Shook Kelley

We are honored our Mercado González project has been recognized as one of the Brand Experience winners for Store Design & Experiential Retail! Thank you Retail TouchPoints!

Yesterday, my staff and I received a message from Shop! Association!—the global trade association dedicated to enhancing retail environments and experiences—letting us know they awarded our firm the Gold Winner award for the new prototype grocery store we designed for Northgate Market's Mercado Gonzales in Costa Mesa, CA. To our surprise, we also learned we won a Silver Winner award for the new grocery store concept we designed for Gelson's Markets. While these awards don't come with a big check, the payoff of being recognized by our peers means everything to our hardworking team of designers and strategists who labored day and night to make these projects the best they could be. We're incredibly humbled, grateful, and honored to receive these awards, but we didn't do this work alone. The leadership teams at Gelson's Markets and Northgate Market played a major role in bringing these remarkable projects to life, as did the several other consultants, contractors, vendors, and suppliers who were critical to this crusade to break new ground in the retail industry and raise the bar for what a more social grocery store experience can be in the future. #supermarkets #grocerystores #foodretail #stores #storedesign #malls #shoppingcenters #topretailexpert FMI- The Food Industry Association National Retail Federation Specialty Food Association Urban Land Institute ICSC RETHINK Retail AIA California AIA North Carolina The American Institute of Architects (AIA) AIA Los Angeles University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Earlier this month, Tom Herman and I had the privilege of taking the legendary retail and food expert Kevin Coupe on a tour of Northgate Markets' new authentic Mexican Mercado Gonzalez concept in Costa Mesa. Spending time with Kevin was a big honor because I've followed him and his retail analyses throughout my career. In addition to his excellent books on retail and illuminating presentations at conferences, Kevin runs the Morning News Beat website, which has an impressive 27,000 subscribers who follow him faithfully because of his steady stream of useful insights. Kevin Coupe has an amazing knack for identifying the most innovative players in the retail industry and synthesizing their strategic initiatives into actionable game plans organizations can use to achieve higher performance.  Tom Herman and I couldn't be more excited that Kevin identified the Mercado Gonzalez as one of the hot new retail food concepts in the US. So, if you're into retail innovation and organizational change, be sure to check out his excellent guided video tour of Northgate Market's innovative concept at this link: https://lnkd.in/gek7CJXg And if you're interested in the process and approach our firm developed to create game-changing prototype stores, check out the video interview I did with Kevin Coupe below. #retail #retailers #grocerystores #supermarkets #foodretail #food #topretailexpert #mexicanfood #innovation #strategy #branding #innovation #cpgindustry #marketing #architecture FMI- The Food Industry Association National Grocers Association National Retail Federation Specialty Food Association RETHINK Retail AIA North Carolina AIA Los Angeles AIA California Urban Land Institute University of North Carolina at Charlotte #costamesa #organizationalchangemanagement

In the nine years hosting the Working on Purpose podcast, last night was the first time I featured an architect. This is the value of seeking perspective from completely different views and inquiries. I learned so much about what elevates and reduces humans from my guest, Kevin Ervin Kelley, AIA, author of Irreplaceable: How to Create Extraordinary Places that Bring People Together. He has been a life-long, keen observer of the human experience especially in relation to what he calls the "place-participation mystique," and he offered so many novel insights on creating environments where people thrive. As I have been fascinated with the work revolution away from 100 percent work in the workplace, and now threading in hybrid, I was quite keen on his concept of "the work vs payoff ratio of place." It speaks to, how can companies ensure their employees have a physical, social, and emotional experience that transcends the work required to be in that physical environment. So, building on previous conversations with podcast guests, the new work revolution invites us to elevate the way we "convene" at work, another interesting topic Kevin and I discussed. Catch this exchange. It is chock full of deep insight about what humans need to thrive and how place, convening, and "the bonfire effect" can make all the difference. #workplace #ambience #environment #architecture #spacedesign #thriving # You will enjoy and align with this episode Marissa Heyl, shalmir johnston, Charlene Li, Dr Grace Lordan, Elizabeth Faber https://lnkd.in/gfU_QkS5

How does innovation happen? The common myth is that a lone genius is taking a shower when suddenly, a brilliant idea hits them, and a new, never-before-done invention is born. I get how showers can help provide the diversion we need to free-think, but as a firm that has come up with thousands of game-changing ideas for over thirty years, we need a more reliable process than hanging out in the shower all day. One of the more dependable ways we come up with breakthrough ideas is by colliding seemingly disparate ideas together until a big bang happens. This atom-smashing approach requires studying the world "as is" and categorizing existing activities, environments, and cultures into typologies. We call the venues where these activities happen "standard forms and shapes," which may include commonly recognized places such as malls, department stores, grocery stores, diners, pubs, downtowns, etc. We then collide these places with other unrelated forms and shapes to imagine what might happen if they mated together and created an offspring. The mind-expanding publication Big Think has provided an excerpt from my new book, IRREPLACEABLE, that describes our innovation process and speaks specifically to the types of radical innovation that are going to be required to reimagine office buildings and revitalize our downtowns, business districts, and urban employment centers. #office #officebuildings #downtowns #cities #work #workplace #businessimprovementdistricts #highrisebuildings #developers #BIDs #retail #stores #economicdevelopment International Downtown Association Urban Land Institute The American Institute of Architects (AIA)AIA North Carolina AIA Charlotte AIA Los Angeles AIA California University of North Carolina at Charlotte BenBella Books Matt Holt Books #topretailexpert RETHINK Retail

I'm a huge podcast fan, and one of my favorites is The Motley Fool. I never dreamed I'd be a guest on their show, but this weekend, The Motley Fool did an episode on my new book, IRREPLACEABLE. I enjoyed talking with the remarkably talented editor and producer, Deidre Woollard, and greatly appreciate her time and interest in saving places in a digitally dominant age. If you're curious about the fate of places, take a listen to the podcast below: #business #businessbooks #books #realestate #realestatedevelopers #retail #retailers #stores #grocerystores #supermarkets #conveniencestores #petstores #malls #developers #development #topretailexpert #irreplaceable Urban Land Institute ICSC FMI- The Food Industry Association National Grocers Association National Retail Federation Specialty Food Association RETHINK Retail AIA North Carolina The American Institute of Architects (AIA) AIA Los Angeles AIA California University of North Carolina at Charlotte

This morning, I learned that the Financial Times selected my new book, IRREPLACEABLE, as one of the "What to Read This Month" selections for business books. The talented journalist, Leo Cremonezi, wrote a wonderful description of the book. Better yet, I discovered that my friend, author, and fellow endorser Kim Dabbs had her book YOU BELONG HERE selected for this month's recommendations. My good friend and writing coach, Michael Thompson, helped advise on both books, so big congrats to him, too. I'm incredibly grateful, honored, and inspired to see that people are interested in saving places for the future health of our society, communities, and local businesses. Read more at this link: https://lnkd.in/grbwCyhW #business #businessbooks #books #architecture #design #retail #retailers #malls #developers #brands #branding #consumerbehavior #grocerystores #supermarkets #stores FMI- The Food Industry AssociationNational Retail Federation Specialty Food Association AIA North Carolina AIA Los Angeles AIA Charlotte AIA California The American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Grocers Association University of North Carolina at Charlotte #topretailexpert RETHINK Retail

Congratulations to our Founding Partner and Principal, Kevin Ervin Kelley, AIA, on his debut book, “Irreplaceable.” Read about his 30+ years at Shook Kelley creating “extraordinary places that bring people together.” Available TODAY wherever books are sold!

Hope to see you there! https://lnkd.in/gnyxYyuV

Irreplaceable spaces, unforgettable connections. Kevin Kelley's 'Irreplaceable' unveils the art of crafting extraordinary spaces for meaningful connections. Pre-order your copy at Barnes & Noble from Jan 24-26 and elevate your leadership journey! 📚🎊 #LeadershipReads #IrreplaceableBook