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Spaces That Feel: Consumer Realities 2026

How do people really want branded spaces to behave?

People’s relationships with spaces are emotional, messy and often contradictory. Yet retail keeps reaching for formulaic tropes about how people want to engage with brands IRL, and they’re no longer resonating. We asked over 5,000 people across 10 urban cities what they actually want from retail spaces. Our findings challenge some familiar assumptions about how physical experiences are designed.

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