As a designer of independent retail stores, the most gratifying question I can receive is whether the store I designed is a national brand. Such a question signifies a successful effort to achieve all of the design, lighting, signage, and experiential elements that national brands develop over the course of numerous locations and design generations. And for my clients, this often means we have achieved a strong cohesive identity on a "mom and pop" budget, or in the case of Sweet Doctors, "mom and son".
Sweet Doctors is a cake pop and wine shop set to open October 16, 2014, in Sarasota's new University Town Center mall. It is a daunting challenge to launch a new retail concept in the country's newest mall, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the heavy hitters of the high end retail world. In this case the challenge was made easier by trusting clients and an accomodating construction team. When mall officials walked by the space and asked where else the brand exists, I knew we succeeded with the design.
