Vivo City - National Geographic Store

Many people probably blogged about this before, but I wanted to share some photos which I have taken at the store.

Some weekend ago, I was at Vivo City doing some window shopping.

Then, I noticed my favourite cable channel - National Geographic actually had a flagship store at Vivo City. So, apart from TV Channel and magazine, they also had a retail store? My oh my... What do they sell there?

Before I even went into the store, I was awe-struck by items in the display window. They are not the usual mannequins, but rather sculpture built from natural materials. The photo above is a horse (I supposed) made with driftwood-like materials.

Another special touch is the huge metal embossed plate encrusted on the floor which reads – “National Geographic Society Founded in 1888”.

On the other side of the display window, there is this beautiful vase made with sea shells. The different kinds of sea shells were half and arranged in flower-like pattern.

I also found another similar made inside the shop. This time around, they used scallop shells and arranged them into a round table lamp.

Another interesting item was the use of reef and arranged them as a table decor. I supposed the reef was probably dead and they decided to make better use of it.

What really captivated me were the photos. Countless frames of them hanged randomly on one of the display walls.

Then in the middle of the store, there is this big red colour glass room. It attracted quite a spectacle among the shoppers – all curiously looked on, wondering what it is for.

Guess what? It is a controlled freezing chamber aka freezer room !

It is built for you to test out their warm clothing.

Inside the freezer room, a huge industrial size turbo fan will be switch on to bring the temperature down. They also installed a heat sense thermometer screen for you to check whether you are properly insulated with their warm jackets.

Here we see mannequin donning explorer-like clothing.

Looking at this particular set of furnitures reminds me of movies like Indiana Jones and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

They eluded explorer-safari theme. If I really went exploring, I wondered how I can move them site to site.

See, the garments are hanged on specially made cabinets like you will see in one’s house.

The trying room reeks heavily with Victorian accent

Actually, all of the items which I mentioned above are for sales, but the store do not just display them blindly. Like Ikea, they suggested how you can mix and match furnitures and items together in order to achieve a certain look.

I especially like how they are arranged unpretentiously, encouraging buyer to feel and touch what they are going to buy home. In fact, this arrangement enhanced the whole shopping experience. One do not feel like being at a retail store, but more like a museum. There is always something to see, something to touch, something to learn something from.

If I ever shop at ViVo City again, I will definately drop-by the store again. I could just spend hours inside the store looking at those amazing photos, imagining how life will be like at the other side of the lens…