Project Spotlight: Janie and Jack Store Design Brings Boutique Elegance to Nationwide Retail
- mbharch
- 5 days ago
- 3 min read
Project Overview
Name: Janie and Jack
Location: Nationwide – new builds, remodels, and relocations across the U.S.
Client: Janie and Jack
MBH Role: Design Architect & Architect of Record
Size: 890 – 2,555 SF per location
Project Type: Ground-up, remodel, shop-in-shop, and prototype refinement
Timeline: Ongoing
Janie and Jack is more than a children’s clothing brand—it’s a design house rooted in story, craft, and memory-making. In partnership with the brand’s store development team, MBH Architects is supporting the rollout of a new era of boutique retail environments that express the company’s reimagined identity and support its national expansion.
From California to Florida, Texas to New York, MBH’s work spans a wide variety of footprints, conditions, and contexts—new builds in first-generation spaces, strategic relocations, refreshes of existing stores, and all-new entries into untapped markets. Across dozens of locations, MBH provides full architectural services, from permitting and consultant coordination to brand-right detailing and value-driven solutions.
Translating the Janie and Jack Store Design Across the Country
At the heart of every Janie and Jack store is a design narrative centered on elevated memory-making. The environment is meant to feel artisanal, intentional, and family-focused—a boutique-scale space with custom details that mirror the heirloom quality of the brand’s garments.
Design inspiration is drawn from Parisian architecture and vintage shopfronts, brought to life through tactile materiality and curated moments. Signature design elements include:
Herringbone wood flooring in engineered white oak
Coffered ceilings with crown moldings and rosettes
Jewel-toned storefront portals in deep blue-grey
Brass globe lighting, armoire-inspired furnishings, and marble-topped cash wraps
These elements work together to create a layered and immersive experience, where the layout, materials, and merchandising all echo the brand’s manifesto: “We stitch stories together and create memories.”
Layout That Invites Discovery
Store planning begins at the front door—open arms and open doors, whenever possible. Upon entry, guests are welcomed by a low round feature table with seasonal collections and curated looks. From there, the store unfolds intuitively:
Girls’ apparel is typically displayed to the right
Boys’ apparel to the left
Newborn and baby lines toward the back
Specialty bays and armoires highlight capsule drops and accessories
A “concierge” cash wrap serves as both a service hub and elegant anchor
Clearances are carefully considered for families with strollers, ensuring smooth flow and welcoming comfort. Display moments, both digital and analog, reinforce the storytelling with seasonally refreshed photography and lifestyle branding that enhances the emotional impact of the visit.
Balancing Impact with Budget
One of the defining challenges of this national program has been maintaining a high standard of design on a modest per-store budget. MBH collaborated closely with Janie and Jack’s internal team to analyze where to invest boldly and where to optimize strategically.
This meant asking tough questions about which elements created the most visual impact, and where substitutions could be made without compromising the experience. The result is a kit-of-parts approach: refined prototypes adapted for different regions, sites, and code requirements, all while maintaining visual consistency and brand integrity.
Sustainability and Stewardship
Janie and Jack is committed to reducing waste in its physical retail footprint. Across remodels and relocations, MBH explored opportunities to retain or repurpose existing infrastructure—reworking storefronts, salvaging lighting systems, and adapting finishes wherever possible. The use of sustainably sourced engineered wood flooring and low-impact materials further supports the brand’s long-term sustainability goals.
A Collaborative Partnership
With a small but mighty store development team, Janie and Jack relied heavily on MBH for cross-functional support—from code navigation and structural coordination to material specification and visual merchandising layouts. Weekly meetings, design presentations, and executive touchpoints ensured a collaborative process and a unified result.
In each project, MBH served as more than just a designer—we were a strategic partner, a design advocate, and a project shepherd, helping the client scale its vision without losing its soul.
Interested in how MBH helps retail brands translate their ethos into built environments across the country?