Designing a New Kind of Retail: Our Work on the Bonobos Store Rollout
When Bonobos set out to reinvent what a clothing store could be, they needed an architecture partner who could turn a bold idea into a buildable space. We're proud they chose us. Over four to five years, our team served as lead architect on their nationwide retail rollout, designing and delivering roughly ten to twelve stores a year and helping shape the brand's physical identity during a defining stretch of its growth.
A showroom, not a stockroom
What made Bonobos different started with the shopping experience itself. You didn't leave with a bag. Every store was designed as a showroom. Customers tried on whatever they liked, placed the order through the app with a sales associate, and had it shipped to their door within a couple of days.
That one decision reshaped everything about the architecture. Without the need to warehouse inventory on site, the stores could live in a much smaller footprint. That let Bonobos slot into unique, tighter spaces and carry far less overhead than a traditional retailer. Our job was to make those compact spaces feel generous, intentional, and unmistakably on brand.
Local character, with a shared language
Bonobos stores were never meant to be carbon copies, and we loved that about working with them. The brand leaned into the culture of each neighborhood, so every location looks a little different from the next. They're colorful, lively, and curated to their local fabric. In the early days the experience was deliberately casual and social. Stores featured art installations, and the whole vibe skewed young, trendy, and welcoming.
The real craft was giving each store its own personality while keeping a shared design language that ties the whole portfolio together. We worked to strike that balance in every location, so the stores feel connected without ever feeling identical.
The Flatiron store and the early days
One of our very first projects with them, in New York's Flatiron neighborhood, came when Bonobos was still a young company. Those early stores were a little looser, a little more experimental, and honestly a lot of fun to design. As the brand matured, the work grew more refined and more systematically branded, but that early phase set the tone for everything that came after.
Winning over the block
Bonobos pushed harder on storefronts and facades than just about any retail brand we've worked with. Some locations called for large murals painted right on the buildings, and bigger, higher impact exterior statements. Early on, that ambition meant convincing landlords to get behind ideas well outside the typical retail playbook, which was a real hurdle when the brand was still establishing itself.
It got easier with momentum. As Bonobos became better known and landlords saw how fast the brand was growing, they grew far more open to the out of the box facades that made each store stand out.
Full service, from concept to keys
We worked as lead architect alongside the Bonobos in house design team. They developed the concepts, and we took those concepts and turned them into constructable spaces and facades. Then we carried the work all the way through.
That meant material sourcing, millwork bidding, fabrication, and shop drawings, plus the dozens of small studies that separate a good detail from a great one. Take a single wood slat facade. It raised a whole string of questions we needed to get right. How large should the slats be? How wide do we space them? How do we affix them to the backing panel? How does the tile wrap cleanly around the reveals and returns? Mockups and studies like these are how we made sure the built result matched everyone's design intent.
From there, we provided oversight of the entire construction process, from groundbreaking through turnover. That full service approach is what we bring to every client we work with.
FAQ
Who was the client? Bonobos, the menswear brand, during the period when it was building out its national retail presence.
What was your role on the project? We served as lead architect for the retail rollout. We developed the in house team's concepts into constructable stores and facades and oversaw the full process, including material sourcing, millwork and fabrication bidding, shop drawings, and construction oversight from start to turnover.
How many stores did you design for Bonobos? Roughly ten to twelve stores a year over a four to five year engagement.
What made the Bonobos store concept unique? The stores worked as showrooms rather than stocked shops. Customers ordered through the app and had items shipped home, which allowed for a smaller retail footprint, lower overhead, and a more casual, locally curated in store experience.
Where was one of the earliest stores? The Flatiron location in New York City was among our first, designed when Bonobos was still a young brand.
Looking for retail architecture that turns a brand idea into built space? Contact us.
