Store of the week: Fashion retailer Shasa, Cancun, Mexico

And, the bright colours and sparkly chandeliers over the cash desk notwithstanding, this is a good example of a space where the architecture dominates.

The interior is the work of consultancy Dalziel + Pow and all is white, whether it’s the floors, mannequins or perimeter shelving. This does carry the obvious advantage when it comes to mainstream fashion, which tends to make colour statements, that it allows the stock to do the talking.

It is the central atrium that really impresses however. Here, the store’s design rules are broken - the floor has a high-gloss black matt finish that demarcates the size of the atrium above it, and access to the next level is either via a floating staircase or one of those lifts that stand in the middle of an interior and is a feature in its own right. On the ground floor, a contrast between the area containing the atrium and the perimeter surrounding it is reinforced by reverting back to white, while hot pink acts as a contrast colour at various points across the store.

The point perhaps about this store design is its simplicity, as well as its glamour. Shoppers are offered an interior that has the seeds of making them feel special, while at the same time not over-egging things. There are those, of course, who will comment that atria of the kind found in this store are a license to burn money, but this is about drama and giving people a reason to walk into a shop.

It is certainly more expensive to deploy atria, but on the basis of what is on view here it would seem to be worth it.