Pondicherry’s prime location, Mission Street is now a home to its native accessory brand, Ayesha. Ayesha Accessories has kicked open the doors of its flagship store in Pondicherry and is all about mixing old and new elements into the space.
Keeping the brand colours and Pondicherry’s aesthetics in mind, Ayesha flagship store space has been conceptually designed. The store front is a see through glass window and the acrylic letter branding shines bold and bright in electric pink. Beautiful hand carved antique doors is mounted on the walls to display the accessories. The fixtures, display stands are all wooden and were sourced from local antique shops, restored and painted in various shades of pastels and white. The walls are painted in neutral shades of grey and white. The oxidised pink flooring gives a fresh look to the store.
To enhance the shopping experience, products are organized by theme, such as pastel, ethnic, or metallic collections, with sub-brands kept on dedicated displays. Products are grouped in displays in colour blocks to suggest pairings and to match outfits. The displays are constantly renewed since every week witnesses new merchandise. A harmonized playlist has been carefully selected for the young female customer base to create a fun and an energetic environment and encourage customers to linger over the displays. And the cheerful, stylish staffs are always on hand to give advice or suggest pairings.
The store also has an unwinding space, PY Café that is a perfect spot for gathering and relaxing after an exhausting day. The café is based on the concept of ‘spread love, be creative and eat well’ and theme vintage pastels.
The café greets customers with a signboard that reads ‘welcome to our loud crazy fun place’ and motivational, mood lighting quotes painted on wooden boards throughout the space. It also has a wall full of old broken clocks that is inspired from Pondicherry’s tag line ‘Give time a break’. The menu is a mixture of cuisines, for example, balsamic dressing does not come as a drizzle but is served as tiny little pearls; the cold coffee is carbonated and the burgers are charcoal black.
PY café has also initiated a campaign on #spreadlove to spread more good vibes around. The customers are given notepads to write letters to their loved ones and the staff posts the same. This lovely space creation is a result of talented people like Stencil Artist/Graffiti Artist – Shunnal Lingade, Metal Sculptor: Rahul KP – Mechanimal, Nithin Sadhu – layer tape artis, Abhinaya – young architect from Chennai and many others.
