Lord & Taylor isn’t a name that springs to mind when it comes to retail creativity. The mainly East Coast upscale department store chain has been around since 1826. As one would expect, a successful chain would have to reinvent itself more than once during its almost 200-year-old existence. L&T was America’s oldest department store when it was purchased by a private equity firm two years ago. And it whether it could reinvent itself one last time was the question on competitors’ and analysts’ minds.

Luckily, the new owners realized what great brand equity they had in the Lord & Taylor name and decided not to sell it off store location by store location. Also by luck, Jane Elfers, the CEO since 2000, had been fighting to reposition the store for years. This was her chance, and she pulled it off, according CNNMoney.com. She dropped clothing lines that weren’t selling well, and then added brighter, fresher labels to draw in new customers. She also closed 32 underperforming stores. The results impressed the equity firm so much that it agreed to invest a half-billion dollars in renovations. The results aren’t in yet, but the investors seem to be happy with sales and consumers are coming back to see how the store reinvented itself.

It takes guts to make the kind of moves Jane Elfers made. But sometimes you have to bet the house–quite literally–to change with the times. Take a look at the Lord & Taylor website to see how the chain presents itself today. You should always be thinking about how your retail store is perceived not just by your clients, but by the larger world out there. If you haven’t reinvented it for a few years, this is a good time to consider it. With all the Internet and merchandising possibilities available to you, this is a great time to start becoming a retail legend.

P.S. For stimulating ideas on how to either reinvent your store or just keep up with the times, read this roundtable discussion with some name-brand retail experts on The Hub.

There’s been a lot of media buzz lately about how Victoria’s Secret’s CEO wants to reshape (excuse the pun) the lingerie company’s image from too sexy to more feminine.

Sorry, but I just saw a Victoria’s Secret TV ad about its new Biofit bra line and nearly had to take a cold shower. Methinks the lady doth protest too much. If this type of advertising is going to appeal to the middle-American woman I think Victoria’s Secret wants to reach, they’ll have to ratchet the heat down a few dozen degrees.

This interesting read in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is about how the CEO claims to want to “get back to basics.” Why should they? Well, because profits and sales are down, most likely, and the firm thinks reinventing itself will help.

As the columnist points out, sexy lingerie is what made the firm take off in the first place. Interestingly, it was founded by a man who sought an “embarrassment-free” environment for other men to shop for lingerie. There’s no shortage of standup comedians who will tell you that shopping in a VS store is one of the most embarrassing things a guy can do.

If you’re sales are a little slow, I say don’t rush into an entirely new look or merchandise. Your customers expect a certain level of stability inside your store; it makes them feel comfortable, loyal and in a spending mood.

It will be interesting to see what the less-steamy Victoria’s Secret image will look like. I, for one, hope it keeps the cold showers a shopping hazard.

When your client is known to millions as a the TV show with attitude, you’d better design their new retail store with plenty of of the same.

That was one of the challenges TRIO Display was up against when Orange County Choppers asked our design team to come up with a layout for their 27,000-square-foot retail showroom in Stewart, New York. The motorcycle store and its colorful owners were the inspiration for the series “American Chopper” on cable network TLC.

When the show took off a few years ago, visitors began flocking to the store, looking for gifts, clothing and anything else with the O.C. Choppers imprint on it. To accommodate them, a 10,000-square-foot gift shop was built on site. The show’s popularity soon necessitated a larger store, which is being incorporated into a 100,000-square-foot company headquarters and machine shop nearby.

“We outgrew our original garage and gift shop after the TV show caught on, so we really needed to expand both,” said Joseph Puliafico, senior vice president of retail operations. “We knew we needed help in the store-design area, so we did some web research and found that TRIO was known for quick turnaround on tight budgets. Even though we’re on opposite coasts, we handled almost everything by phone and email, with TRIO’s staff only making a few visits to our site.”

“We knew we needed help in the store-design area, so we did some web research and found that TRIO was known for quick turnaround on tight budgets.”

“Our challenge was to carry the excitement and attitude of the show into the new retail space,” said Jeff Grant, president of TRIO Display. “We knew customers related to that, so we wanted the store to exude that lifestyle.”

Because the bikers on the show tend to be larger than life, the TRIO team wanted the store’s interior to be likewise. “It’s all about branding, so we specified oversize graphics and large video monitors,” Grant said. “The monitors not only show episodes of the TV show, but also information about the O.C. Chopper dealership on site. It all adds excitement to just being in the store, which puts already predisposed customers in even more of a buying mode.”

With such a huge space to fill, Grant said, another challenge was presenting the combination of bikes, clothing, accessories and core bike parts in a manner that drove traffic through the store and encouraged shopping. To facilitate that visual presentation and to keep the visual merchandising flexible, TRIO worked with Joe to specify fixtures, shelves, racks, showcases, mannequins and counters that could be moved in and around the two-story showroom as needed. They also outfitted an indoor stage and seating area for special events.

While this store was in process TRIO also helped design the 5,000-square-foot O.C. Choppers dealership in Palisades, New York and the layout for O.C. Choppers dealership roll out.

“It’s always gratifying to be associated with a popular, well-known client, especially one that’s achieved iconic status,” Grant said. “But with a good floor plan and the right fixtures, any retailer can start on the same path, even if it’s just to local popularity. You never know when opportunity will knock on your door, so you might as well be ready for it. O.C. Choppers certainly did, and they’re insuring their status now with a firm commitment to exciting retail design.”