Riley Rose

To stay ahead in this hyper-fast, cutthroat climate, retailers must constantly innovate and anticipate what’s next—even the biggest, most successful brands like Forever 21. With over 30 years of experience, locations around the globe and billions in revenue, this fast fashion icon partnered with FutureBrand to create new revenue streams by attracting Millennial beauty aficionados through the creation of a standalone brand: Riley Rose.

Linda and Esther Chang, daughters of Forever 21’s founders, conceived the new brand to offer digitally native millennial and Gen Z consumers an immersive and social media influenced retail experience. A need for instant access, new content and sharable experiences demands differentiation and speed. They needed a brand and in-store experience that would encourage younger consumers to come to the mall and purchase in person— while staying one step ahead of established powerhouse beauty competitors as well as upstart challenger brands.

We created a brand that stood for inclusiveness, playfulness and discovery. Then, we brought the new-to-world brand to life in-store by designing an immersive and connected experience. While beauty is the brand’s entry point, Riley Rose also offers a variety of unusual products to further delight consumers—everything from candy and stationery to small housewares and accessories—and share their experience with friends online.

Our retail experience design brims with unique items and curated moments, designed to be photographed, uploaded and shared online. This interactive strategy and journey plays a dual role: delighting in-store shoppers while enticing new ones to experience the brand for themselves.

Less than six months after project kickoff—Riley Rose opened its first brick and mortar retail store in LA’s Glendale Galleria mall. Eight additional locations, as well as an ecommerce site built to recreate the in-store experience, opened and were online in the months to follow. The brand’s launch has been a huge success with over 31,000 new Instagram followers in under two months.

“At Riley Rose, FutureBrand aims to bring the social media experience to bricks and mortar… beautifully crafted and sensitively arranged in typical FutureBrand fashion”.

Wallpaper

"Aimed at an explorative customer who wants to discover innovative products and experiences, FutureBrand have created a playground for beauty enthusiasts with the Riley Rose stores"

A1 Retail Magazine

“The zoning transforms the vast spaces into digestible areas for browsing, chilling and trialing. The stores are a complete walk-through experience starting right from the enticing and playful façade”

Retail Focus