This store’s in Vancouver and is a two-floor, 14,000 sq ft flagship for Joe Fresh, the clothing brand set up by local retail entrepreneur Joe Mimran in 2006 to sit alongside Canadian supermarket Loblaw’s food offer as a shop-in-shop.

Since that time it has grown to be not only one of the country’s largest clothing brands, but to have sufficient confidence to open this standalone store, its first, on the Pacific coast.

Simplicity is the hallmark of the Joe Fresh ranges and the stores work along the same lines with a blueprint provided by Burdifilkek, the Toronto-based design consultancy more usually associated with swish department stores. A neutral background and carpet is complemented by a simple mid-shop wooden table display system and the mannequins, dotted around the space, are also deliberately nondescript, allowing the stock to shine.

Where there are details, like the ghost tree graphics on the wall behind the stairs, these are subtle, as the intention is to ensure that nothing distracts from the product. The store will form the blueprint for 20 more large format standalone stores across Canada that are set to open in the larger cities over the next couple of years.

The real point about this store is that it is a clothing offer and environment that is intimately associated with a supermarket, a fact that all too frequently means the lowest-common store design denominator is the order of the day. It shows that mass (super)market clothing doesn’t have to mean average store interiors, much less stock that can appear a little tired.