Bründl Kaprun Flagship Store | blocher partners

Austrian corporation Bründl is doubtless one of the big names among the sports equipment vendors. Since 2008, the pioneer in mountain sports goods has been working with blocher partners. Things kicked off with the visionary plans for the company’s flagship store in Kaprun, and since then a further 30 venues have followed. And now there’s a new built statement for innovation: The extension to the flagship by more than 1,100 square metres of sales and hospitality space, all of it firmly under the sign of sustainability.

In the interior, the effect of the fair-faced concrete is underscored by open ceilings and light grey rubber flooring. The interior design can be read as a transformation of the core of the brand and in this way the store functions as three-dimensional brand communications. The future and past traditions are manifest and visible, as are emotions – thanks to the storytelling innate in the customer journey.

The free spaces are conceived as the valley, and the core access shaft is therefore shaped like a glacier crevasse. Caves such as are to be found across all four sales levels, function as spaces-in-spaces and provide zones for point of sales or pop-ups. A slide links the third with the second level and turns the store into an adventure playground for kids – and not just here, either.

Metallic surfaces and colour accents in steel blue emulate the corporate identity, orange-coloured elements contrast with the extensive use of wood. Media walls help staging the goods and the Bründl experience as they do the store graphics and the guidance system, which was developed and designed by typenraum, blocher partners’ inhouse communications agency.

While the four levels overground are reserved for shoes and accessories as well as womenswear, menswear, and the children’s world, the basement is actually the heart of the store: the Skis Dept. which has a lab feel to it. In a glass workshop, Bründl’s core competence, its professional ski service, is more than tangible for customers.

The idea of sustainability continues in the hospitality zone, too; it offers visitors healthy, sporting cuisine offered by regional suppliers. In the guise of a modern ski chalet, the blue tiles in the bar and kitchen area are reminiscent of a tiled oven, combining modern and traditional designs to create an inviting ambiance.

The interplay of architecture, interior design, and graphic design gives rise to a brand experience that reflects Bründl’s passion for nature, the mountains, and all the facets of Alpine sports – telling of entrepreneurial courage and likewise of the wish to constantly surprise customers, offer the staff a very special place of work and encounter everyone with a sense of caring. This of course also includes nature and is specially highlighted in the form of the “b green” label developed by typenraum. The slogan mentioned at the outset can truly be understood literally: To move is to encounter.