The Rolling Stones First Flagship Store, ‘RS No. 9 Carnaby’ Opens Its Doors in London

It all started with Carnaby Street, the heartbeat of the West End of London’s music, fashion, cultural scene for over 60 years. GH+A Design was privileged to design RS No. 9 within the context of this famous street.

Photo via GH+A Design

RS No. 9 is more than just a retail space, it is the ultimate fan experience. The store is designed to immerse the customer in all that is The Rolling Stones.  Customers can shop a curated assortment of products only available at this store, including unique brand collaborations, and limited-edition artwork. Throughout the store, there are moments to stop and take the perfect selfie at oversized “tongue” sculptures on both floors, or in front of your favorite lyrics in the Mirror Room on the lower level.  Before customers leave, they must stop at the customisation station to get a one-of-a-kind T-shirt printed while they wait.

Photo via GH+A Design

RS No. 9 is located within a protected heritage building, so to respect the history of the façade, GH+A chose to ‘paint it black’ creating a sophisticated, understated edifice identified only by “tongue” bus stop sign, and subtle tone-on-tone lettering on the building.  Inside however, the store comes to life with a full height multimedia video wall inspired by The Rolling Stones latest No Filter Tour stage set. In the windows is an art installation of a soundwave representing the first verse of the iconic song “Paint It Black”. The black theme is continued throughout the store with a muted palette of black and dark grey tiles, wood and metal accented by pops of the iconic Rolling Stones red. Customers will get a glimpse of more excitement downstairs via the glass floor covered in classic song lyrics, and the fitting room on the ground floor gets shoppers up close with the full height album cover of Some Girls.

Once customers descend the iconic red stairs, the experience continues with a Sound Room where customers will be surrounded by red acoustic panels, and a Mirror Room where The Stones’ lyrics steal the show. The fitting room downstairs brings the classic Exile On Main Street album cover to life and offers another perfect photo-op. The age of the building made for a challengingly small footprint, and existing building conditions were leveraged to turn previously unusable space into key customer journey moments.

GH+A Design Studios was privileged to work with Bravado and their team to pack every inch of RS No. 9 with as much energy and soul as we could to be sure that fans who come from around the world will leave feeling a little closer the greatest rock & roll band of all time.

About GH+A design studios 

Our over three decades of experience has been built on successful relationships with clients and consultants on both sides of the lease line. We are a curious team of 70+ passionate, creative & strategic thinkers that re-position, re-invent & disrupt all retail including fashion, health + wellness, F&B, as well as shopping center development.

We curate and connect all touchpoints of consumer behaviors and shopping habits with brand identities and clients’ vision to transform spaces into inspiring and engaging environments with purpose and authenticity.

With offices located in Montreal (Quebec) and Detroit (Michigan), GH+A designs for an international market with a strong focus on customer experience and retail performance. For more information, please visit www.ghadesign.com.

About Bravado: Bravado lives at the crossroads of music and fashion. As a division of Universal Music Group, they are an industry leader in creating products that spark organic, emotional connections between fans and artists. They are the leading provider of consumer, lifestyle and brand management services around the world. With teams in 40 countries, Bravado creates a tailored approach for every project — from creating new spaces in the market to bringing an artist’s creative vision to life. Bravado is about building brands and legacies that live on, beyond the music. www.bravado.com 

Adeptmind and U.S. Polo Assn. Announce Partnership to Leverage AI on Apparel Brand’s U.S. and Canada Website

Toronto, Ontario, June 24, 2020-- Adeptmind, the Canadian-based AI technology company transforming the Retail and Ecommerce industry, and U.S. Polo Assn., the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), have officially announced a partnership. Now U.S. and Canadian shoppers can experience Adeptmind’s advanced retail product discovery solution, complete with the patented Guided Discovery™, in both the search and category browsing experiences on the U.S. Polo Assn.’s U.S. website, USPOLOASSN.com. This will ensure shoppers browsing the U.S. Polo Assn’s website find the products they are searching for quickly and with greater accuracy leading to a more efficient shopping experience online.

“We knew we needed a sophisticated and innovative AI solution to address our site search needs, and help our shoppers find the most relevant products in the fastest way possible, but one that didn’t jeopardize our conversion rate and average order value,” said Jose Nino, Vice President of Global Digital Strategy for USPA Global Licensing, the company that manages the global distribution of the U.S. Polo Assn. brand.“We believe our partnership with Adeptmind will help take U.S. Polo Assn.’s eCommerce shopping experience on USPOLOASSN.COM to the next level.”

As an indication of the commitment to the partnership, Daniel Hoffstein, Vice President of eCommerce for JRA Corporation, U.S. Polo Assn.’s licensing partner in the United States and Canada, will be joining Adeptmind’s customer advisory board, providing in-depth market intelligence and validation of product roadmaps including new innovations.

“The customer experience is pivotal online and this partnership with Adeptmind will give U.S. Polo Assn. customers access to the best machine learning search and category navigation experience,” said Ezri Silver, SVP of Retail, for JRA Corporation. “Our expectation is that the use of this technology will drive a significant lift to our online business.”

“Adeptmind believes in understanding shoppers and their needs by providing an advanced AI-infused product discovery solution for search and browse,” said Adeptmind’s VP Product, Yoav Artzi. “This will enable shoppers to find what they’re looking for faster than ever before, and facilitate their journey from discovery through checkout.”

In just three short years, Adeptmind’s technology has taken over brand and retailer eCommerce experiences, launching partnerships with retail leaders including Decathlon, WIT Fitness, Cadillac Fairview, and over 600+ shops on Shopify and Prestashop. Offering the most accurate search results in the industry, along with the patented Guided Discovery™ for search and category navigation, Adeptmind has created a self-aware engine that connects shoppers to products faster and has increased speed of conversion by 3-4 times.

For more information on where to find Adeptmind and U.S. Polo Assn. together, visit https://uspoloassn.com/ or adeptmind.ai/news

About U.S. Polo Assn.

U.S. Polo Assn. is the official brand of the United States Polo Association (USPA), the nonprofit governing body for the sport of polo in the United States founded in 1890, making it one of the oldest sports governing bodies. With a global footprint of $1.7 billion and worldwide distribution through 1,100 U.S. Polo Assn. retail stores, department stores, independent retailers and e-commerce, U.S. Polo Assn. offers apparel for men, women and children, as well as accessories, footwear, travel and home goods in 180 countries worldwide. Recently ranked the 4th largest sports licensor and 36th overall in License Global magazine’s 2019 list of “Top 150 Global Licensors”, U.S. Polo Assn. now takes its place alongside such iconic sports brands as Major League Baseball, National Football League and National Basketball Association.

About Adeptmind

Adeptmind was founded in 2017 by two former employees of the Microsoft-exited tech startup Maluuba. As the leading AI based, e-commerce product discovery company, Adeptmind uses state-of-the-art active and deep learning techniques to enhance the customer purchasing journey. With offices in Toronto, San Francisco, Paris, and Tel Aviv, Adeptmind supports more than 400 retailers, shopping centres, and SMB’s with innovative technology in and around the world. To learn more about Adeptmind, please visit www.adeptmind.ai, follow Adeptmind on LinkedIn and @adeptmindai on Instagram.

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Media Contact: Anne Morello, NorthPR anne@northpr.ca 647.224.2806

Stacey Kovalsky, U.S. Polo Assn. skovalsky@uspagl.com 954.673.1331