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Looking for the most recent list of top design firms? Check out the 2013 Retail Design Firm Resource Guide.

This must be life in the fast lane:

In just its second year of existence, the CloverLeaf Group (Columbus, Ohio) has jumped to the top spot on this year's Top 50 Retail Design Firm Survey.

CloverLeaf does business through three entities: Big Red Rooster, a retail design firm that ceo Martin Beck and president Aaron Spiess started from scratch; and two existing businesses – IDL Merchandising Solutions (a provider of design and merchandising solutions) and ImageSure (an operator of visual assets management systems for retailers) – that merged in 2004. Together, those units reported retail design fees totaling $80 million for 2005. That's up from the $4 million in fees that CloverLeaf's Big Red Rooster unit reported as a solo entity in 2004.

“The $80 million in sales represents all of the work of the 600 professionals at our combined units that is related to our process of developing retail spaces, which includes design/planning, ongoing project management, engineering and, sometimes, construction,” says Beck, the former chairman, president and ceo of Fitch:Worldwide. “The dollar figure we reported reflects the full-service nature of the design services we provide to our clients.”

An example of that breadth of services is the work CloverLeaf is doing for BP, the petroleum retailer that operates more than 14,000 stores in the U.S. “CloverLeaf not only does the visual merchandising and promotional signage packages for those stores on an ongoing basis,” says Spiess, “we also manage their timely implementation nationwide.”

Upbeat Outlook

VM+SD always uses the occasion of this annual survey to take the pulse of the industry – an outlook for the coming year and feedback on some of the major challenges and opportunities facing their businesses.

Retail designers around the world are unanimous that 2006 will be even better than 2005. Jeff Kindleysides, principal and creative director of Checkland Kindleysides (Leicester, U.K.), says, “There is increased renovation and expansion activity across the whole retail sector, from home goods to fashion, as retailers seek innovative spaces that will differentiate them from their competitors and create a closer relationship with their customers.”

If 2006 is the next big year, what is the “next big thing” that will change the retail industry and the retail design business? Many talked about new retail formats. And there was the eternal cry for concepts that focus, laser-like, on target audiences.

• Narrow niches: “I look to see stores and retail centers designed for smaller market and demographic niches,” says Paula Stafford, principal at Callison (Seattle). And Craig Hale, vp and principal at Carter & Burgess (Fort Worth, Texas), predicts animal lovers will be courted by “pet hotels – a new retail concept that will combine pet daycare and boarding with a traditional retail store.”

• Against the Wal-Mart: While the Wal-Mart juggernaut has showed some signs of slowing during the last year or so, the retail giant from Bentonville continues to cast a long shadow over the industry. “The 'next big thing' will be the anti-Wal-Mart – retail alternatives to fill the void for people who dislike shopping at Wal-Mart,” predicts Lynn Gonsior, executive vp, Design Forum (Dayton, Ohio).

• New and more technology: Several retail designers predicted 2006 will bring big leaps in the technology they use to work with their clients. “I look for the emergence of web-based repositories for retail clients to access drawings and documents pertaining to their expansion and remodeling projects,” says Angie Wells, practice leader, GPD Group (Akron, Ohio). “This will reduce costs, save time and streamline the entire design process.”

Plasma Transfusion?

So, if new technology can perform magic, is this the year in-store digital media technology (dynamic messaging, plasma screens, in-store broadcasting systems, etc.) takes over in retail spaces? The answer, survey respondents said by nearly a 3-to-1 margin, is “no.”

Diego Garay, president of Point Design (New York), believes “plasma TVs are the next thing that people will forget about.” Others told us that while in-store digital media systems have great potential, they still face many obstacles. “The complexity of providing high-quality, brand-right, ever-changing content is still cost-prohibitive for most retailers,” says Steve Turner, director, business development, at WD Partners (Columbus, Ohio).

Of course, some still believe in-store digital media is an innovation whose time has arrived. “We see it being incorporated into virtually every project we're involved with,” says Steven Tafuro, principal and vp at TranSystems Corp. (South Norwalk, Conn.) “It is an ideal way to get additional information to the customer at the point of purchase.”

Helping retailers decide what role emerging technologies should play in stores is just one of several major challenges design firms are facing. Other pressing concerns identified by respondents include budget pressures and the need to come up with innovative design approaches.

VM+SD conducts its Retail Design Firm Survey annually to provide an overall picture of the retail design industry and to highlight the achievements of the individual firms. The respondents were ranked according to their reported design fees for retail projects in 2005. The following rankings provide comprehensive contact information for the 56 firms (including ties) that made the Top 50 list.

An alphabetical list of the Top 50 and a roster of all companies that responded to our survey appears below. Design firms that were not contacted but wish to participate in next year's Top 50 survey should e-mail Matthew Hall, managing editor of VM+SD, at matthew.hall@stmediagroup.com.

Top 50 Retail Design Firms

1. CloverLeaf Group
2. Callison
3. WD Partners
4. Gensler
5. MulvannyG2 Architecture
6. Design Forum
7. Carter & Burgess
8. Pavlik Design Team
9. Little Diversified Architectural Consulting
10. MCG Architecture
11. FRCH Design Worldwide
12. MBH
13. Tricarico Architecture and Design PC
14. Cubellis Marco Retail
15. Checkland Kindleysides
16. TPG Architecture LLP
17. McCall Design Group
18. C.M. Architecture PA
19. ACS-Architectural Construction Services
20. Herschman Architects Inc.
21. Cooper Carry Inc.
22. TranSystems Corp.
23. (tie) Gould Evans
23. (tie) JGA Inc.
24. Bergmeyer Associates Inc.
25. RYA Design Consultancy
26. Watt Intl. Inc.
27. Shremshock Architects Inc.
28. Design Continuum
29. (tie) api(+)
29. (tie) spg3
30. Grid2 Intl.
31. Architectural Design Guild
32. Perennial Inc.
33. Chute Gerdeman
34. (tie) GPD Group
34. (tie) Shikatani Lacroix Brandesign
35. Feinknopf Macioce Schappa Architects
36. (tie) Jencen Architecture
36. (tie) Kiku Obata & Co.
37. Charles Sparks + Co.
38. Point Design
39. Aedifica
40. Palladeo
41. Winntech
42. Cowan + Associates Inc.
43. Fitzpatrick Intl. Group
44. Louis & Partners Design
45. (tie) Echeverria Design Group Inc.
45. (tie) King Retail Solutions
46. Graham Downes Architecture Inc.
47. (tie) Coleman Brandworx
47. (tie) Twenty Four·Seven Inc.
48. Mancini·Duffy
49. J.T. Nakaoka Associates Architects
50. CORE architecture + design

Below is an alphabetized list of all companies that responded to VM+SD's Retail Design Firm Survey for 2006.

Company – (Headquarters)

• 555 Design (Chicago)
• ACS-Architectural Construction Services (Atlanta)
• Aedifica Inc. (Montreal)
• api+ (Tampa, Fla.)
• Architectural Design Guild (St. Louis)
• Atlantis (Edwards, Colo.)
• Avila Design (Oakland, Calif.)
• Bachman ID (Dublin, Ohio)
• Bergmeyer Associates Inc. (Boston)
• Callison (Seattle)
• Carter & Burgess (Fort Worth, Texas)
• Charles Sparks + Co. (Westchester, Ill.)
• Checkland Kindleysides (Leicester, U.K.)
• Chute Gerdeman (Columbus, Ohio)
• CloverLeaf Group (Columbus, Ohio)
• C.M. Architecture PA (Minneapolis)
• Coleman Brandworx (New York)
• Cooper Carry Inc. (Atlanta)
• CORE architecture + design (Washington, D.C.)
• Cowan + Associates (Worthington, Ohio)
• Cubellis Marco Retail (Northville, Mich.)
• Design Continuum (West Newton, Mass.)
• Design Forum (Dayton, Ohio)
• Echeverria Design Group Inc. (Coral Gables, Fla.)
• Feinknopf Macioce Schappa Architects (Columbus, Ohio)
• Fitzpatrick Intl. Group (Southampton, N.Y.)
• FRCH Design Worldwide (Cincinnati)
• Gensler (San Francisco)
• Gould Evans (Kansas City, Mo.)
• GPD Group (Arkon, Ohio)
• Graham Downes Architecture Inc. (San Diego)
• Grid2 Intl. (New York)
• Herschman Architects Inc. (Cleveland)
• Ideation Studio Inc. (Chicago)
• Jencen Architecture (Cleveland)
• JGA Inc. (Southfield, Mich.)
• J.T. Nakaoka Associates Architects (Los Angeles)
• Kiku Obata + Co. (St. Louis)
• King Retail Solutions (Eugene, Ore.)
• Little Diversified Architectural Consulting (Charlotte, N.C.)
• Louis + Partners Design (Akron, Ohio)
• Lusharkin Architects and Planners (Columbus, Ohio)
• Mancini·Duffy (New York)
• MBA Architects Inc. (Holmen, Wis.)
• MBH (Alameda, Calif.)
• McCall Design Group (San Francisco)
• MCG Architecture (Pasadena, Calif.)
• McKinney Partnership Architects, The (Norman, Okla.)
• Michael Neumann Architecture LLC (New York)
• Monastero & Associates Inc. (Cambridge, Mass.)
• MulvannyG2 Architecture (Bellevue, Wash.)
• Palladeo (Glendale, Calif.)
• Pavlik Design Team (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
• Perennial Inc. (Toronto)
• Planning/Design Associates (Charlotte, N.C.)
• Point Design (New York)
• rkd retail/iQ (Bangkok)
• Rowland Design (Indianapolis)
• RYA Design Consultancy (Dallas)
• Shikatani Lacroix Brandesign (Toronto)
• Shremshock Architects Inc. (Westerville, Ohio)
• Smart Associates Ltd. (Minneapolis)
• spg3 (Philadelphia)
• Stein LLC (Minneapolis)
• TPG Architecture (New York)
• TranSystems Corp. (South Norwalk, Conn.)
• Triad Architects (Columbus, Ohio)
• Tricarico Architecture Design PC (Wayne, N.J.)
• Twenty Four·Seven (Portland, Ore.)
• Watt Intl. (Toronto)
• WD Partners (Columbus, Ohio)
• Winntech (Kansas City, Mo.)

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