By Ginny Mumm
Introduction to Carnival display
Calgary Cycle is widely known in Alberta for its knowledgeable staff, excellent service, and curated selection of premier bicycle brands and accessories. In 2017, the owners were looking for a new, flagship location. As they have in the past, they called on 54blue, a Calgary-based full-service marketing, design, print, fabrication, and interactive media studio, to provide guidance in developing their new store.
54blue has worked extensively with many internationally known retailers, such as LensCrafters and Sport Chek, as well as a variety of action sports brands, including Red Bull, Oakley, The North Face, and Burton Snowboards. They keep all elements of their design, production, and installation in-house to control quality and timing as much as possible.
“We were fortunate Calgary Cycle brought us in right away as they were selecting their location,” says 54blue president, founder, CEO, and brand director Jamie Calon. “That way we could collaborate on how a particular design element might fit in a specific site.”
Designing for growth
In consultation with 54blue, Calgary Cycle selected a former grocery store—on the city’s busy Bow Trail—as its new location. With its wide footprint and all-glass storefront, the layout presented some obvious benefits—and challenges—to the design team.
The new space was also a major expansion for Calgary Cycle, moving this portion of their operations from a 186-m2 (2000-sf) facility to one that measures 1208 m2 (13,000 sf). Long known for its mountain bike expertise, in the new location, the store would also be bringing in a section for high-end road bikes, as well as a kids’ section that included BMX bikes. As part of its ongoing commitment to a great in-store experience, Calgary Cycle would also incorporate a station for custom-fitting bikes to individual clients, a cycling fitness studio where cyclists could bring their own bikes and trainers, and even a European-style coffee and wine bar, called The Hub.
“There’s a ton of work that needs to go into designing the layout of a store for each type of consumer,” says Calon. “Calgary has some of the largest bike shops in North America, and the level of game for retail bike shop design is extremely high.”
54blue got to work on the design for the new location, creating a full model of the store and all the proposed design elements in 3D. One of the features that needed to be incorporated was a structural pole that ran vertically through the centre of the front section of the store.
“We were taking everything down to the studs, but we needed to leave in structural elements like that pole,” says Calon. “Then we needed to design a way to conceal it.”
