Abstract
This paper examines experiential retail strategies in high-end fashion through two global flagships stores in East Asia: Lemaire Ebisu in Tokyo and Loewe Gaozhai Chengdu (Taikoo Li). Prior scholarship traced spatial storytelling in high-end flagships to connect brand identity with local environments, frameworks that render the narratology of ‘in-between’ as a design tool bridging localisation with customer experience remain underdeveloped. This study positions flagships as ‘in-between’ interfaces linking space, local culture, and brand to generate place-specific experiences. Through an exploratory qualitative approach comprising document analysis, store observation, and spatial-typological analysis, this research develops the ‘in-between’ as a conceptual framework that operationalises threshold conditions as narrative and design dimensions. The findings contribute by linking place-based spatial grammar to customer experience, enabling localised and shareable brand encounters.
Keywords
In-between; Brand localisation; Experiential retailing; Fashion flagship
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1097
Citation
Cao, Z. (2026) Measuring the ‘in-between’: From spatial grammar to brand re-contextualisation and localisation. A case study approach in east Asian fashion flagships, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1097
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Measuring the ‘in-between’: From spatial grammar to brand re-contextualisation and localisation. A case study approach in east Asian fashion flagships
This paper examines experiential retail strategies in high-end fashion through two global flagships stores in East Asia: Lemaire Ebisu in Tokyo and Loewe Gaozhai Chengdu (Taikoo Li). Prior scholarship traced spatial storytelling in high-end flagships to connect brand identity with local environments, frameworks that render the narratology of ‘in-between’ as a design tool bridging localisation with customer experience remain underdeveloped. This study positions flagships as ‘in-between’ interfaces linking space, local culture, and brand to generate place-specific experiences. Through an exploratory qualitative approach comprising document analysis, store observation, and spatial-typological analysis, this research develops the ‘in-between’ as a conceptual framework that operationalises threshold conditions as narrative and design dimensions. The findings contribute by linking place-based spatial grammar to customer experience, enabling localised and shareable brand encounters.