New Store 3.0 is Nieuwe Instituut’s third iteration of an innovative, sustainable shopping concept. Displaying products designed to benefit the planet, the store invites visitors to reflect on their role as global consumers. 

Key features 

Having successfully opened two New Store pop-ups over the past two years – the first at Dutch Design Week 2023 in Eindhoven and the second at Milan Design Week 2024 – Nieuwe Instituut recently unveiled the third iteration of its sustainable shopping concept. Housed in the foyer of the Nieuwe Instituut building in Rotterdam’s Museumpark district, New Store 3.0 brings together the innovative, research-led work of seven designers to imagine a new format of ‘regenerative’ retail. Rather than extracting from the earth, the products, which include a biodegradable urn and a 3D-printed sculpture for garden animals to inhabit, aim to give back to the environment. 

The products are displayed on several lightweight timber tables, supported by a modular aluminium tube structure. Vinyl graphics on the floor infuse the space with colour and help create a focal point for visitors to gather around, while stacked cardboard boxes separate the store from the rest of the foyer. Information brochures hang from the tables and boxes, encouraging those interested to learn more about the products on display. Together with students from the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, Nieuwe Instituut developed the New Store Regenerative Label, a hallmark indicating the degree to which a certain product benefits the environment. New Store 3.0 will remain open for a year, after which it will be developed into a permanent store with a rotating collection of products. 

FRAME’s take 

Shopping sustainably is as much about how people buy as it is about what they buy. Foregoing flashy displays and immersive features, New Store 3.0 relies on a simple, stripped-back design language to allow its products to take centre stage. Brochures and clever sustainability labels encourage visitors to more deeply engage with products and better understand their future impacts on the environment. Prioritizing well-informed purchases over impulse buys, the store slows down the shopping experience to match the pace of Nieuwe Instituut’s exhibitions, which offer the physical and mental space to take a breath, stimulating conversation and inviting critical reflection. With the continued integration of digital technologies accelerating retail's pace, New Store 3.0 is a refreshing reminder that sustainable shopping can pivot on transparency and honesty and provide opportunities to learn. Its modular, low-cost construction communicates that the brands stocked (as well as the museum itself) are making a genuine effort to become more sustainable – in essence, that they practise what they preach.