Case Study Woodman's < Back
Woodman’s
121 Main St.
Essex, Massachusetts 01929
Place: Woodman’s, a famous seafood restaurant in Essex, Massachusetts – renowned for their award winning cuisine and the invention of the fried clam 85 years ago by Lawrence “Chubby” Woodman!
Mission: Our assignment was to assess the viability of a new retail store, in addition to this seafood “in the rough” restaurant, to create a plan and to actually bring the new shop to a successful opening. The shop was designed to enhance and brand the Woodman’s dining experience as well as to create significant additional revenue. It includes an eclectic assortment of products that convey the same historical, summer-time, family feeling as the restaurant.
Tactics: After taking into account the restaurant’s level of business, positioning, and history, a cost/ benefit analysis was developed to measure the viability and strategy for a Woodman’s gift shop. In order to continue to portray Woodman’s light-hearted vacation destination feel, we designed and supervised the construction of a free-standing building to look like a “summer clam shack”. Through the use of custom fixtures, signage, merchandise, and graphics, customers were enticed to explore and shop within the gift store. Also, a painted map of the North Shore was created that began on the exterior and led right up to the cash register.
The merchandise was especially of interest: the Retail Concepts team worked to develop merchandise that truly captured the Woodman’s dining experience, including work from area artisans, custom shirts, Frisbees, hats, beach towels, and food products with custom designed Woodman’s related features. All packaging, hangtags, tickets, and graphics were coordinated with the merchandise to bring the entire vision together.
Result: “The Shop at Woodman’s” project was brought to life through the successful conceptualization, design and merchandising guided by Retail Concepts. Sales volume at the shop has exceeded its owners’ expectations and continues to serve as a great marketing tool for the restaurant.
