Making Company Values Part of the Workplace
As RNS Health Care Services prepared to move to Aurora, Ontario, they came to shōmi! Custom with three walls and a clear idea of what each one should say about their company values. The brief was short. The ambitions weren’t.
Custom Pop-Up Fabrication: How to Build a Cloud You Can See Through
The question wasn’t how to build a cloud. It was how to build one that still looks clean after eight stores of foot traffic. Custom pop-up fabrication for Sephora’s Clean beauty pop-up meant building see-through clouds, a printed floor to
83% of Canadians Plan In-Store Holiday Shopping in 2026
Many Have Already Done Their Research. Good news if you build stores: 83% of Canadians expect to do their in-store holiday shopping, according to Salesforce data reported by Retail Insider. The not so good news? A lot of those people
Custom vs Modular Displays
What brand, retail, and experiential teams should consider before deciding where to spend their fabrication budget. Custom display systems are engineered from scratch for one specific environment. Vendor-reported industry data puts fully custom builds at 6 to 12 weeks lead
How shōmi! delivered a brass-finish vanity and photo moment at retail scale
Charlotte Tilbury needed two centrepieces for its Sephora rollout: a round vanity table on a two-cone base, and a photo moment shaped like an oversized makeup mirror ringed in globe lights. Both in a shiny brass finish. Across multiple store
Made in Canada Just Became a Pricing Argument
Note: this article reflects tariff measures, rates, and Statistics Canada figures as published as of September 1, 2026. Both countries’ tariff schedules have shifted multiple times over the past year, and Canada’s September 8 countertariffs were not yet in force
Case Study: NARS
Old Phones, New Guts: How Four Vintage Telephones Stole the Show at the NARS Booth Most trade show briefs sound simple until you start building them. “Can you make old telephones interactive?” is one of those briefs. It sounds straightforward.
Boomers: The Wildcard Retail Keeps Getting Wrong
TL;DR: Baby boomers hold roughly half of Canada’s household wealth, are the most brand-loyal generation shopping today, and prefer shopping in-store more than any other generation, yet most retail environments are still lit, signed, and staffed as if this shopper
Maytag Case Study
How do you build one photo op that works for a chihuahua and a great dane? Project at a glance Client: MaytagAgency: prspktvMEDIAEvent: Canadian Pet ExpoFootprint: 10′ x 20′ trade show booth Objective: Launch a pet-focused washer and dryer, engineered
Gen x: The Forgotten Generation
Gen X grew up as the original latchkey generation: letting themselves in after school, microwaving something questionable for dinner, and generally being trusted to handle it. Forty years later, retail is still leaving them to fend for themselves. The only