Macerich Unveils Short-Term Branded Storefronts at BrandBox

Forget about the heavy lift of one-and-done pop-up shops and burdensome decade-long leases. Enter the age of the in-between: short-term, branded storefronts designed to give digitally-native brands the opportunity to test their wares via a storefront model, enter new markets and ultimately acquire new customers with a single, simple, cost-effective solution. Enter BrandBox, the future of retail.

Last Friday, November 16th, Macerich, a leading owner, operator and developer of major retail real estate in the U.S., unveiled BrandBox, its latest retail venture designed in concert with global retail consultancy FITCH. Together, they’re endeavoring to help brands design distinct spaces which capture the ethos of their distinctive personality, while also helping to introduce them to a whole new set of potential customers, bringing them into a customized brick and mortar space. The creative team at FITCH helped guide this fresh retail concept from naming and identity to brand strategy to digital platform development, informing process as well as details of brand/BrandBox interaction, from initial consultations, to store layout and schematics.  

“Starbucks discovered and defined ‘the third place’ strategy by creating a physical place between our homes and our places of work. Brandbox has discovered ‘the third way of retail’ by creating new innovative physical stores that sit, from a life-span perspective, between temporary pop-ups and permanent retail. Brandbox will be a catalyst for many digitally native brands to create and run physical stores in progressive (Macerich) shopping malls,” said Alasdair Lennox, Executive Creative Director, FITCH.

FITCH, a WPP company, is actively spearheading efforts to design the future—online, offline and in-person—whenever and wherever customers meet brands. A cross between a branding agency and innovation studio, FITCH strategically collaborates with clients who genuinely need them and their expertise.