We’re excited to unveil our annual retail design trends, highlighting the innovative ways you can elevate your store interiors and elevate the shopping experience for customers.

Whether you’re considering turnkey solutions to refresh your store’s branding and signage systems or you’re unsure about where to begin, we’ve gathered some of our top retail design trends to inspire your next steps.

Read on for The Look Company’s Retail Design Trends 2025.

## 1 - Flex Retail: Adapting In-Store Design to the Customer Experience  
  

The evolving demographic of the modern customer is driven by their interactions with digital media. They expect constant changeover and crave new experiences. As noted in research from the [International Business & Economics Research Journal](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297897720_Visual_Merchandising_Displays_Effect_On_Consumers_A_Valuable_Asset_Or_An_Unnecessary_Burden_For_Apparel_Retailers), customers are more likely to associate the showcased products with higher quality and value when they encounter attractive displays.  
  
FlexRetail is the ability to adapt retail design based on customer experience. This approach can help stores stay at the forefront of retail design trends while meeting changing shopping preferences.

The significant expense of updating your store design with custom fixtures and finishes multiple times a year is beyond what is feasible. Even major retail chains with numerous locations across North America typically opt not to undertake complete design overhauls; instead, they focus on updating branded areas during new builds.

Strategically designing the interior branding of your store isn’t an embellishment; it’s a practical business decision that can lead to higher sales. Flex Retail with [SEG fabric and framing systems](https://thelookcompany.com/blog/the-power-of-seg-fabric-and-frames-a-guide-to-creating-visual-displays) provides an alternative way to change the look of your store without costly labor, materials, or downtime, which is a better return on capital expenditure.

##   
2 - Bringing Home Interior Design Trends into Your Store

  
  
There’s a strong correlation between interior design trends and how to design your retail space. A well-designed store helps to connect with customers as they can relate their home life to comfortable shopping experiences.

Some notable interior design trends that may be prevalent in store branding for the incoming year include: Earth tones, vintage and retro accents and textured surfaces. These particular trends don’t just apply to furnishings or home decor stores. A broader application of interior trends within the store branding is making its way into electronic stores, hardware stores or grocery stores as well.

#### EARTH TONES: A NATURALLY WARM COLOR PALETTE

Envelop your interior in a neutral color palette reminiscent of nature. Incorporate rich browns, terracotta, or shades of green to take the cold, industrial feel away from large retail spaces. These colors have a calming effect on shoppers, welcoming them into a relaxed environment for a casual shopping experience.

  

#### VINTAGE AND RETRO ACCENTS

There’s a certain nostalgia when it comes to reliving design trends from years ago. Timeless mid-century modern elements are making a comeback with the use of wainscotting, wooden bulkheads or vintage wood focal points.  

Mix and match your retro with contemporary graphic design for signage systems that include full wall fabric and frames. Instead of building complicated carpentry, use printed SEG fabric to replicate woodgrain with photorealism, or update your walls and brand architectural structures like pillars. 

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/fortyfournorth/image/upload/v1736278089/The%20Look%20Company%20%28Staging%29/ewfrvoeukckqsypgqsbh.jpg)

####   
TEXTURED SURFACES

Textured surfaces can dramatically change the appearance of your store. With the addition of depth and 3D elements similar to textured paint, wallpaper or exposed brick in the overall store branding, customers can immerse themselves into a welcoming shopping experience. 

Incorporating textured surfaces can be as easy as changing out graphics if you have an SEG framing system in place. A solution that can be adaptable to any future interior design trends.

  

## 3 - Minimalist Branding for Signage Systems

  

Take inspiration from Scandinavian or Japanese aesthetics and de-clutter your sign systems. Signage with simplified graphic elements such as bold text, easy to interpret icons, branded color schemes and increased negative space are more effective to drive shoppers to different aspects throughout your store.

The goal should be an ease of navigation with a planned hierarchy of visual data. Larger, more prominent ceiling hung signs for departments or key focal points, mid-sized variations to guide shoppers to their destinations, and smaller floor-standing or integrated into existing fixtures to designate department specific promotions or to highlight product displays.

  

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/fortyfournorth/image/upload/v1736278172/The%20Look%20Company%20%28Staging%29/f0oydp1eobgklhgctveh.jpg)

## 4 - Unmanned Pop-Ups and Self-Service Kiosks

  
  
The global unmanned stores market is projected to reach a value of $962.6 billion by 2033 from $81.4 billion in 2023, growing at a CAGR of 31.6% according to [Research and Market’s analysis and forecast, 2024-2033](https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5978765/unmanned-stores-market-global-regional).

Utilizing the combination of technology and static graphic systems, unstaffed pop-ups and kiosks allow for shoppers to browse and purchase independently. The addition of these areas in larger retail footprints or in standalone branded spaces are becoming increasingly popular. 

Omnichannel in nature, unmanned retail meets the demand for convenience and efficiency, much like the experience of shopping online. Using AI driven insights and IoT infrastructure (sensors, connectivity, data processing and UX/UI) in the absence of retail workers, these spaces are not only integrating technology, but need to have branded graphic areas to contribute to the overall look and feel of the parent retail brand.  
  

## 5 - Pressing Pause with Comfort Stations

  
  
Going forward, what type of space can be offered where no special services are available? A non-retail space of course. Enter comfort stations, a place to take a breath and observe.

Incorporating multi-use areas into retail spaces to increase foot traffic has been a tactic to bring more customers through your front door. Finding the complementary services that could be offered alongside products has been seen in the likes of drug stores, athletic retail, and electronic stores for the past couple of years.

Designed with a customers’ comfort in mind, these areas offer noise reduction, less inventory, and promote increased dwell time. In some cases, retailers are influencing purchases by creating open areas, free of distractions and less visual noise, for customers to become inspired and mull their purchase decisions.

  

![](https://res.cloudinary.com/fortyfournorth/image/upload/v1736278287/The%20Look%20Company%20%28Staging%29/cd7ocpas5fga52kvsmkv.jpg)

## The Look Company: Your Visual Engagement Partner

Retail design trends come and go, but our commitment to quality products and services is timeless.

With a full team of experienced visual engagement specialists, The Look Company can provide a full range of store branding and signage solutions all in one place. From custom applications and innovations, to replacement graphics and hardware, discover how to take your retail space to the next level.

We look forward to seeing how 2025 will shape the retail landscape with the challenges and successes in store.

Retail Design Trends 2025: Defining the Customer Experience

The Look Company, an award-winning visual engagement solutions provider for sport, events and brands, has been confirmed as a Regional Supporter of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, in an agreement covering North and Central America.

The company has provided branding and signage solutions at various high-profile international and national sporting events, including the FIFA Club World Cup 2019™. The Look Company is planning to use this year’s tournament as an opportunity to showcase its stadium dressing and signage capabilities to 3.5 billion viewers around the world.

“The Look Company has demonstrated a long-term commitment to football and sport, both behind the scenes delivering dressing and signage projects and as a sponsor,” said FIFA’s Director of Marketing, Jean-François Pathy. “They were a welcome addition to the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and we are delighted to have their support for this groundbreaking FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Fans will be walking into the amazing stadiums and seeing The Look Company’s impressive work at first hand in just over 200 days’ time.”

“The FIFA World Cup is the biggest, most popular sporting event in the world. We are very pleased to be named a Regional Supporter for an event of this size and prestige,” said Ed Burke, the Chairman and founder of The Look Company. “We are uniquely positioned to help our customers, sponsors and other stakeholders to engage with us in the lead-up to and throughout this year’s tournament in Qatar.”

With production facilities in North America, Europe and the Middle East, The Look Company has more than 20 years of experience in transforming sporting and commercial environments into engaging and memorable brand destinations with innovative graphics and display solutions. It provides end-to-end design, hardware manufacturing, printing, kitting, project management and installation.

For more information on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, visit [FIFA.com](http://FIFA.com).

For more information, [contact us](https://thelookcompany.com/contact).

The Look Company Becomes Regional Supporter of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™

The Look Company announced today that it has achieved the next level of compliance in the G7 Master Qualification Program - G7® Master Facility Targeted.

G7® is an industry-leading set of specifications from Idealliance® for achieving visual similarity across all print processes. It is a global standard widely used to measure the color accuracy on any output device.

We are extremely proud of our team for achieving the next level G7 Master Facility Targeted Qualification. “Quality and consistency are vital to our customers,” says Taylor Price, Operations and Production Manager. “Our commitment to the G7 methodology is just one example of how we’re maximizing our performance for the benefit of our customers.”

The Master Facility Targeted Qualification is achieved when G7 Grayscale is attained, plus the solid ink measurements for primaries and secondaries (CMY and RGB) and substrate color are also within spec to one of the G7-based targeted color spaces.

“We applaud The Look Company for utilizing the G7 Master Program to assure consistency and quality in their proofing, brand color management and print processes,” commented Jordan Gorski, Senior Vice President, Idealliance. “G7 Master Qualification demonstrates a level of control and expertise that places The Look Company at the top of their field. We applaud their leadership, commitment and support of the G7 Master Qualification Program.”

## **About Idealliance**

Idealliance is dedicated to guiding media production best practices, specifications, and standards, worldwide. To learn more about G7 Master Qualification, please visit please [visit](https://idealliance.org/) [idealliance.org](http://idealliance.org)

## **About The Look Company**

The Look Company is an international visual engagement company, producing award winning printed graphics and display systems for retail environments and international sporting events. To learn more, please visit [thelookcompany.com](http://thelookcompany.com)

Featured

Retail Design Trends 2025: Defining the Customer Experience

The Look Company Becomes Regional Supporter of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™

The Look Company Achieves G7® Master Facility Targeted Qualification