Heritage and innovation in luxury brands' flagship stores

The aim of this paper is to explore the contribution of heritage and innovation in the design of flagship stores, and their implications for luxury brands.

The Literature Review begins with an assessment of the concept of luxury and the role of flagship stores. It subsequently examines theories of history and heritage in branding. architecture and the built environment in the context of brand identity. Buildings generally have been understood to symbolise good taste, power, and status and can embody heritage. Corporate identity has provided an additional focus for many commercial architectural projects in which innovative designs have been an important point of distinction for luxury brands. The use of buildings as a selling and branding device has led to the appearance of the expressive, or iconic landmark.

The paper draws on two continuing strands of research undertaken on retail flagship stores and on re-use of buildings using interviews, photographs and case studies. It argues their contribution to brand value both in terms of heritage and innovation.

The findings demonstrate that luxury brands can develop and extend their identity through such innovative, iconic buildings and also from a heritage perspective, differentiate themselves by the meaning, reputation and patterns of usage developed in the past. While meaning and brand values change over time, through the use of distinctive buildings, firms can invoke consumers’ repertoires of memories.