Bostonians have been making tracks to The Tannery for 35 years. Founder Sam Hassan has developed such close vendor partnerships that, despite its indie status, The Tannery was among the first stores in the country to get the newest, hottest footwear styles. Those same close vendor relationships also gave rise to Concepts, which debuted in 1996 as a boutique within The Tannery specializing in skateboard chic.

The Tannery and Concepts draw a large and loyal following (area college students, professors and professionals) to its Harvard Square location in Cambridge, mostly for its combination of styles, selection and customer service. (Sales staffers are fluent in several languages, as the area is home to several internationally renowned colleges and universities.)

The Tannery stocks high-demand, high-fashion casual denim and apparel lines such as Rag & Bone, Clu and Rogues Gallery along with comfort shoe brands from Sofft, Merrell and Dansko that appeal equally to Millennials and Boomers. Concepts offers cutting-edge athletic equipment, apparel, outerwear and “extreme products” for all ages.

Customers haven’t been the only ones to take notice of The Tannery and Concepts: Footwear News recognized The Tannery as the “first and best at using a concept shop/store-within-a-store environment to enhance the brands showcased and the customer’s shopping experience.” It also named Tarek Hassan, Sam’s nephew and now co-owner of The Tannery and Concepts, as one of 50 most influential people in the footwear industry.

Recently, the Hassans made a bold, but calculated, move by “relocating” from the original Brattle Street operation to two street-level spaces nearby. The original location remains open selling comfort and outdoor brands and soon will be relaunched as “Curated by The Tannery.”

Gone are the vestiges of the old space (which has been described as an intimate and earthy, college student-friendly Turkish bazaar), replaced with distinctly sophisticated identities.

“We had a vision of growing sales several times over at both stores, but our former location was holding us back,” says Tarek Hassan, who joined his uncle in business right after college. In making the move, the Hassans sought professional advice from Soldier Design, another Harvard Square-based business for branding, identity, store planning, visual merchandising and product design/development.

Soldier’s designs took into account the Hassans’ desire to create standalone Tannery and Concepts brands in other urban centers. The new design was also essential in moving The Tannery from selling strictly outdoor and comfort brands to higher-end, higher-margin apparel, denim and accessories, as well as footwear from new vendors like YSL, Bally, Donald J Pliner, Salvatore Ferragamo and Stuart Weitzman.

Post-modern, yet comfortable
At 12,000 sq. ft., the new Tannery location has nearly twice the selling space of the original. Soldier Design’s creative director and CEO Bobby Riley says his team drew on the storied history of Harvard Square for a post-modern, yet comfortable design featuring a spare materials palette that combines wood, leather, resin and stainless steel.

A clean-lined fixturing system made of natural, molded resin trimmed with warm cherry wood veneers and stainless steel tubular legs is the dominant architectural feature in an otherwise cleanly styled and residentially scaled environment.

The store is laid out with a sense of predictability in the way goods are organized, Riley says, noting the influence of the area’s bookstores. Women’s footwear and apparel are located on the left wall while men’s merchandise is found on the right; each has its own cash/wrap. Clothing is hung on a series of wall-mounted stainless steel rods, while bags are displayed prominently in wall niches.

Shoes are presented on a series of simple tables confirming their status as The Tannery’s main draw (more than 60 percent of sales comes from footwear). A his-and-hers “denim bar” offers a simple way to catalog The Tannery’s 36 brands of jeans.

It’s also brighter than the original store due to natural light filtering through the expansive 40-ft.-wide glass facade and through a lighting plan that emphasizes custom ceiling-mounted fixtures. The new Tannery store is also warm and approachable — for the target demographic — thanks to the store’s golden wood floor and plump leather upholstered benches.

Next door, the Concepts prototype showcasing “streetwear” offers a decidedly different take, not only from an interior design perspective but also in terms of the overall shopping experience. Where The Tannery is sleek, bright, open and calm, Soldier Design referenced Concepts’ 1996 beginnings as the spot for skateboarders by designing plies made of the highest-quality plywood to ring perimeter walls.

The result here is darker and more moody. Architecturally these curved plies (a warm brown color accented with stainless steel), create a cavernous ribbed aesthetic while functioning as fixtures to prominently showcase footwear from Nike, Double RL, Nice Collective, Comme des Garçons and DevilCLOT.

A decision to drop virtually all vendor-supplied fixtures and in-store graphics allows Concepts to establish it’s own identity and become a brand unto itself.

The buzz is below
Concepts’ skate, street and sneaker ambience attracts style mavens (the majority of Concepts’ customers are men) as well as discriminating professors and professionals from surrounding universities. Its merchandise skews to a younger demographic seeking exclusive or limited-edition goods from Timberland, New Balance, Common Projects and Nike, among others. (Concepts is among two dozen or so retailers nationwide to receive select Nike Tier 1 footwear styles not available elsewhere.)

Then there’s “Concepts On-Air,” a broadcast video studio that enables staff to conduct interviews with celebrities, designers and artists to be aired in-store and regularly posted on Concepts’ website, also designed by Soldier.

Perhaps the biggest buzz, however, has come from Concepts’ posh members-only, lower-level VIP lounge, open to about a hundred of its top customers (think pro athletes) who will find comfortable custom leather sofas, flat-screen TVs, and an eco-friendly fireplace. Accessible through a hidden entrance with valet parking, guests will find dedicated sales staff, a full bar, humidor and lockers to stow their purchases.

“The end result has been amazing,” Tarek Hassan says, “resulting in a richer experience for customers and an increase in higher-margin merchandise sales.”

As a result of the new design, Concepts opened an account with Visvim, making it one of a few retailers in the country to be awarded the rights to sell the prestigious Japanese brand, Hassan says.