Bert’s Homestore – Independent Store Branding

Store Branding – Bert’s Homestore

The Brief

Bert’s Homestore sells a vibrant mix of cookware, home accessories, gifts and retro toys from three stores across Brighton and Hove. They have grown from a single location in Hove into a city-wide institution, retaining their independent character and becoming an essential shopping destination for gifts and homeware in the city.

Our brief was to develop and broaden their existing store branding, and to apply this to new packaging, website and social media platforms.

The Outcome

We wanted to retain the independent, non-corporate feel of Bert’s Homestore, so we’ve encouraged retaining a low-key informality in their approach to branding – for instance, by stamping their logo onto brown paper swing tags or writing in chalk on blackboards. Our approach when working with existing brands is to keep what works and build on it – and not to suggest a change for the sake of it.

We liked their existing retro logo, which we felt just needed a few tweaks. We changed the colour slightly and reduced the size of word ‘homestore’ (removing it altogether for some applications of it).

We needed some imagery that could be used to accompany the logo, along with an extended colour palette. As well as art directing a photo shoot, we created several hand-made illustrations that reflect their informal store interiors and their decorative, quirky products. We introduced a new colour palette that reflects some of the more modern colourful products they sell. The result was a set of illustrated assets that work with the logo to become the basis for new website and packaging designs.

Finally, we came up with a new slogan that helps sum up their offering, written in a few different forms of varying length which are suitable for a range of applications:

• • Fabulous things to kit out your home
• • Fabulous things for your home
• • Fabulous Things

The Client’s Response

‘After 10 years of trading, our brand was in desperate need of a refresh. Toop Studio gave the brand a new lease of life by introducing a new colour palette, cohesive typography and exciting graphics to add to our existing logo. They also created a fabulous design for our website, liaising with the web developer to ensure we got exactly what we wanted.

Shadric Toop is endlessly patient and really took the time to understand and develop our brand – he is an absolute pleasure to work with.’

Andrew Earley & Jane Stewart
The management, Bert’s Homestore

Bert’s Homestore website