2022 Trends: Part 3 of 3

We believe a re-envisioning of retail as the third space for the working-from-home era.

Embracing the paradigm shift to working from home/hybrid working, 2022 will also recalibrate the intersections between retail, co-working, leisure and hospitality – spurring a new era for retail’s third spaces that will revalidate physical brand environments.

Early advocates are already conceiving spaces to capture the groundswell of global ‘roamers’ created by freshly flexible working policies (in America, 2020 saw a 50% surge in digital nomads). These include Norwegian writing tablet start-up ReMarkable’s members-club-meets-library pop-up in Oslo, and the showstopping Zhongshuge bookstore in China, which houses a cinema, café, reading hall and events space.

In-store content creation studios will similarly sate the professional appetites of younger consumers seeking social-media-era vocational support.

This megatrend will also include the rise of events-first retailing – exemplified by Selfridges’ new in-store gaming destination, and the Biophilia-Based Brand Engagement boom, where work and leisure meet retail therapy amid the increasingly vital and calming influence of nature.