The most unique stores in the world

Stores that will make everybody to fall in love with the shopping

A selection of retail spaces worth noting for their architecture and design rather than what sits on the shelves.

Livraria Lello, Porto, Portugal

Livraria Lello is one of the most recognisable bookshops anywhere, known for its carved woodwork, ornate shelving and a crimson staircase that curves between its two floors. A track set into the floor was originally used to move books across the shop. It now runs on paid entry to manage the volume of visitors.

Aesop, Singapore

Aesop gives almost every store a distinct architectural identity rather than a single template. Its Singapore locations follow that approach, with interiors built around natural materials such as timber and coir.

Salon du Fromage Hisada, Paris, France

A specialist cheese shop near the Palais Royal, with a tasting room and café upstairs. The interior leans into its product through cheese-shaped lighting and soft yellow tones, and it is run by Japanese maître fromagers who have made it a small destination for cheese in central Paris.

Starbucks, Dazaifu, Japan

Designed by Kengo Kuma, this store uses roughly 2,000 interwoven wooden battens that fan across the interior as a lattice of diagonal beams, running from the glazed shopfront toward a rear wall that opens onto a garden.

Hanjie Wanda Square, Wuhan, China

The centre sets a gold and bronze north atrium against a grey and silver south atrium, playing traditional and modern registers off each other. The facade is clad in tens of thousands of metal spheres set at varying depths, producing a shifting, water-like play of light across the surface.

Emporia, Malmö, Sweden

One of Scandinavia’s larger shopping centres, wrapped in curved coloured glass lit from within at night. The interior uses bright contrasting tones, emerald, ultramarine, purple and yellow, partly as a wayfinding device to help shoppers orient between sections.

IPER, Milan, Italy

Iper is an Italian hypermarket chain that pairs accessible pricing with strong fresh-food presentation, organising its layout around meat, deli, fish and prepared meals so shoppers can eat on site.

Sport Schuster, Munich, Germany

A long-standing multi-floor sports retailer in central Munich. Among its features are a surface for testing footwear grip across different stone textures and a climbing wall that rises through the store, visible from the entrance.

Ritter Sport, Berlin, Germany

The Berlin store combines retail with a visitor experience, letting customers watch chocolate being made and assemble a custom bar from chosen ingredients, across a multi-floor space that includes a café and a workshop area.