The Boutique Grocer is actively contributing towards building vibrant and healthy neighbourhoods in the UK, giving access to superior-quality products and service at an affordable and community-focused store. They are committed to serving as a local community hub where people can discover, connect and shop. We partner with the purpose-led brand to build an identity that celebrates a new standard of customer service and redefines the experience of grocery shopping.

The logo design is a modern update on the classic structures seen across luxury retail awnings and farmers’ market labels traditionally. It is clean, versatile and contemporary but retains an ageless quality in its simplicity and application.

Each letterform has softly rounded outer corners, presenting a strong but friendly emblem. The distinctive spacing and arrangement of the letters gives an attractive commonality to all variations and applications, allowing The Boutique Grocer to build equity and still flex creatively.

A limited colour palette, soft contemporary typeface and set of illustrative icons and artworks all come together to create a dynamic visual language that expresses the grocer's old school values and the brand's key USPs.

The system is designed to communicate a more lifestyle-driven and contemporary positioning, capturing the community-centric ethos. It is defined by the distinctive use of typesetting, a sophisitcated minimalism, community and store-focused photography, contemporary typefaces and hand drawn single-line illustrations.

Exterior branding can have a big impact on a business by helping to create a good first impression, communicate the brand's core values, and pull in potential customers. We applied the same graphic minimalism across a-boards, window decals, swing signs and awnings. These graphic elements are saturated with the strong brand blue and designed to work with the architectural features of the building, creates immediate impact in the surrounding development.

We explored how best to extend the customer experience to a terrace seating area at the front of the store. The design concept prioritises weather-resistent comfort, seating versatility, space efficiency and eye-catching brand messaging. The concept is defined by the Instagrammable 'Hello, Neighbour!' tagline and natural materials, creating a stand-out moment in the Square and immediately communicating the brand's core values.

Every touch-point has been carefully considered, the interiors inspiring elements of the brand, and brand graphics subtly embedded in the interiors. We advised on materials that best communicated the brand, built an inviting environment, and were practical for a commercial, high-traffic unit. We specified rich brand-blue tiles, antique gold finishes, natural wood units, exposed brick walls, and 20s-inspired tiled floors. All helping to create a space worthy of the modern day grocer with old school values.

For in-venue graphics, we developed designs for a series of framed lightboxes, menu boards, wayfinding signs and more. These add lots of character and extra personality to the brand environment, as well as being useful and functional.

The colourful, sophisticated decorative palette plays well against the exposed ceiling and galvanised extraction pipework, adding a much softer feel to the industrial unit. The identity is then applied across textured print assets, staff uniforms and shelving to create a powerful story across the space.