It’s been a busy few months in the Barber office and we’ve been getting stuck into some really interesting projects. Last month we created on an exciting pop-up popcorn retail concept for start-up brand Maize and Grace, which has just launched and we have some other exciting things in the pipeline, including a series of high end cruise ship retail projects and an eco-friendly high street start-up. We’re also looking forward to our upcoming visit to the TFWA trade show in Singapore in May.  If you are going and would like to meet up to discuss all things travel retail please do get in touch.

Maize and Grace

Maize and Grace are a pop-up popcorn start-up with a simple goal, to make the UK’s most delicious air-popped popcorn. Unlike many other popcorn concessions, all of their corn is always popped fresh on the day and they have a range of exciting flavours to suit sweet and savoury tastes.

Since their launch, Maize and Grace have popped up on London’s Bond Street – where you can find them until the end of March and they have just opened another pop-up kiosk on Blackfriars Station, also open until the 31st of March. If you’re passing Blackfriars and want to check them out you can find their stall on the North Bank side, just before the escalators leading to National Railway services.

Maize and Grace are now planning on opening more pop-up kiosks and they are currently negotiating with WeWork, to bring their freshly popped snacks to the workplace too. They’ve also popped up by the runway at a Nina Naustdal fashion show and are available for hire for special occasions. So if you need freshly popped corn at your wedding, birthday party or corporate event give them a call. They’ve got a range of mouthwatering flavours including lemon and pepper, cinnamon biscuit and cheddar cheese to tempt your tastebuds. If you’d like to find out more about Maize and Grace, their flavours and where they are going to pop up next, check out their website or follow them on Instagram.

Our brief with Maize and Grace was to create a distinctive and eye catching pop-up market stall. We designed a pop-up unit that really showcases the products whilst providing optimum functionality for sales staff and customers alike.

This is not the first time we’ve worked with an exciting confectionery/snack start-up and regular blog reader will remember our retail designs for sweet shops. Sweet as a Button and SugarSin. We really love working on these kind of start-up projects and wish Maize and Grace every success with their venture, which seems to be proving a big hit already.

In other news

We are looking forward be attending the TFWA (Tax Free World Association) Asia Pacific Exhibition and Conference in Singapore in May. This is going to be an exciting opportunity for us to get up to speed on the latest trends in travel retail and duty free shopping, as well as meeting up with both potential clients and existing clients to talk about our successes and how we can help them to stand out from the crowd in the lucrative travel retail industry.

Travel retail has become a niche area of expertise for us and we continue to enjoy many successes in this sector. At the moment we are working on some exciting cruise ship retail projects for a major client and we are also working on an eco-friendly start-up with a customer who has a ground breaking idea to shake up retail on the high street.

We are also engaged with an exciting holiday destination in the UK to look at cafe and retail spaces. This comes off the back of our recent work with the RSPB at Sherwood Forest.

We can’t tell you much more at the moment, but we will bring more of this news as it arrives and develops. Watch this space!