Camp Flagship Store

Behind the secret door of a seemingly ordinary canteen lies Camp—a brand new generation of toy store in NYC’s Flatiron District.

For a long time, traditional toy stores have struggled to stay alive due to their uninspiring model of having customers shop in sterile, icy warehouses—especially when paired with poor customer support, if any. Modern customers are attracted to building relationships with brands and being part of the story. No breadth of inventory these days can overcome the lack of customer engagement.

Camp wanted to try something new. Not only did they want customers to have the latest and greatest merchandise but also to be part of the retail space’s narrative. At Camp, customers are encouraged to roam, play, and interact with the environment and staff. They believe that the retail experience should be a dialogue between the space and its users. And that is exactly what we set out to make.

OkiDoki and I teamed up to transform Camp’s 10,000 square-foot space into an intricate labyrinth of play. We wanted to create, from the ground up, a shopping experience that takes kids and parents back in time to a far away land of complete camp nostalgia.

Camp opened its doors on December 15, 2018.

Studio | OkiDoki
Design, Strategy, & Illustration | Edmund Liang

Design Process

First Distillation of the Idea

All things start rough and become more refined as the vision slowly—sometimes, but rarely quickly—solidifies.

Welcome To Camp

Then we focused on areas of interest within the store and detailed them out.

Below is what CAMP calls The Grove. Inspired by forest clearings that are drenched in dappled light, this area was at the center of the store—and it filled with hidden easter eggs. We were trying to figure out as many places as we could to hide merchandise and then design visual and sound cues to learn kids into finding them. A little in-store treasure hunt, if you will.

Designing for Merchandise

Playing SIMS

After we designed and modeled all the shelving systems, I tested them in a 3D version of the store I built. This way we were able to play with them like toys and see everything to scale.

The Grove Shelves

How do we disguise fixed elements (like columns) of the space, stay within theme, and display merch?

Sports & Merch

Figuring out where we can store and display merch was a challenging problem—numerous design factors to consider.

Logs & Stumps

And ground level? How can we get creative with low-height merch displays?

Brainstorming Shelf Systems

Infinite possibilities. Good and bad. Choices, choices, choices…

Reach From All Sides

Mid to high level movable shelving designed to be accessed from all sides.

Details, Details, Details.

Building low-poly 3D models for previsualization— considering textures, materials, smells, sounds, and ergonomics of the objects.

Ready, Play Ball

Other Microzones

Kids' Cabins

Everything starts with a floor plan. Here is a chaotic top view where the team and I were trying to figure out the flow of traffic, what belongs where, and why.