Callison Designs SOGO Flagship Store to Relaunch Brand

Callison Designs SOGO Flagship Store to Relaunch Brand
SOGO Department Store's new 16-story flagship in Osaka, Japan, successfully re-launches the traditional, 175-year-old SOGO brand to overcome the stigma of its recent bankruptcy.

Callison designed a 628,600 sq. ft. store that balances a distinctive SOGO brand while seamlessly integrating the store among other high-end boutiques along the streetscape.

The $228 million store, located on the site of the SOGO store built in 1935, opened in September 2005.

The feminine-inspired design of SOGO defies current retail conventions.

Callison conducted a year-long research study to investigate the future of department store retailing from a global perspective while considering the regional demographics and attitudes of Osaka.

The research revealed that, while many retailers attempt to lure Generations X or Y, in Osaka, department-store buying power rests with Japanese Baby Boomer women and their families.

Callison leveraged that research to create the store's new design, which responds to SOGO's current business objectives: It reinterprets the art nouveau-based 'taisho roman' and moderne influences of the original store to retain an element of SOGO's legacy, and integrates 21st-century retail merchandising to strategically target a specific demographic, the strong purchasing power of 40 to 60-year-old women.