Silicon Valley Eyewear Store Uses Dozing Old Lady Robot, Donkeys, For Experience

March 3, 2021 by Dave Haynes

From the skewed perspective of people working in the digital signage and pro AV sectors, the delivery of in-store experience is all about the screens. But it is useful to get reminders now and then that a lot of store design these days has little or nothing to do with connected displays.

Like this new eyewear store in Santa Clara (Silicon Valley) that has an old lady robot, mirrored donkeys and a steampunk-ish kinetic tree. Plus a narrow-bezel LCD video wall.

It is the newest retail flagship in the US of the South Korean eyewear chain Gentle Monster.

The old woman robot seated in the middle of the store is designed to look half asleep, doing a series of movements that make it appear she’s dozing off and waking up again.

“We wanted to illustrate a dream state to convey how we interpret the memory restoration process and, more importantly, what the reaction and emotion would be when you wake up from a dream and see something physically appear from your dreams in front of your eyes,” says Wonho Moon, Spatial Designer for Gentle Monster. “For the old lady, we see her waking up to see her childhood friend, the donkey. When designing her, we focused on trying to create that emotion through an expression she gives once she awakens.”

Hmmmm. If you saw my face, you’d see my eyes are crossed. BUT … the market is the 24-year-old software developer at Facebook who earns $150K, not confused boomers like me who get their glasses at the local strip mall optician.

The store certainly hits on experience. More detail and images here.