Does size really matter?

A question I’ve asked myself on several occasions is “Does size matter?” I’m quite sure that a lot of people will say that size is of vital importance, but, as with some many other things, I say that everything is relative. As one of my Iranian girlfriends pointed out herself: “You should never underestimate the power of a small chilli pepper – its fire can only really be gauged when you take a bite out of it.” This obsession with “the bigger the better” has become a global curse. We are definitely talking about a trend – but is it here to stay? Back when I first started working in the trends industry, I one daynoticed a little sign on the wall in the office of one of my clients. It read: “Small is beautiful”. I incorporated this little slogan into my own philosophy and it became one of the mottoes that has stayed with me and my company throughout the years. Many years later I met the same “self-made” man again. He now had a workforce of around 900 people, huge office blocks, in addition to own production facilities in many countries. My first question to him was of course: “What happened to “Small is beautiful?” And his answer was: “Big is even better”.

More or less?
When we consider just how many superstores, restaurants, departments chains and other outlets opened in the 1990’s, then it is hardly any wonder if, we as consumers can’t take any more input – we are desperately seeking an escape. In London for example, there was so much going on in the New Bond Street shopping in the late 1990’s that it would have been almost impossible to have pictured the same scene a mere seven years earlier when the very same street was almost “dead”. This trend was all started by one little sentence that got bandied about “New Bond Street it the new ‘in place”. The media reported on DKNY’s new plans to open a 4-story flagship store. The very next week, you heard that Nicole Farhi was opening her own shop with an exclusive restaurant Nicole’s. Then Donna Karan – the flagship store, Gucci expanded, Joseph opened, Mui Mui and Jigsaw set up a shop. The last to open was Prada’s flagship store just across from DKNY. This demonstrates that a little sentence can spark a major epidemic. The fact is that New Bond Street suddenly became the place to shop – the absolute must for tourists and designers. But in the long term, Londoners preferred to shop where it was convenient, cosy and local. Therefore the “small and more intimate” were introduced as the new ultimate shopping experience. But when Zara opened their first shop in Regents Street a couple of years ago, it became the saviour of New Bond Street. The new marathon shopping trail is called “down New Bond Street and up Regent Street.”

Why is it often the small things that make the big difference? I think that it was more fun and a “greater” experience when London only had one Prada and one Zara. Now there are more branches of the same chain and they all compete with one other. Zara is conceived as a chain that stocks cheap designer copies, but Prada as a chain store? I am not convinced.

Dressed for success
I think that the exclusivity and the magic disappear when a product is on display everywhere. Of course you only see one of each item in the shops, but you know that in the warehouse they have loads of the same product. That is probably one of the reasons why small exclusive shops such as “The Cross” in Holland Park and the lifestyle shop Mint in NW1, just to mention some of the more well known ones, have become such fantastic successes. They were hare first, and now you clearly see that the trend has invaded Notting Hill at Ledbury Road and Westbourne Grove in a major way, areas which began to get hip in the late 1990’s. Notting Hill is now the new “escape Mecca” for people who think that “small is beautiful”. Luckily there is room for both big and small alike. When we look into the future we fell that there are two forces working side by side. They are: big, bigger and biggest and small, smaller and smallest. Let them both live side by side in perfect harmony. The big, who promise quality at a reasonable price and the small, who promise quality and exclusivity at higher prices – there are room for both of them on the hit list.

Small things, great impact:

Small cars for big cities
Small mobile phones, laptops and walkmans with big capacity
Small restaurants serving high quality food at reasonable prices
Small portions, great enjoyment.
Small exclusive buys, topped up with buys from the major chain stores
Small countries, great inventions
Small molecules of DNA packed with coded genetic information
Small aromatic experiences, big effect
Small children, big enjoyment.

Big things that makes a difference:

Big parties for your small inner circle (Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s wedding)
Big wide screen televisions for your home
Big chains with a high standard providing small cosy experiences
Big art galleries (The new Tate Modern, London) showing exclusive art
Big visions for a small world: think global, act local
Big distances, close connections, the world-wide web
Big experiences at low cost, nature is back on the agenda
Big families, close relationships
Big children, few enjoyments

Anne Lise Kjaer
February 11, 2001