Neat interview at BusinessWeek about innovative retail achitecture with New Retail author Raul Barraneche:
[W]hat interests both the company and the architects involved is the fact that retail spaces are, by nature, building types that allow for innovation. Stores offer quick turnaround times, as opposed to, say, a residence or a museum. […]To paraphrase [architect] Zaha Hadid, shopping is an effective way to see a city; these days, to see what’s new in architecture, the most efficient thing to do is to go and look at stores.
Make sure you check out the accompanying slideshow.