coworking, and curated vibes—because who needs a test drive when you can chill?
At these gilded coffee palaces, you’ll pay more for a latte than lunch. But the spectacle of micro-roasters and baristas who talk like sommeliers makes it feel like money well spent.
Welcome to a world where everything is millennial pink, and every corner is selfie-ready. Glossier stores are less about selling beauty products and more about creating a place where you feel beautiful (and post about it).
Nike’s flagship stores are what you’d get if Willy Wonka made sneakers: interactive, over-the-top, and wildly ambitious. Personalization, AR experiences, and innovation zones make them less shop, more sci-fi theme park.
A Dover Street Market isn’t a store - it’s a high-fashion fever dream. From Rei Kawakubo’s curated chaos to avant-garde installations, this is where shopping feels like stepping into an art gallery on acid.
Forget the endless maze of meatballs and flatpacks; these city studios focus on urban living. You can’t leave with a Billy bookcase, but you will leave with a Pinterest-worthy kitchen plan.
Is it a market? A restaurant? A culinary school? Eataly is all of the above, proving that people love buying cheese even more when there’s wine and pasta involved.
Tesla flipped the car dealership model on its head, putting its stores in malls where you might pop in between Zara and the food court. No haggling, no grease-stained mechanics—just electric minimalism.
Amazon Fresh stores are physical grocery stores operated by Amazon that blend traditional shopping with innovative technology. In select locations, customers can skip the checkout line by using the Amazon app or a credit card. Sensors and AI track items, and the receipt is emailed automatically.
Patagonia’s Worn Wear shops sell second-hand and repaired gear, challenging the idea that stores exist only to push new products. It’s an anti-consumerist consumer experience, where sustainability takes center stage.
Muji blurred the line between retail and hospitality with its hotels, where every detail, from the toothbrush to the bedding, is for sale. Staying the night feels like stepping into their catalog—simple, functional, and irresistibly calming.
Samsung’s flagship in New York City isn’t a store—it’s a playground for tech lovers. With VR demos, digital art exhibitions, and zero products for sale, it’s a space designed to make you fall in love with the brand.
This South Korean eyewear brand turned its stores into avant-garde art installations. Whether it’s giant kinetic sculptures or surreal displays, shopping here feels more like wandering through a modern art museum than picking out sunglasses.