The design reduces the components of the standard Aca Joe shop to a few simple elements – a clean aesthetic that would be strong enough to take the various alternative approaches required. The previous stores featured heavy wooden shelving and high stacks of clothing. The new design eschewed this 'woody western' look.
Instead, the new stores were composed from a series of integral components - a long, wenge wood table for serving, display, purchasing and wrapping goods, a poured concrete floor that flowed, unbroken throughout each unit, independently lit wall shelving, recessed wall hanging, several free-standing metal shelving units and one large photographic image. Plaster walls and ceiling are painted white and the rear wall of each store is clad in backlit etched glass.
The wood table, raw concrete floor and metal boxes all provide a tough, almost utilitarian, aesthetic to contrast with the clothing on display. The poured concrete floor is inlaid with a stainless steel grid, providing the geometry to frame each of these quite disparate elements, unifying them and allowing each store to become a composition – an alternative arrangement of identical elements.
There is also a sound commercial reason for allowing such flexibility; the components can be rearranged within each different-sized units in order to provide a consistency of appearance, yet also maximise the amount of available space for selling.