The appearance of the city outside – complete with crosswalks and grids resembling aerial views of urban blocks – acts as a transition space between the entrance of a bookstore and the quiet, private spaces beyond. This space by XL-muse, located on the fourth floor of the Réel Mall in Shanghai, references the orderly aspects of urban aesthetics, carrying them from the sunny, exposed main room into the darkened alleys full of floor-to-ceiling shelves.

Street lights gently illuminate the rows of books in these tranquil hallways, organized like pedestrian promenades complete with central park benches and displays. Mirrors are employed to visually double the height of the shelves, making them feel as if they continue up into the sky and stretch far deeper into the building than they really do. Paths direct you from one ‘house’ of books to the next as you explore the shop.

In these atmospherically-lit areas bursting with dark-stained wood, shoppers feel like they’re navigating the city late at night, when the traffic has died down and the streets are eerily silent. The crosswalks continue into the small cafe, stepping right up onto the ceiling and then back out into the showroom, where white pegs inserted into the concrete walls can be pulled or pushed to create display niches.

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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You might feel like you’re dreaming or even drunk when you wander into these bizarre, surrealist interiors, from a bar that looks like the inside of an alien to a hotel room modeled after TRON. Going beyond mere concepts, these are real, existing spaces with interior design so surreal, avant garde or otherwise unexpected, it’s disorienting.

Conversation Pieces by HEAD Design

The entire room can be a conversation piece, as proven by this unique interior design series by students at ‘HEAD,’ the Geneva University of Art and Design. The designers created an entire apartment with dreamlike rooms including a bedroom that feels like a cloudy white womb, a library entrance that never seems to end, and a dining room that wouldn’t be out of place on the set of the latest Star Trek movie.

H.R. Giger Bar, Switzerland

Few spaces are more surreal than the H.R. Giger Bar in Gruyéres, Switzerland, which takes its cues from the artist’s work. The skeletal motif found within, with giant vertebrae arches, makes it feel like you’re inside some monstrous creature.

HITGallery Hong Kong

The paintings of artist Giorgio de Chirico inspired this surreal black, white and blue shop interior in Hong Kong. Symmetry, a restrained color palette and the scale of the humanoid shelves that take up the center of the store make it feel like stepping into a work of art.

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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.