Greetings Retail Design Institute Southwest + Pacific Chapter members!
The Retail Design Institute Southwest + Pacific Chapter have done 3 events in the past 4 weeks! Phew....and in different States too. We've been busy this Fall and have had a blast seeing you and meeting with some amazing people and hearing their brand stories. We're planning on 1 more event to close out the year so be sure to scroll down below to save that date...registration will go out in the next couple of weeks.
The Retail Design Institute Southwest + Pacific Chapter was proud to organize the Shop! Association off-site tour at Ariat's new Las Vegas flagship. Ariat's warm hospitality, extensive assortment, and impeccable storytelling was a must-see while in town for Shop! Ideation and the International Retail Design Conference.
The inspiration tour gave participants an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at how the Western-wear brand translates its story into a compelling retail experience and featured a presentation from Ariat's retail design and construction team. Attendees got an insider's perspective of the brand's vision, design strategy and the creative thinking behind its Las Vegas flagship as well as having fun buying some new hats and boots!
Thanks to our incredible hosts Angela Jones and Denise Lai who went above and beyond with their presentation, back of house tour, delicious lunch, and generous swag bags.
Did you know the Southwest + Pacific Chapter includes Nevada, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Hawaii? It's true! If you know any innovative store experiences, retail companies or consultants in any of these areas please let us know! We'd love to spotlight them in this series... southwestpacific@retaildesigninstitute.org.
Event Recap...
Pasadena Retail Block Walk was loads of fun!
Thanks to all for coming!
Thanks to all who attended our retail block walk of Colorado Blvd in Old Pasadena in September. We had a great group of enthusiasts and the party hosted at Rivian after was a lot of fun, a real tailgate!
The list of stores we saw in a two block radius was diverse and impressive; Patagonia, Gorjana, AESOP, Warby Parker, Kohler and Rivian. Each location were graceful hosts that spent the time to educate the tour on the brand's history and store experience. It was a lot of fun!
Many thanks to our event sponsor's Niconat and Legend Freight Systems who helped make it all happen and were terrific friends to have joined the tour with us.
Student event recap....
Retail Design Institute Southwest + Pacific
at CSU Long Beach Voices of Design
One of Retail Design Institute's core pillars is student support and engagement. In September, the Southwest + Pacific Chapter participated California State University in Long Beach's Voices of Design series for a retail design industry panel. We had 4 panelists moderated by the President of the Retail Design Institute Southwest + Pacific Chapter.
The goal of the panel, part of CSU Long Beach's "Voices of Design" series, was to have the students hear from retail industry design experts about the importance of collaboration and working together to create and how to execute a successful design strategy. Our participating panelists were Kimberly Malone at Gensler, Chuck Godfrey at 3RF, JC Gamat at LOEWE and Yu D'arcy at RDC. Thank you to all for participating!
The students participated in a Q&A session and engaged with the panelists after the discussion concluded.
Debra Satterfield, Professor of the BA Design Program said...
"The event was terrific! The students were very engaged with all of the panelists and were so excited to talk to them after the event. I heard comments like, "this is the best VOD we have had!"
Save the Date!
Rodeo Drive Annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony
Thursday, November 19, 4:00-8:00
As we do each year, come celebrate the holiday season with the Southwest + Pacific Chapter at our annual holiday event in Beverly Hills. The store host has not been finalized yet so look out for the official registration email with location info in the next couple weeks. Arrival at the hosting store will be at 4:00, then heading out to Rodeo Drive at 6:00 for the holiday festivities and performances, capping off with a spectacular fireworks display at 8:00! We will be partnering with Set + Stage Creative for this event.
Rodeo Drive Annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony
Thursday, November 19, 4:00-8:00
Location in Beverly Hills TBD
This event is FREE
Register now!
Retail Design Institute's 55th International Design Awards-
Virtual Watch Party
Wednesday, October 21, 3:30-5:30 PT
The Retail Design Institute's 55th International Design Competition celebrates the branded environments our members and the broader industry completed in 2025: flagship stores, pop-ups, restaurants, large-format destinations, med-tail concepts, and hospitality spaces.
This competition exists to honor the caliber of work being produced across our field, and it offers meaningful recognition for the effort behind every project. Thank you to every team that shared its work with us this year.
Finalists will be honored at our Awards Celebration on October 21 at FIT in New York City. Outstanding Merit Awards will be presented that evening, and one finalist will receive the distinction of Retail Experience of the Year.
Can't make it to New York? You can still be part of the evening. Join us virtually for a night of celebration and innovation, and as a member, you can stream for free.
Register for the virtual watch party here to receive your streaming link.
A letter from the outgoing Southwest + Pacific Chapter President
I first joined the Retail Design Institute in July 2021 after a long dormancy of the then-called Southern California Chapter. Within a year, in May 2022, I became Chapter President after a vacancy in the role. We slowly built up a small but dedicated board and got to work in holding as many events as we could to start to create momentum, rebuilding our network through fervent collaboration.
Everything that we've accomplished in the past 5 years can be attributed to the enthusiastic and collective spirit of our community. People were so excited to meet again after a couple years of lockdown. Our board had its work cut out for itself, it was almost starting over from nothing, but we were eager to prove that we could do it together. We put in place an infrastructure, re-branded ourselves as the Southwest + Pacific Chapter, at least tripled our membership, built an ever-growing leadership team and as a result our events have been getting bigger and better with more support than ever from our retail community.
We now host on average 8 events a year (from Hawaii to Las Vegas), release a monthly newsletter, and collaborate with a local college or university for student engagement with our field. We've hosted over 30 events in the past 5 years!
Thanks to the Retail Design Institute, these have been the most rewarding years of my professional life and I humbly thank everyone for their support and kindness during my time as Chapter President.
As I now shift to the Chairman role I'm thrilled to support our new Chapter President and the rest of the new board member roles. Onwards!
Come join us!
Retail Design Institute Southwest + Pacific Chapter is a fun place to connect, network, learn and have a good time. Be part of a global non-profit networking organization dedicated to the advancement of retail and retail design. The Retail Design Institute is a collaborative community where ideas, knowledge and a passion for design are shared at local levels.
RDI members enjoy a variety of benefits such as priority access to events, networking and educational seminars, access to member-only areas of the website, job postings, emerging retail trend information and access to other Chapter events.
Come join us by clicking HERE!
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