Burberry, London

After what was an agonising journey in fricking economy via the most dreadful Spanish airline Iberia we are finally home.  We have never had such a hideous experience from an airline and what are quite frankly the laziest airline stewardesses in the sky and the most basic dated entertainment for a whole 11 hours of our lives which appeared from one screen for everyone.  Did we just step back in time to the 1970's?  Given the dated appearance, perhaps we were annoyed by the teasing notion that Pam Ann may appear? Sadly, no such luck, although after a few minutes of the same old, same old gags even she would have been tiring.  It is not clear why it appears to have joined with British Airways but brand damage is hard to shake off. What ever happened to customer service?  Do not fly with Iberia...you will receive even less than what you don't pay for and it really is not worth the agony.  If you google their feedback you will find it very difficult to find anything positive written about them and for very good and verifiable reasons.  Anyway, that said, we have popped out to have a look and see whats happening on home territory here in London if only just to stretch our legs and unfurl from economy agony.  Strangely nothing much has actually moved on.  We do love the Black and White scheme at Burberry right now however.

Nativo's, Antigua, Guatemala

In our final entry from Guatemala before we fly back to good old Grey and chilly Blighty, we thought we would share this gorgeous store with you which was part of our research.  Obviously we have tonnes of images but only time to share a few.  Nativo's is quite a small store, but the merchandise is quite delicious.  Just look at this stuff.  All handmade and just waiting for your Dollars.  Its a long old flight home so we may be able to whip up a few of these for ourselves on the way back.

Pedro G Cotino, Antigua, Guatemala

The light in this amazing country is quite incredible.  The heat is too.  Here at probably one of the best stores on 5th Avenue (we really do wish they had called it something else) is Pedro G Cotino (or at least that's what we think its called as no illuminated signage or Gold lettering adorns these stores of course).  Someone here understands retail, merchandising and presentation.  We do wish we could have made a purchase here but sadly, realistically what would we do with a hand carved canoe filled with rugs back in London?  Anyway, if you happen to be in this part of the world do go and drool over the merchandise here which is housed in the most gorgeous space and presented so beautifully and so seductively.

Nim Po't, Antigua, Guatemala

Just a fleeting visit to this incredible place we had to research for some gorgeous stuff to take back home.  Here at the amazing Emporium of goodies called Nim P'ot (ironically on 5th Avenue; we chuckled too and no Saks either) their stuff is stacked to the rafters.  And amazing stuff it is too.  Need a hand carved figure or a hand embroidered throw, then look no further.  This absolutely stunning place is the kind of store one would view in a glossy magazine although the place is far less staged and very earthy.....think Anthropologie. 

Panama Canal, Panama

No journey would be complete to Panama without a quick visit to view the Panama canal. Its a little like one of the 100 things in the world to see before you die, right?  Anyway, this is the last entry from Panama  before we fly to view the delights of Guatemala.  We've uploaded our inspiration from Panama onto Slideshare which you can access from either the top of this page or through their site.

Kenneth Cole, Panama

We really used to like the Kenneth Cole brand but we're not entirely sure what has happened to them?  We quite like the call to action vinyl's here on the fenestration which informs us to 'Take A Stand' (or take a seat) however.  What was particularly cool about this brand was that it actually once felt very luxurious and travelling from London and finding them in Chicago and New York was actually very exciting and then the brand planted itself onto the streets of London and we never shopped there again.  In December we came across the Reed Krakoff store in New York which incidentally we loved......hmmmmmm.....Kenneth Cole is looking rather lookie likey a very cheap version of the Reed Krakoff scheme, eh?.....bizarre coincidence?  Or, was the original Reed Krakoff scheme actually not so original in the first instance?  Who knows?

Veley, Panama

We been scouring this whole mall for innovative ideas and presentations and this particular store drew us in.  We think the brand is called 'Veley' but it could be 'Viley'?  Anyway, we've never seen this one before so it was great to view a local brand in a local place; move over globalisation.  Here we have essentially a shoe brand which is making things so interesting.  We loved the references to its heritage, the manufacturing process and the presentation itself certainly wasn't the most offensive, but ultimately it what was very interesting is to view a brand which at least is trying to make things a little less ordinary and we like that.

Hermes, Panama

We eventually found the luxury 'zone' here at the multiplex in Panama city and directly opposite the LV store and their spider installation which we featured here a while ago is Hermes.  With their little swimmers this scheme is great fun, particularly the miniatures diving into the crockery and the store itself is quite spectacular having a huge presence in this ultra modern mall.

Renuar, Panama

We've never seen this brand before and not entirely sure if this is simply a one-off site here at the Multi-plex mall in Panama city?  Anyway, they clearly make an effort and we really quite like these 'scrabble-like' letters spelling out key words.  These mannequins would have looked even better if they had been 'wired' rather than on the steel base plates of course, and why does everyone place them as if they have argued with each other?  Think magazine photo shoot guys or some kind of narrative?

Desigual, Panama

We like a great Desigual store as these guys always seem to make such an effort, don't you think?  Its a little bit of a shame that they haven't got their mannequin groupings correct here though as it would have had far more impact.  Cu'mon guys, mannequins in groups of 3 and 2 so they don't all look like they are in a police line up and some good use of plinths to get some height?

Bling Bar @Hard Rock, Panama

If you weren't at the post Congresso Internacional Visual Merchandising event in Panama this week, then where were you?  The Panamanian glitterati and fashionista were out in force and the party read like a who's who of the movers and shakers in this amazing city.  I did manage to capture just a few (well quite a few) hilariously funny moments with the very famous Guatemalan TV presenter Alejandra Guzman (she wont thank me for saying that of course...but I'm just teasing....although she is..!) who so graciously agreed to be my human 'mannequin' on stage earlier in the day and a grateful thanks to my US and Mexican colleagues and friends Scott, Linda, Bart and Humberto who made the event and whole experience so remarkable.  Enormous thanks particularly of course to Pedro and Ana Brolo for a truly visionary world class visual merchandising event; Latin America is rocking and certainly a place to watch for some very interesting and very vibrant pockets of inspiration.  We will be showing you what we find here over the coming week.

Printemps, Paris

Printemps are certainly rocking the colour right now and their very simple homeware looks very similar to the kind of installation we often see at Selfridges back in London.  OK well Selfridges would do it all even better but you know what we mean.  We've been very pleasantly surprised with the level of work here in Paris and there have been some truly excellently produced visual merchandising schemes which we have never seen before in this city.  We'll be back soon we're sure.  Next stop is Guatemala and on to Panama.  We have no idea what to expect from that part of the world but hopefully we will have some incredible schemes to share with you.

Lancel, Paris

WTF is going on here at Lancel?  We don't recognise this brand as a global player so well done in a way for making an effort we guess?  But, jeez, VM gawd 'elp us.  What are they doing?  We had to do a double take when we came across this as we couldn't quite work out what they were doing but it appears to be several ceiling roses with roses in between and handbags on shelves, on a ceiling.     Truly bizarre stuff really.