Mason Studio Creates Mobile Mercantile Retail Concept
April 26, 2021
Photography courtesy of Mason Studio.
Due to the pandemic, it is estimated that 40 percent of North American employees are working from home, causing shops in formerly crowded central business districts to struggle. These were the problematic dynamics at the forefront of the minds of Mason Studio founders Ashley Rumsey and Stanley Sun as they ideated Mobile Mercantile. A retail concept inspired by the resurgence of food trucks, it would enable businesses—think clothing and beauty brands, distilleries, hair salons, bridal boutiques—to take their operations almost anywhere. The Toronto-based Mason partners, known for their work with Kimpton Hotels, envisioned repurposing trailers or trucks, with the help of their longtime fabricator Juiceworks, into pods that can be stationed on streets or in parking lots. “We believe the future of retail is flexibility and hybridity,” Rumsey says. The smallest option, at 120 square feet with a window display and wall-to-wall cabinetry, starts at $23,000, and features luxe touches like brushed brass accents and pale wood millwork. “The concept,” Sun adds, “offers a new kind of physical space for brands that would benefit from an elevated, intimate customer experience that’s difficult to replicate online.”