INSENSETHE TREND REPORT

18

Fall Edition

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blurred lines + mixed grains / gettin’ giggy with it / retail, meet hospitality

spirited women / life after malls / tag, you’re it

CONTENTS

4

12

blurred lines + mixed grains

spirited women

6

16

gettin’ giggy with it

life after malls

8

18

retail, meet hospitality

tag, you’re it

Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger.

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2018 Fall Edition

TONY HSIEH

5

Moving Beyond the Salad Bowl

There’s a saying that goes: “Taste is king, convenience is queen, and the rest is marketing.” And yet, in today’s digital age, pretty packaging with a punchy message just doesn’t cut it. Eating well is tied to well-being now more than ever, and spending patterns across all generations reveal that consumers are increasingly intentional about the what, where, and how when it comes to food.

The growing mainstream popularity of veganism (and similarly selective nutritional lifestyles) is a natural result of elevated consumer conscientiousness. Whether rooted in a concern for personal health or environmental sustainability, this conscientiousness has been fed by influencers and made more accessible by new healthful restaurant chains. Availability of vegan fare — both in terms of menu share and venue — means it’s easier than ever for consumers to be good to themselves and the environment. This access has translated into more and more people dabbling in “healthyish” eating lifestyles: think less rigid, more flexible and well-intended.

Fast casual keeps it fresh, while foolproofing culinary creativity and meeting the cravings of the healthyish-

inclined. Honeygrow, the fast casual stir-fry phenomenon from Philadelphia that Streetsense has had a hand in expanding, focuses on sourcing ingredients intelligently to bring better tasting, “gorgeous food” to customers. Offering innovative variations on classic favorites (e.g., tempeh-lentil-chia-walnut burger patties), by CHLOE. has taken its plant-based dishes, juices, and desserts global in 2018 with two new locations in the UK.

Light, airy, and filled with plants, DC’s beloved tiny hummus shop Little Sesame recently reopened downtown with a distinctively fresh design by Edit Lab at Streetsense, inspired by Senior Design Director Brian Miller’s immersion trip to Israel with the restaurant’s culinary and leadership team. Spearheading the rise of whimsical, healthful destinations in DC with delicious variations on everyone’s favorite plant-based dip, Little Sesame has become a household name for health-happy foodies and Instagrammers alike.

Sad salad bowls beware: these delicious and nutritious eateries are healthyish game changers in the increasingly health-conscious consumer landscape.

B L U R R E D

L I N E S +

LIT TLE SESAME

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We all feel it — the gig economy is growing. According to a 2017 FreshBooks study reporting that overall self-employment is likely to triple to 42 million workers by 2020, it’s more like going gangbusters. Whether by choice or necessity, millennials are leading the freelance charge, predicted to make up 42 percent of all self-employed individuals in the United States in the same timeframe. All segments of the real estate sector are responding to this seismic shift — this is a niche they want to scratch.

Live-Work in Balance

Apartment renters are a key cohort of the liquid workforce. Recognizing this, apartment owners, developers, and designers are incorporating adaptable work-from-home spaces as they curate their common areas. Next-level “business centers,” these typically resident-only offerings — like the one at 2501 Porter, designed by Streetsense — are no longer defined by four walls, and include everything from mezzanine-level libraries to wired seating nooks, connected communal tables to bookable quiet rooms.

Jobby Lobbies

Like many other hospitality hotspots across the country, The Line Hotel in Adams Morgan is ushering in a new era of cross-pollination geared toward the creative class in the nation’s capital. The space is designed as a first-come, first-serve mixed-use hub during the day, wired for work and for leisurely lunches. The hotel welcomes the city’s growing gig-force with open arms, offering free 24-hour WiFi passes and all the free water.

Restaurants, Revisited

Not to be left behind, restaurants are expanding their palates and making an unconventional play for the alternative workforce. In New York and San Francisco, Spacious is leveraging restaurant spaces that would typically sit empty during the day to create a membership-modeled network of wired spaces catering to self-employed tastemakers.

Real Estate’s Response to the Growing Freelance Economy

Self-employment is likely to triple

to 42 million workers by 2020.

G E T T I N ’

G I G G Y

W I T H THE LINE HOTEL | NICOLE FRANZEN

SPACIOUS

2501 PORTER | RON BLUNT

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While millennials are knocked by some for their love of avocado toast and going out, the experience-centric millennial mindset is pervasive — influencing the perceptions, expectations, and purchasing behaviors of surrounding generations more than any other consumer group before. With three-quarters of all millennials preferring to spend their money on experiences than consumer goods, experiential travel offerings are both on the rise and on the hunt for the next big thing. Accordingly, a new sharing economy model of hospitality has emerged out of the try-before-you-buy approach to retail that better resonates with experience-hungry consumers.

Lifestyle brands around the world have been quick to catch onto the trend, going a step beyond Roman and Williams Guild’s shoppable, contemporary French eatery La Mercerie with new shoppable, brand-name accommodations. West Elm has opened a collection of boutique hotels in the US that are “focused on achieving consistency of the West Elm aesthetic” — meaning they’re decorated with a blend of local accents and West Elm products, and rates are priced to appeal to the retailer’s core customer base of young professionals. Similarly, property company Micro Luxe recruited architects at Studio Edwards to create a chic

city apartment in Melbourne available for bookings via Airbnb where all of the designer furnishings are also available for purchase.

By creating fully shoppable hospitality concepts, F&B brands are also prioritizing innovative yet comfortable experiences where consumers can more closely interact with products. For artisan distilleries and craft breweries with remote locations, offering guest accommodations makes destination visits easier and represents an important brand extension, à la Dogfish Head Brewery’s Delaware-located Dogfish Inn. For more urban brands, building a hotel serves to create an easily accessible, but still highly covetable city destination experience like London-based gin brand Portobello Road’s hotel called The Distillery.

While retail trends have reflected cautious consumer spending habits in recent years, spending on experiences has remained strong — especially for millennials. As traditional brick-and-mortar retail brands scramble to adjust to this changing environment, shoppable hospitality concepts may prove to be a more sustainable growth strategy for a wide-range of retailers looking to create deep, enduring connections with their end users.

Shoppable Hotel Stays Take Convenience to the Next Level

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R E T A I L ,

M E E T

H O S P I

T A L I T Y

WEST ELM

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2

3

Take Me OutRestaurant Design with Convenience Top of Mind

Convenient to-go windows have been around forever in some segments — think fast food chains and ice cream shops — but the reimagined walk-up window has now emerged as a popular design-forward restaurant accessory. From an integrated full-service restaurant extension to a simple add-on to a concept-within-a-concept, these windows reveal unique F&B experiences and prime Instagram opportunities while serving consumers on the go.

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Ellē - Washington, DC

One of Bon Appetit’s 50 Best New Restaurants in America this year, Ellē’s take-out window offers coffee and housemade pastries daily, plus the crowd favorite fried chicken on Tuesday nights only.

The Porter Hotel - Portland, OR

Located in the heart of downtown Portland and both branded and designed by Streetsense, The Porter Hotel features the Chiosco Pizza Window outside of its Terrane Italian Kitchen + Bar, where passersby can snag scratch-made, Romano-style pizza.

Baobing - Chicago, IL

This summer, Chef Stephanie Izard swapped out Duck Duck Goat’s street food to-go window for a concept with its own identity: Baobing now serves popular Taiwanese-inspired desserts and a handful of savory snacks.

1

2

3

ELLĒ | FARRAH SKEIKY

ADRIAN GAUT

THE PORTER HOTEL

By creating fully shoppable hospitality concepts, F&B brands are prioritizing innovative yet

comfortable experiences where consumers can more closely interact with products.

BAOBING | INSTAGRAM @SANDY.NOTO

L A M E R C E R I ENew York City

D O G F I S H I N NLewes, Delaware

T H E D I S T I L L E R YLondon, England

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The Future is Female-Founded and -Fortified

13

For many, gin evokes the classic James Bond order — a martini shaken, not stirred. Whiskey calls to mind Mad Men’s Don Draper sipping rye from a crystal tumbler. Rum is associated with being Ernest Hemingway’s life-blood, and so on. Beyond the classic fictional and historic character associations with imbibing spirits, the industry itself has been dominated by men for much of modern history as well. The real kicker? Spirits likely wouldn’t even exist without women.

According to Fred Minnick, author of Whiskey Women, The Untold Story of How Women Saved Bourbon, Scotch and Irish Whiskey, women have always been a part of whiskey’s history. From the creation of the alembic still in 3 AD by an Egyptian woman to medieval

women distilling tonics from everyday ingredients in apothecaries, the spirits production process stemmed from women’s genius. Women in London accounted for 30 percent of the brewers guild in the mid-1400s, and they were considered some of the most important distillery owners from the 1700s to 1950s.

Today, more and more women are making a mark on craft spirits, and the industry itself looks different than it did even just a decade ago. With women increasingly found at the head of the industry table, the “boys club” image is fading and women are reclaiming their domain.

S P I R I T E D

W O M E N

T E C H N I C A L .LY

D R I N K C O M PA N YE R I C M E D S K E R

LY N N E T T E M A R R E R O

P I A C A R U S O N E + R A C H E L G A R D N E R

Co-Founder of Speed Rack

Co-Founders of Republic Restoratives

A N G I E F E T H E R S TO NCo-Founder + CEO of Drink Company

Femme Power, Distilled

Longtime friends, Pia Carusone and Rachel Gardner left their political jobs to open Republic Restoratives (“Rr”), the nation’s first 100% female-owned distillery, in 2016. Centered on friendship and community, Rr strives to create experiences where consumers feel as connected to each other as they do to the Rr brand and products. At home in DC’s up-and-coming makers neighborhood Ivy City, Rr distills four spirits: Borough Bourbon, Chapman’s Apple Brandy, Civic Vodka, and Rodham Rye.

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Raising the Bar

A co-creator of the girls-only speed-bartending competition called Speed Rack, Lynnette Marrero currently helms the beverage program for Taste of the Nation NYC while serving as the Beverage Director at Brooklyn’s Llama Inn. Speed Rack has fostered the professional growth of many of the country’s top female mixologists, and this year’s Mid-Atlantic finals were held at The Wharf’s Union Stage where DC bartenders Jessi Weinstein (Hank’s Oyster Bar), Suzy Critchlow (Columbia Room), Megan Barnes (Espita Mezcaleria), and Kapri Robinson (Reliable Tavern) faced off against other regional competitors.

She’s Causing a Stir

Running point for Drink Company’s business operations as well as partnerships, corporate development, and strategy, Angie Fetherston co-owns several bars with cocktail expert Derek Brown including the James Beard Award-nominated and 2017 Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award-winning (and Edit Lab at Streetsense -designed) Columbia Room. Angie was inducted into the Tales of the Cocktail Dame Hall of Fame in 2016, which celebrates groundbreaking achievements by women in the global hospitality industry, and she was added to the list of “Women to Watch” in Washingtonian Magazine’s 2017 Most Powerful Women in Washington.

Go Au NaturelShifting Wine and Winemaker Paradigms

While wine production has traditionally been a male-dominated field, women are largely responsible for guiding the natural wine movement into the mainstream with more winemakers, bar owners, and estate founders emerging as trail blazers and game changers, from South Africa to Chile to Vermont. Primrose, DC’s French-inspired neighborhood wine bistro in Brookland designed by Edit Lab at Streetsense, offers a number of pours from standout female natural winemakers:

1 Chardonnay, Tricot, Auvergne, FR 2014

Led by Marie Tricot and her husband Vincent, Tricot is a small family winery in Auvergne — a rural region of central France that is home to lots of history as well as (believe it or not) volcanoes. Wines from Tricot are elegantly restrained and approachably rustic. Known for changing individuals’ minds about its signature varietal, their Chardonnay is light, airy, and salty with notes of lemon curd and almond.

2 Les Roc Des Angnes, Languedoc, FR

Nestled in the northern reaches of Languedoc-Roussillon in the shadow of the Pyrenees is Le Roc Des Anges, a vineyard led by winemaker Marjorie Gallet. Despite the challenging conditions of the area, Gallet masterfully produces mysteriously powerful and elegant natural wines with standout structure and finesse. Chock full of intensity and texture, the wines’ depth and gusto can partly be attributed to vineyards that are at least 40 years old.

3 Grenache, Matassa ‘Coume de L’Olla’ Cotes Catalanes, FR 2015

Known for refreshing wines made from lesser known varietals, Matassa is a winery in Languedoc-Roussillon founded by duo Nathalie Gauby and Tom Lubbe. They blend white and red grapes to make lighter, fresher wines that are easy to enjoy — particularly for those new to natural wine. Aged in raw concrete vats for 8 months, Coume de L’Olla is a blend of Grenache Noir, Grenache Gris and Macabeu that finishes with soft yet vibrantly juicy tones.

P R I M R O S E

Women ruled [the] industry in the past, and probably will in the future.

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”FRED MINNICK

America’s first modern mall opened in Minnesota in 1956 with large anchor stores, a European-style central court, an open-air café, and an aviary, setting the tone for what would become a game-changing development trend across the country. By the 1980s, malls had become the “new Main Streets of America,” as William Kowinski wrote in The Malling of America. Entire ecosystems existed inside malls, with everything from big box retailers to niche designers, fast food to upscale dining, movie theaters to theme parks, and beyond. For essentially the last 60 years, the mall was America’s central plaza — a gathering place for everyone, from teenagers on first dates to grandparents shopping for holiday gifts. Decades of this trend have left America distinctly over-retailed, with 23 square feet of retail per person in the United States versus 5 square feet per person in European nations. In most neighborhoods, this oversupply is represented by the type of retail typically found in department stores (namely clothing, accessories, furniture, home furnishings, and electronics). Research has shown these categories to be particularly susceptible to long-term shifts in consumer spending behaviors. With the e-commerce market comprising 12 percent of total retail sales and an increasingly competitive brick and mortar landscape, square footage devoted to traditional retail is becoming less and less stable. The redistribution of space has in fact already begun: plans are in place to demolish one billion of the country’s 13 billion square feet of retail by 2030. For the shopping centers that remain, developers and owners are re-thinking their strategies and exploring new activations that better meet consumer needs, real estate demands, and the shifting economy. One increasingly common tactic is to replace big boxes with non-retail tenants with the goal of creating new venues that bring people together and build community — staying true to the ethos of the old school American mall.

Examining the Malleability of Retail Space

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L I F E

A F T E R

M A L L S

Gather the Community

While repurposing large spaces designed for big box retailers isn’t an obvious fit for other retailers, the reuse of built space has proven ideal for community and professional uses. Non-retail tenants ranging from gyms, churches, and offices to police stations, fire stations, and schools have become primary anchors in approximately 12 percent of repurposed malls.

Make it Fun

Taking a cue from their former status as desirable destinations for both kids and adults, shopping centers are increasingly being readapted for entertainment purposes. Streetsense partnered with clients Mikel and David Blair to conceptualize, brand, and design a nature-inspired play place and interactive environment called Badlands, housed in a former Safeway and lauded by Washingtonian as the Best Kids’ Play Space in 2018.

The goal of creating new venues that bring

people together and build community [stays] true to the

ethos of the old school American mall.

BADL ANDS | MAXINE SCHNITZER PHOTOGRAPHY

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There’s little mystery as to why Instagram, with over one billion monthly active users, is one of the most popular social media networks worldwide. Afterall, the picture-perfect platform enables users to seamlessly edit and share snapshots of their lives with friends and family; inspires wanderlust with stunning photos of foreign destinations; and builds hype around drool-worthy food concepts (just search #foodporn for 174 million examples).

Now, the social media platform wants to take purchasing power to the next level, and blur the line between users and consumers. This strategic integration effectively streamlines inspired scrolling and effortless shopping on one platform, whether a user is coveting boots worn by a blogger at New York Fashion Week or searching for a new vintage-inspired rug. Enter shoppable tags. Similar to tagging friends and brands in posts, retailers now have the capability to place (or “tag”) direct links to their e-commerce sites on their photos. This means shoppers are able to purchase products directly from

their Instagram feeds, without ever having to leave the app. Instagram has rolled the new feature out to all business accounts that have an e-commerce site, allowing both local Etsy makers and big-name national brands to market their wares to Instagram’s billion users. In the era of insta-gratification, shoppable tags reflect the desire to have that quirky coffee mug or those noise-canceling headphones en route from social feeds to doorsteps in minutes. Until recently, directing users to search for a product in a web browser or to click through a link in an Instagram bio were the only ways for e-commerce stores to drive traffic from the platform to their websites. Now, products are literally one click away — a huge relief for Instagram users wary of sacrificing their scroll. With this new feed functionality, Instagram is turning the page to a new shoppable chapter in the platform’s story of innovation.

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Social Media Ups the E-Commerce Ante T A G

Y O U ’ R E

InSense is created by Streetsense, an experience-focused strategy and design collective that creates brands people love and places people love to be. Homebased in Washington DC, New York City, and San Francisco, we combine the perspective of over 170 research analysts, planners, architects, real estate strategists, designers, chefs, brand strategists, and content creators who understand the evolving experience economy and drive transformational results for clients, consumers, and communities across the globe.

DC | MD | NY | CA | streetsense.com

“Innovation is a combination of intelligence and the ability

to imagine that which does not yet exist.”

info@streetsense.com