More on Retail Innovation

The choices retailers make in challenging times can pave the way for future success. Cutting costs, centralizing decisions, retrenching are common reactions. But there are also golden opportunities to innovate and leapfrog the competition. When the dust finally clears, the retailers who have used this time wisely to grow will not only survive; they will convert change into opportunity.

Case in point: Themed merchandise based on a blockbuster museum exhibit is, of course, nothing new. However, during my summer travels I did see new and unusual items at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum gift shop in Madrid, which houses art from Italian and Dutch primitives, German Renaissance, Russian Constructivism, American paintings, Impressionism, German Expressionism and Pop Art.

There I saw fans designed especially for the museum and colorful, bold silk tunics with images based on iconic modern art paintings. There was a jewelry collection based on individual paintings of 20th century masters, which were displayed beside the jewelry. For example, the colors, shapes and styles of certain jewelry pieces were modeled after a broach in a Rubens portrait; rectangular pins from Schwitters; key chains with the colors and shapes from a work of Paul Klee, and so forth. Other greats represented were Derain, Lucas Cranach and DeKooning.

And, if you happen to be in the neighborhood, don’t miss some top shows going on now in Madrid including Sorolla at the Prado, Juan Munoz at the Reina Sofia, and the Thyssen-Bornemisza’s Matisse.

By: Karen Weiner Escalera