Context Design Group designed a 1,400 square foot retail space for the internet and voice service provider HiBeam. This design is the first in a series of retail stores the company will be creating. The site for this first store is located in a strip mall in Peoria, Illinois. The space that was leased was very deep and narrow, so it was key in the design to be able to interest the customers immediately from the front of the store.
The project worked from conceptual design to construction documents, and also included interior renderings. The development of a consistent design that would serve as branding and customer recognition for the other stores to come was very important. However, the design would still need to be able to be flexible enough for the different retail areas that will be leased in the future. We designed an iconic yellow stepped soffit piece over the main work area that was created directly from the wave bands in the company logo. This key piece will be worked into each store. The design of the store incorporates a lot of curves because of the logo and also because of how it helps to transform the typical retail store box. We wanted to create a sense of movement for the customers as they enter the store. Also required was the design and construction of several custom casework pieces that would be in all of the stores. These pieces also needed to be able to fit into all of the future stores, be easily reproducible, and be part of the company image.