Imagining a little gnome waiting to greet me on the other side of the door, I reach for the handle on the oversized entrance door. Then I stop. The magical window display takes my breath away. Anthropologie is an adventure before even entering the shop.
Upon entering the store, there is a flow. A serene, calming, slow-the-pace rhythm. Really, it's what we do in our homes by arranging furniture and grouping meaningful items to create cozy niches that bring intimacy to a space. Anthropologie masterfully accomplishes this on a much larger scale, often in an old architecturally unique building. Creatively quirky artistic expression is all around, often using common materials in uncommon applications. Take note of the details. Each carefully selected product, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant, is given equal care and attention. I immediately fell in love with the hand-drawn, natural-colored packaging of these handmade goat milk caramels from Big Picture Farm in Vermont.
It was the packaging, the black and white reindeer mugs stacked alongside, and the rustic wood and metal farmers table they sat upon that drew me in... and my youngest daughter, who is an Anthropologie visual manager. As a young child, along with her two sisters, she created elaborate stores in the unfinished basement of our home. They played for hours creating merchandise, displays, and signs for their individual storefronts. Now, as an adult, the marketing strategies and accompanying retail-specific language is more advanced, but... the environment remains the same. She still plays. In her store.