ASG Partners with Chute Gerdeman to Create Innovative Retail Store Designs.

Building Retail Experiences That Carry Your Brand Vision Forward

Talk to us about your design program

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Three Step Transformation

  1. Understand your goals and challenges
  2. Develop a scope of work + process for partnership
  3. Get started expanding or improving your store fleet
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EXPERIENCE DESIGN

Think. Create. Scale.

Most retail brands do not have a design quality problem. They have a design survival problem. The prototype looks right. The first five locations are built to standard. By the time the portfolio reaches 30 or 50 locations, the original design intent has been eroded by site-specific constraints, construction compromises, value engineering, and landlord restrictions that no one anticipated when the prototype was approved.

Chute Gerdeman has spent 35 years solving this problem. Recent recognition includes a 2025 Shop! Design Award for the Hicks Nurseries flagship renovation and a Shop! Global Design Award for the Krispy Kreme Times Square Flagship. But the reason those designs succeed at scale is not creative talent alone. It is that Chute Gerdeman operates within ASG’s cross-disciplinary model, where design concepts are developed with direct visibility into construction costs, lease constraints, and portfolio strategy from the first concept sketch.

35 years of design accolades.
Multiple “Store of the Year” winning designs.
Renowned international design success.


ASG + Chute Gerdeman’s Approach

1. Brand Discovery (Weeks 1-3):

The engagement begins with a structured audit of brand positioning, competitive context, customer expectations, and existing store performance data. Deliverables: brand platform document, customer insight summary, and design principles brief that will govern all subsequent creative decisions.

2. Concept Design (Weeks 4-8):

Chute Gerdeman develops two to three concept directions based on the brand platform. Each concept is evaluated against construction feasibility and cost parameters provided by ASG’s Store Planning and Construction team. Deliverables: concept presentation with renderings, material palettes, and preliminary cost implications for each direction.

3. Spatial Planning (Weeks 6-10):

The selected concept is translated into detailed floor plans, fixture layouts, and customer flow diagrams. Plans account for merchandising density, ADA compliance, and operational requirements including back-of-house adjacencies. Deliverables: dimensioned floor plans, fixture specifications, and customer journey maps.

4. Visual Merchandising Guidelines (Weeks 8-12):

Standards documentation that ensures consistent brand expression across locations. Covers fixture styling, product presentation hierarchy, seasonal rotation protocols, and signage placement. Deliverables: VM standards manual with photographic references and implementation guides.

Key Elements and Deliverables

Our Experience Design work results in clear, actionable deliverables that bring strategy into the physical space and support confident execution:

  • Store layout plans that define how customers move through the space and support intuitive shopping journeys
  • 3D renderings that visualize the concept and bring the experience to life before build
  • Fixture specifications that balance brand expression, function, and scalability
  • Signage and branding elements that reinforce identity and guide customers throughout the store
  • Visual merchandising guidelines that ensure consistency across locations while allowing flexibility
  • Shopper flow recommendations that optimize movement, engagement, and conversion

Together, these elements create a cohesive, build-ready experience.

Client Benefits & Outcomes

Experience Design delivers measurable outcomes that elevate both brand and performance. Thoughtful layouts and customer flow quietly shape behavior, improving sales per square foot, reducing shrinkage, and making better use of every inch of space. Guided by data and insight, brands create cohesive experiences across locations while continuing to refine and evolve the store experience over time.

INTERCONNECTED RETAIL LIFECYCLE

Design & Construction: Real Time Cost Intelligence

Design concepts developed without visibility into construction costs produce change orders. Material specifications that look right on the rendering become problems when procurement discovers the specified material has doubled in price or has a 16-week lead time. Chute Gerdeman’s integration with ASG’s Store Planning and Construction team eliminates this gap. When SPC procurement identifies a cost increase or a better-performing alternative, that information flows back into the design process before the specification is locked.

The connection works in both directions. When a design decision requires infrastructure investment, such as reinforced flooring for a heavy fixture installation or upgraded HVAC for a food service component, that cost is shared with the real estate team so future site selection criteria account for it. The design does not exist in isolation from the decisions that determine whether it can be built, at what cost, and in which markets.

Design that connects people to the world’s greatest brands.

Learn More About Chute Gerdeman

When Design Intent Survives Execution

The rest of a real design program is not the prototype. It is the 50th location. Design intent that erodes under construction pressure, landlord restrictions, material substitutions, and market-specific constraints produces a portfolio where every store feels like a compromise. Chute Gerdeman’s integration with ASG’s construction, lease, and portfolio disciplines exists to prevent that erosion. The design is tested against operational realities before the concept is approved, not after the change orders arrive.

Contact ASG and Chute Gerdeman to discuss how your design program can be structured to maintain brand integrity across your portfolio.

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