Toy Store Brummbär

The toy store Brummbär has been an institution in downtown Bochum and its retail landscape for 30 years. Shortly before the milestone anniversary, the founder and owner took the bold step of moving from the city’s outskirts into a fully renovated space in a prime location on the pedestrian zone. We were delighted to accompany this move, develop a new store design concept, and implement it across a total of 475 m² of sales area.

For the colorful and diverse product world spread over three floors, our design concept created a calm and relaxed atmosphere that shows character and presence through its surfaces and shapes, while still remaining discreetly in the background.
The material mix of white steel, whitewashed birch wood, and sage-colored accents, along with contrasting industrial-style elements, combines Scandinavian living-room flair with Ruhr-area charm and fits harmoniously into the 1950s building.

The store design system, which had to meet a high level of functionality and flexibility for the ideal presentation and storage of Brummbär’s constantly evolving product range, was visibly and dynamically embedded into the concept with intelligent functional design.

Naturally, after three decades of lively retail activity, Brummbär also possessed a large number of display furniture and furnishings that were to be reused wherever possible. As a result, the store also features subtly integrated standard furniture, whose use allowed us to keep the project budget in check without having to make design compromises, as well as striking original pieces.

The new design was not meant to be a revolution, but rather an evolution: our particular concern during planning and implementation was not to impose a ready-made concept on Brummbär after 30 years of organic growth, but to carefully integrate the store’s unique character and flair into the new concept.

Thus, the good old new Brummbär in Bochum has succeeded in remaining the same while showing a fresh new face!