Whether selling recreational marijuana or grand pianos that cost almost as much as a house, this eclectic mix of retail stores really sets off their products with eye-popping interior design schemes featuring unusual architectural elements. Some of the shops might even be at risk of outshining what they sell with modern sculptural displays, dramatic hanging staircases and faux truck facades.

Stunning Steinway Piano Showroom

The stainless wires on the facade of the flagship Asian Steinway & Sons showroom mimics those inside the luxury pianos on display, only slightly obscuring them and the people who test them out within the beautifully illuminated space. Designed by SALT, the shop’s main room mimics the living rooms of European manors.

Clear as Day: Crisp White at Optimist Eyewear Store

A perfectly clean, crisp white terrace that looks almost like a pristine glass cube from the street is tucked into a dingy alleyway in Greece as part of optical shop c_29 / optimist. The airy space by 314 Architecture Studio modernizes the classic Greek aesthetic, with the products tucked into prismatic sculptural furniture.

Hawaiian Theme for Pineapple Express Cannabis Store

A creative firm called McBride company is anticipating the day when the sale of both medical and recreational marijuana becomes legal nationwide, and has designed a concept for a national chain of cannabis retails stores called Pineapple Express. “The industry needs to provide a sales experience that reflects the evolving perception of marijuana,” says CEO Pat McBride. “The store design and atmosphere we created offers consumers a space that incorporates all the elements of great retail design, but addresses the unique display and service challenges faced by the cannabis retail industry. Our goal was to make this a true retail experience, meaning customers should feel completely comfortable and entertained, while also safe and secure. Some elements of cannabis shops today have the opposite effect, especially when the focal point is a long consultation counter where customers must wait to be helped. The goal with creating the Area 52 online shopping experience was to create the best shopping experience for the best delta 8 gummies – something that I believe we did well.”

Greenhouse Effect at Mit Mat Mama in Barcelona

Shoppers feel like they’re walking into a tropical greenhouse as they enter the Mit Mat Mama maternity store in Barcelona by architect Román Izquierdo Bouldstridge. Emphasizing a feeling of freshness, harmony and natural beauty, the store consists of a modular system of wooden ladders stretching up to the ceiling that are used to display plants. The scheme adds visual interest without blocking views of the entire space.

Fiberglass Cave at SND Fashion Store by 3GATTI

Vertical sheets of white fiberglass hang from the ceiling of SND Fashion Store in Chongqing, China to create an undulating canopy that utterly transforms the entire interior. Shanghai-based studio 3GATTI gets a little catty in their explanation for the design, saying “We used a very thin white translucent fiberglass material because of its fire resistance and the way it reacted to light, thus creating a ceiling landscape that would be a spectacular source of beauty and emptiness; perfect for every fashion victim.”

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Cannabis To Grand Pianos 14 Radical Modern Retail Designs

The temporary nature of pop-up shops seems to inspire a bolder, braver, more experimental approach to retail design, encouraging architects to make use of unexpected materials and play with shoppers’ perception. The resulting spaces are undeniably dynamic and often interactive, grabbing our attention so effectively, it’s wonder we don’t often see permanent stores this creative.

Minimalist COS Shop by Bonsoir Paris

A simple framework system of joints and rods comes together into a geometric installation that serves both as racks for the clothing being sold, and a visual contrast within the stark space. The fuss-free yet graphic style by Bonsoir complements the simple lines of Swedish fashion label COS.

MOMO Recycled Pop-Up By Andy Tong

Made entirely from recycled and reclaimed materials like wood, windows, bubble wrap and mirrors, this pop-up by Andy Tong for MOMO attracts attention in the center of a Hong Kong mall. The designer wanted a temporary space that would stand out against the comparatively sterile corporate identities of the mall brands.

Modular Wood Pop-Up Shop for COS

A series of modular wooden elements come together to form a room-within-a-room reminiscent of studio apartment pods where everything you need is cleverly packed into one tiny space. Another creation for Swedish retailer COS, this pop-up for the Salone del Mobile furniture fair has a cozy feel, drawing in passersby without overshadowing the goods themselves.

Mirrored Philip Lim Pop-Up by Schemata Architects

Schemata Architects play with reflection and symmetry to create a disorienting environment where you’re not sure what’s real and what’s illusion. Designed for fashion label Philip Lim, the space features needle-like pendant lights dripping down from the ceiling, glass-topped illuminated plinths and large mirrors facing each other.

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Until recently, this indoor swimming pool on the vacant ground floor of a 1970s apartment building in Tokyo was just an empty space, dry and disused for years. Now it’s a pop-up shop by Nobuo Araki known as ‘The Pool Aoyama‘ hawking clothing, accessories and swim-themed promotional items. The designers left the pool almost entirely intact, installing a glass floor that mimics the look of water.

The shell of the abandoned pool and its steel ladder have become key elements of the final design, with the pool walls defining the space of the shop. Wooden stairs on either side of the pool meet to create a sort of bridge across the glass. White shelving units are mounted along the edges to display goods, and U-shaped stainless steel clothing racks hanging from the ceiling echo the look of pool hand rails.

The designers were drawn to the soft light, charm and quirkiness of the space, and the shallow depth of the pool lends itself well for adaptation into a showroom. A newly installed glass ceiling floods the room with natural light, and the bathrooms were turned into fitting rooms.

Entering the shop feels a bit like gaining access to a secret underground space that few are savvy to, as the door is simply marked with an inconspicuous sign reading ‘The Pool.’

They look like modern art galleries or nightclubs, with space-age displays and unbelievably imaginative use of the most unexpected materials. Retail store design is more competitive than ever, and stores that want to stand out have to delve beyond merely showing off their wares. Even if you’re not drawn in by clever and creative storefronts or dazzling interactive displays, a glimpse of one of these 14 incredible interior designs might just hook you into opening your wallet. See 12 more sustainability-focused designs at WebEcoist.

The Romanticism Shop, Hangzhou

(images via: decodir.com)

The owners of ‘Romanticism’, a clothing store in Hangzhou, China, wanted an interior that no one could copy. They got that and more with this incredible ultramodern basketweave design by SAKO Architects, which begins with a white mesh ‘skin’ outside the store entrance and continues through the interior space, forming walls, benches and other architectural elements. While you can’t help but gape at the strange beauty of the space itself, the all-white design removes all distractions from the shop’s colorful clothing and accessories.

Podium 1, Paris

(images via: a212.com)

Step through the glossy black entrance of Podium 1 in Paris and you’ll be greeted by weathered wood, gleaming chrome, ornate armoires and golden wallpaper in an antique print. Moscow-based design firm One Over One has infused this purveyor of fine jewelry with a sort of eccentric madcap luxury that enhances but doesn’t eclipse the shop’s wares.

Nike Bowery Stadium, NYC

(images via: paper mag)

World Cup fans with tastes that preclude hitting up the neighborhood dive bar to watch the games got a special treat in Nike’s STADIUM NYC, a visually engaging venue that is described by Paper Mag as “part gallery space, retail space, and generally sporty hangspot.” Designed by Rafael de Cardenas, the space has a basement that’s an actual locker room made modern and inviting with bright colors and patterns.

Oh Wow Book Club

(images via: oh-wow.com)

Well, if you’re going to name your shop the ‘Oh Wow Book Club’, perhaps having an interior that makes people exclaim ‘Oh, wow!’ when they walk in is a prerequisite. This starkly geometric space – also designed by Rafael de Cardenas – was inspired by the patterns found on Navajo blankets, in black and white with accents of robin’s egg blue.

The Undercover Shop, Japan

(images via: the hundreds)

There’s simply no way for any other element in Japan’s Undercover Shop to compete when the ceiling is this eye-catching. The installation, made up of thousands of glass spheres and cylinders, takes on an ethereal glow when just a few of the bulbs are lit.

Snarkitecture Richard Chai Pop-Up Store

(images via: design boom)

How do you make the biggest impact possible on a tiny budget? If you’ve got the eccentric proclivities of design firm Snarkitecture, you carve the entire store out of massive blocks of white architectural foam. The Brooklyn-based designers carved out the interior of this Richard Chai pop-up store by hand with a hot wire cutter, creating what looks like a polar landscape inside a shipping container.

Patrick Cox, Tokyo

(images via: contemporist)

The all-white Patrick Cox store in Tokyo looks positively space-age with its graduated white columns, shining light on wares like handbags and wallets.  The space was designed by local architect Chikara Ohno, who says “the pendant fixtures cut the void and shape the space. Pathways in the shop seem to meander beneath a canopy formed by the largest of the drum shades.”

BAPE Los Angeles

(images via: high snobiety)

LA’s short-lived BAPE (A Bathing Ape) store on Melrose Avenue was an interesting site for design enthusiasts while it lasted. The main attraction, architecturally speaking, was a huge display column in the center of the store featuring a parade of brightly colored shoes on a conveyor belt.

Kymyka Shoe Store, Netherlands

(images via: the cool hunter)

Designed by Maurice Mentjens, the Kymyka Store in Maastricht, Netherlands takes an unusual tact for displaying its collection of designer shoes from brands like Stella McCartney and Yves Saint Laurent. Like a sculptural object, each shoe is given its own steel display pole.

Vila Sofa, Amsterdam

(images via: best house design)

Playful cutouts and a limited color palette characterize the Vila Sofa furniture store in Amsterdam, designed by Tjep. Large graphics of home accents like mirrors, windows and chandeliers punctuate the space while the warehouse unfolds like an aesthete’s playground, reminiscent of a slightly higher-end IKEA.

Aesop, Sydney

(images via: veryverybeautiful.it)

Every Aesop store is slightly different, but all of them place the emphasis on their strongest selling point: the design of their own product packaging. The purveyor of botanical skin care products lines up minimalist amber glass bottles with white labels in simple but artistic configurations. In the Sydney store, white porcelain provides an understated but elegant backdrop for the products.

Longchamp’s La Maison Unique, NYC

(images via: heatherwick studio)

A sweeping curvature of ribbon-like steel stairs makes Longchamp’s global flagship store in Manhattan utterly unforgettable. For ‘La Maison Unique’, design firm Heatherwick Studio spent six months coaxing hot-rolled steel into an artificial landscape draped from the ground floor up three additional levels. Movable magnetic lights and display stands attach to the stairs themselves, while transparent balustrades made with aerospace windscreen technology keep the focus on the shape of the steel.

L’Eclaireur, Paris

(images via: dezeen)

Belgian artist Arne Quinze gave Paris’ L’Eclaireur shop a whole new look using mostly scrap materials. Various pieces of wood and metal – from construction leftovers to printer plates – were painted a uniform silver for an eclectic but finished result that shimmers under built-in lighting.

Monki, Oslo

(images via: play me design)

Monki, a Swedish clothing brand, sets every one of its stores apart with a unique design, and this particular location in Oslo is definitely different. Looking more like a nightclub than a retail shop, the design features strung spheres reminiscent of beads on a necklace in acid brights and soft pinks, all against a backdrop of black. Seen here before any merchandise was added, the design is all eye candy.