Whether it’s designer boutiques with extravagantly crafted display windows, cuddly-cute puppy apparel stores, or Bass Pro Shops the size of small stadiums, shopping today really isn’t what it used to be. Retail stores now are aesthetic experiences, complete with bespoke structures and graphics that cater to our most outrageous fantasies and strongest desires. These stores use elaborate methods of display — made possible with new fabrication and modeling techniques — that heighten the materiality and design of the products for sale.

Needless to say, things can get out of hand, turning shopping for everyday products into a surreal event. (Has anyone ever been creeped out by the moving mannequins on pulley systems at the 32nd Street Uniqlo?) For today’s roundup we have ten retail stores that might make you question what was in your coffee this morning. Click through for the slideshow!

by James Bartolacci

posted in top ten

more articles by James Bartolacci