The Pallet Store

Project Overview

Type : Experience Design – Shoestore for a Market Stall

Year : 2019

Features : 100% Up-cycled

This South Melbourne Market stall is a little fun project for Yodgee Footwear, designed by Melbourne Design Studios (MDS). The store is completely made from recycled shipping pallets, set in scene effectively with energy-efficient LED lighting. It has won multiple awards for sustainability , interior design and more.

Using pallets as the principle material in the design of this shoe stall allowed the architects to create a beautiful response to sustainability, cost and briefing challenges.

This project presented a great way of up-cycling a material which is, otherwise, often left as ‘worthless’ on the side of the road. It’s also a material that is already an inherent part of the shoe supply chain and, rather than using new and highly polished materials with embodied energy, the pallets allowed the designer to use a cradle-to-cradle approach, extending their lifespan while helping to reduce overall cost.

The pallets sit beautifully with the ‘temporary market’ feel in which the stall is placed. Sustainability is at the core of the design and, while the recycled timber may be rough and rowdy, it sets the shoes in scene beautifully, providing a harmonious background.
Importantly though, the stall is never about the pallets themselves. They don’t seek the limelight. The focus is on the products displayed. At first glance, you see walls of shoes; only on closer inspection you start to realise the homogenous background is made up from old shipping pallets, beautifully detailed into a retail stall.

Shopping for a pair of shoes has become an experience.

Photography by Marnie Hawson – Carbon Neutral Photography

Sustainability

All shelves – including Point of Sale counter, specials display and even the original seats – are made of the recycled material, substantially reducing embodied energy and creating an almost carbon-zero environment due to the CO2 storage provided with the up cycled timber. (Note due to COVID19 the original seats have temporarily been replaced with single opposing seats to provide social distancing as shown in the images. With the temporary addition of yellow floor lines and arrows on the floor, the store shows its robustness and flexibility, working perfectly even with the social distancing rules in place : A one-way-‘street’ through the stall allows for a continuous journey throughout. )

Apart from the pallets, the only other element used is the integrated warm-light LED lighting – rather than using traditional store lights with high wattages, the energy saving LEDs illuminate the displays directly and lift up the whole space via the shoes (You can see the difference between illuminated and non-illuminated shelf in the ‘pack-up’ shot where the pallet shelves on castors are being brought back to behind the roller shutter line at the end of the day) : It’s an amazing effect with an additional huge saving on operational cost and energy efficiency.

Project Brief

Yodgee Footwear had been operating the stall for a while, and it was in dire needs of refreshment. They asked us to inject some design consistency and a ‘theme’ to the store, so it would feel less cluttered.

The briefing was to create the new fitout on a limited budget; a new fitout that would clean up the existing space and turn it into a coherent background for the ‘exhibits’ : the shoes. It was to be suited to the market environment and provide cost-effective ‘walls of shoes’ that would ‘let the shoes shine’ rather than being glamorous in itself. The budget itself was a key challenge – particularly considering a traditional store fitout would usually cost at least 3x or more the spent dollars on this project.

Also, in line with the company ethos and the main brands they sell, sustainability was to be a key element in the design.

Design Response

Using a shipping pallet as our principle – actually single – material in the store design, allowed us to create a beautiful response to briefing, sustainability and cost challenges. It’s a great way to up-cycle a material that is otherwise often left as ‘worthless’ on the side of the road. Rather than using new and highly polished materials with embodied energy – that might find their way to the tip after only a few years of use (given the lifetime and fast pace of retail design) – the pallets allowed us to use a cradle-to-cradle approach, extending their lifespan by giving a new use to the old pallets, while at the same time helping to reduce overall cost.

Shoes are shipped on pallets to get to various stores in the world, so the pallet is also an integral part of the manufacturing process and supply chains. It is a product that is already there, made from natural materials , storing carbon, and so it can easily be up-cycled into this fitout, thereby massively reducing environmental impacts of the very fast turning world of shop fit outs.

Project innovation

The design thrives from the juxtaposition of the temporary market feel vs the quality and durability of the brands displayed. Sustainability is at the core of both and theferore becomes the key ingredient to this small but unexpected little jewel. While the material may be rough and rowdy, it sets the shoes in scene beautifully, and provides a harmonious background. Importantly though, the stall is never about the pallets themselves (like some of the ‘recycle DIY jobs’ you find on the internet) : Our pallets don’t seek the limelight , the focus is on the displayed product. At first glance, what you see are walls of shoes, and only on closer inspection you start to realise the homogenous background is made up from old shipping pallets, detailed into a beautiful environment.

So the stall wins on all fronts, including
– customer (shopper) satisfaction
– client (seller) satisfaction
– sustainable production , upcycling, carbon storage , waste reduction – which all relate closely to the shoe brands sold at the stall
– energy efficiency
– the temporary market set against the finished product that conveys the quality of the shoes
– flexibility (e.g. arrangement of shelves)
– cost
– market feel
– origin of pallets
– simplicity.

This shop may be small in size but it’s definitely large in successful delivery and application of design : A very simple approach , but creating a beautiful well rounded result.

Project Overview

Sustainability

Project Brief

Project innovation

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