Sid Lee Architecture | SAQ Signature

in Architecture by editor — 3:04 pm | May 16, 20120 comments

SAQ Signature is the high-end banner of the Société des alcools du Québec. With two locations, one in Montreal and the other in Quebec City, it offers an environment for marketing and allowing for the discovery of exclusive, rare and prestigious wines. Nonetheless, the museum-like store design was getting outdated and hindering new possibilities. Sid Lee was asked to redesign the SAQ Signature concept in order to create a richer and deeper and more modern retail experience.

In the initial stages of conception, our creative team honed in on the idea of ‘walking up to the cellar.’ It resulted in a retail experience that reenacts, with a touch of modernism, the wine cellar of the traditional French chateaux, including the same type of dim lighting, humidity and room temperature.

Beyond its new design, the SAQ Signature became a meeting place conceived with today’s consumption realities in mind, and is the ideal setting for fostering ties between wine advisors and enthusiasts. One of the main challenges of the new SAQ Signature concept was to modernize the retail environment of prestigious wines without casting away its traditional facet.

The objectives of the new experience included:
- Encouraging the discovery of new wines
- Putting more emphasis on the promotion of new arrivals
- Enriching and simplifying wine enthusiasts’ shopping experience
- Making wine advisors’ day-to-day easier in order to free their time to help customers more
- Creating an environment where wine enthusiasts can meet wine producers and participate in wine related events
- Merging high-end products with more accessible ones.