SHANGHAI — Thanks to Nigo, Tokyo‘s latest retail hot spot is a Japanese convenience store.
After being named Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart’s creative director a year ago, Nigo has not only reimagined its brand identity but he’s enlisted a longtime design partner, the architect Masamichi Katayama, to revamp the storied retail format.
Dubbed Famima, which is a colloquial shorthand for Family Mart, the new store is located within Tokyo’s Azabudai area, a neighborhood filled with luxury urban developments and upscale living quarters amid rolling hills.
Located on a subway-adjacent street corner, Famima is a sleek box with round edges, a clean glass facade, smooth gray concrete walls and a lush rooftop that aligns with the park-like environment in the area.
Nigo’s pop-anime touch can be seen throughout the store, from the official Famima mascot — a smiley face and star, which was inspired by FamilyMart’s original “sun and star” logo — to a deconstructed letter “F” perched atop the building. The sculptural piece extends onto the green rooftop, doubling as a seating area next to “Famima Stand,” where visitors can order coffee, tea or FamilyMart’s signature fried chicken.
Famima Park Azabudai
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Inside the store, Nigo’s new designs are featured across mascot plushies, T-shirts and tote bags. As for the store racks, sections such as “fun” for water and “inner beauty” for healthy snacks infuse essential goods with a sense of lifestyle envy.
The store staff, dressed in striped green and blue workwear suits paired with baseball caps, also embody Nigo’s signature aesthetic.
Inside the store.
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“This all started with a simple idea. Wouldn’t it be great if convenience stores carried things like this? Since then, I’ve had countless meetings with the FamilyMart team,” Nigo said of the project. “I hope this next-generation convenience store will give people in Japan — and around the world — the opportunity to experience Japanese culture and lifestyle firsthand.”
The interior of the store, designed to display a large selection of goods that encourages discovery, was designed by Masamichi Katayama’s design agency Wonderwall, which has worked with Nigo on projects spanning a Louis Vuitton men’s runway show, Nigo’s fashion brand Human Made and the real estate start-up Not a Hotel.
“Rather than simply creating a place people stop by because it’s convenient, we have refined every aspect of the store to make it a destination people genuinely want to visit,” Katayama said.
Nigo’s influence was apparent during the store’s official opening on Friday, as visitors lined up as early as 5 a.m. to win an official store sticker set, an exclusively designed tote bag, or a Casa Brutus By Nigo magazine.
Positioned as a cultural hub, the store will feature exclusive drops and a full range of FamilyMart’s clothing label Convenience Wear.
Designed by Facetasm’s Hiromichi Ochiai, the apparel brand made its debut over three years ago and features wearable basics that compete with offerings from Uniqlo and Muji.
