Look! Anthropologie's 'Buzzworthy' Storefront

We've long admired Anthropologie's creative storefronts and the innovative reuse ideas in their displays, but yesterday we noticed they might also be pushing (or capitalizing on) a more social agenda...

We must say, we were impressed with this Anthropologie storefront in Austin. We admired it from afar, noticing the golden hexagons that looked a lot like honeycomb. After reading Fruitless Fall by Rowan Jacobsen, the health of honeybees is at the forefront of our mind, and it seems all of a sudden bees that bees are so en vogue.

Upon closer inspection, this display utilized orphaned drawers and had several vegetable and herb plants in containers.

And there was that little, sign, too, that said a lot more than just "did you know that honey bees pollinate 1/3 of all foods we eat?" Clearly this was meant to be educational as well as fashionable.

The verdict's still out on whether a storefront can help further a cause, but one thing's for sure: we do appreciate that Anthropologie knows that honeybees need a little extra love these days.

Comments (6)

I am pretty skeptical of Anthtropologie's social consciousness. It may just be more green-washing.

posted by HillE on April 15th 2009 at 4:56pm
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While this is nice and all, I don't really believe that a window display does much. Yes, maybe someone will read it have an epiphany, but how does that translate into action? I'm far more interested in what Anthropologie is paying the manufacturers of all that stuff--I don't think free trade is a tradition for this place.

And that the display artist used old drawers? As opposed to buying new?

posted by FantasticMrFaux on April 15th 2009 at 6:07pm
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As an Anthro employee, I certainly don't subscribe to everything the company does and, like HillE, am a tad cynical about some of their eco-efforts (e.g., their China-produced Xmas ornaments that featured the "Shop local" slogan. Sheesh!)

But as far as the bee windows go, while definitely an opportunistic move on Anthro's part, it's the brainchild of one of the corporate visual designers. Apparently she's been personally involved with the honeybee issue for a while and saw this as a chance to increase customer consciousness. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

posted by SWS on April 15th 2009 at 6:44pm
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I don't think it's a bad thing that Anthropologie is doing this. They've got those two bee related tees that they're selling for Earth Day and they're donating to the Entomology department at Penn State, a leader in Honey Bee research. I don't know that it will create follow through on the part of most of the shoppers, but at least Anthropologie is putting more into it.

Plus, I love the two bee related t-shirts. Gotta make a trip to Anthropologie this coming weekend.

posted by ArtsAfire on April 15th 2009 at 8:23pm
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All of us are going to get awfully hungry if we lose honeybees.

posted by 39520expat on April 16th 2009 at 9:58am
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all dr who fans know where the bees are going.

posted by mariegael on April 17th 2009 at 9:28pm
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