Victor Churchill, Sydney

Victor Churchill was originally founded by a Mr James Churchill in the 19th century and the Victor part of the name above the door comes from one of his two sons who took over the business. The Churchill family has in fact long since parted company with the store bearing the family name and today it is owned by premium meat wholesalers Victor and Anthony Puharich, who took control in 2008.

The pair called in Dreamtime Australia Design with a view to transforming the space and the outcome is one of the more remarkable specialist shops that you are likely encounter. Whether it is the charcuterie counter with the dark wood surround, white marble counter and bacon slicer that could be part of a well-chromed Harley Davidson, or the overhead conveyor belt with the ribs of beef, this is not traditional blood-stained apron territory.

Instead, the shopper is presented with a retail environment that wouldn’t look out of place if the meat was removed and a few, say, Prada garments were dotted around the space. This is, of course, high-end merchandise and you approach a store of this kind with the expectation that digging deep will be part of the deal. But it is that most unusual of slaughtered beasts, a store that takes a commodity and makes an experience of it.

It’s a moot point whether this is actually a commercial proposition for all but the most select locations, but it does show what’s possible with even the most mundane of products.