I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again. I am, and forever will be, a “mall rat.” Sadly, so many malls in America have died or are on their last legs. There’s a lot of commentary/chatter about why this has happened, and also a lot of commentary/chatter on how to fix it. One buzzword that keeps popping up is to make retail more “experiential”. Experiential retail is not a new thing. In terms of mall stores, I think it really had it’s “golden age” in the late 80’s and lasted throughout most of the 90’s. For me, one of the stores that I first noticed that really took this concept and translated it on a mass level was sadly the now defunct, Limited Express.
A quick little backstory… The Limited started as women’s clothing store in the early ’60s. In 1980, it launched a spin off store called Limited Express. Limited Express was kind of the “younger sister” of The Limited, originally focusing on jeans and denim. In 1986, they had a bit of a rebrand and adopted this faux/psuedo French aesthetic. It’s this french-y era that I’m focusing on for this post. They ended up dropping the “Limited” and shortening it to just “EXPRESS” but then added “Compagnie Internationale” to make give them a more international flare. My good friend Amy perfectly described it as “that cousin or younger sister that took a semester abroad”.
“Compagnie Internationale Express” stores were so playful and whimsical. Lots of surrealist cues, but translated in modern ways.
There were oversized gilded mirrors with neon letters, crystal chandeliers, large columns with painted Magritte-esque clouds and trompe l’oiel murals, oversized curtains and faux marble busts and statues. Some stores even had a faux Arc de Triomphe built inside.
Their woven labels were written in French and included an Arc de Triomphe icon.
In 1990, they even came out with their own compilation cassette (that I actually still have!) that had a mix of French pop songs of that time.
I’m not really sure where this French aesthetic came from or why they chose that, but I think it really made shopping there an “experience” and it definitely proved successful. The Limited brands were one of the most successful retailers of that era . It was always a “must go” for all my friends whenever we were at the mall.
It was so successful that they started experimenting with adding a small Men’s section, and in 1989 they spun off into it’s own store called Structure.
Structure was a revelation for menswear. With Structure, they followed the same “experiential” principal as Express, but tailored the theme to be more about classic architecture. The entrances had faux roman columns facades, architecture blueprints, and rich wood flooring and shelving.
What was also genius was that since they were all owned by The Limited, many of the stores were connected to each other, so you could literally walk through on store into the next.
Sadly, things change, the times change, and eventually the Limited Express and Structure brands both got sold off. “Express” is now a single entity with both mens and womens collections, but it’s a far departure from the unique identities they had in the late 80’s and ’90s.
However, things are also cyclical and as more talk of “experiential” retail design continues, maybe some retailers will take inspiration from the world building that Compagnie Internationale Limited Express and Structure created back then. I know I’d shop there!