Housing Works
Experiential Retail & Hospitality
Strategic Design, Experience Design
Industry. . ……. …
Expertise
Operating at break-even, the Housing Works Bookstore cannot generate surplus revenue to fund its broader nonprofit mission. We set out to reimagine it as an experiential space where culture, commerce, and community converge.
The Challenge: Transform a nonprofit bookstore in New York City into a global experiential destination that attracts both tourists and locals, diversifies revenue streams, and expands its offerings to increase revenue and public awareness.
Methods: Conducted field research using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including stakeholder interviews, customer observation, and market analysis. Synthesized insights to identify key opportunity areas, then developed and tested concepts through ideation workshops and rapid prototyping. Built a sustainable business model and value proposition aligned with the organization’s mission.
The Outcome: Proposed The Branch Collective, a new venture that repositions the Housing Works bookstore as an experiential cultural destination. The concept introduces a space centered around tasting, trying, and conversation, designed to increase dwell time, unlock new revenue streams, and strengthen community engagement while supporting the nonprofit’s broader impact.
I am a strategic designer energized by working at the intersection of data, creativity, storytelling, and design. With a background in brand strategy, I am passionate about creating immersive experiences and building memorable brand campaigns.
Emma Kowalczyk
Pattra is an artist and strategic designer based in New York City. Originally from Bangkok, Thailand with a background in communication design and fashion, Pattra works across different disciplines from art direction, to brand identity, to illustration.
Pattra Sikkamann
Giordana has driven department and brand growth through strategic analysis and sales projections, enhancing gross margin, turnover, and ROI. She has expanded private labels, developed new profitability strategies, and negotiated with global suppliers.
Giordana Cué
RESEARCH & SYNTHESIS
Our process began with an extensive investigation of the existing bookstore and its overarching organization. We then conducted a competitive analysis by visiting eight other market competitors. We completed a series of in-depth interviews with The Bookstore employees and customers, competitor employees and customers, and potential future customers. Utilizing a series of strategic design frameworks, we identified weaknesses in the current setup and uncovered potential opportunity areas. This approach allowed us to narrow our focus and ideate innovative solutions.
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Ecosystem Map
Mapped the broader organizational ecosystem to understand how the bookstore operates within the larger structure. This clarified relationships across stakeholders, programs, and revenue flows, providing a systems-level view that informed our strategic direction.
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Compelling Experience Map
Mapped the customer journey across key stages and experience criteria to identify friction points and opportunities. While the initial experience was positive, engagement dropped over time, revealing a need to create a more sustained and memorable interaction to support retention and loyalty.
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Competitive Analysis
Analyzed eight bookstores across varying formats, locations, and offerings to understand how different models drive engagement and revenue. Through site visits and in-depth interviews with staff and customers, we identified best practices and strategic opportunities to enhance the bookstore’s positioning and experience.
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SWOT Analysis
Conducted a SWOT analysis to assess internal strengths and weaknesses alongside external opportunities and threats. This framework helped prioritize focus areas and identify where strategic intervention could improve performance and overall customer experience.
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Empathy Map
Used empathy mapping to uncover customer needs, motivations, and behaviors. This helped surface key pain points and expectations, ensuring that proposed solutions were grounded in a clear understanding of the user experience.
CONCEPT
The Branch Collective is an adaptable, immersive experience offered as a special event at The Bookstore which fosters conversation and connection through a facilitated discussion with accompanied drink and food pairing.
The Branch Collective crafts an interactive experience that blends cultural interests such as reading with product tasting activities such as wines, beers, and teas. This experience aims to promote awareness of the bookstore, its products, the core, and activities, while encouraging customer engagement and consumption and creating a community space for people to interact.
The Branch Collective is: New Beginnings. Interconnection. Vitality and flexibility. A global reach.
What makes a truly remarkable experience?
A truly remarkable experience, from our perspective, lies at the intersection of sensory engagement, community connection, and storytelling. We believe that an experience should captivate all senses—sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound—to fully immerse individuals. It should foster a sense of community, encouraging connections and interactions among participants. Lastly, it should leverage intentional curation to create a compelling narrative arc, guiding visitors through a meaningful and memorable journey. By blending these three aspects, we craft experiences that resonate deeply and leave a lasting impact.
APPLICATIONS
Event Partnerships
Our event partnerships category focuses on collaborating with event companies to deliver innovative and tailored experiences. We propose working with companies like We Met IRL to reimagine dating events, offering a new lens through which people can connect. Through these collaborations, we plan to bring fresh ideas and exciting opportunities for building connections.
Corporate Team Bonding
We offer a large-scale, high-impact alternative to traditional corporate events. Our program is designed to foster company connections and facilitate coworker collaboration in dynamic and meaningful ways that go beyond standard team-building exercises. These events not only strengthen team bonds but also provide a refreshing change from typical corporate gatherings, enhancing overall employee satisfaction.
Event Partnerships
Our event partnerships category focuses on collaborating with event companies to deliver innovative and tailored experiences. We propose working with companies like We Met IRL to reimagine dating events, offering a new lens through which people can connect. Through these collaborations, we plan to bring fresh ideas and exciting opportunities for building connections.
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS
This business model canvas framework helped us to clearly define and structure The Branch Collective's strategic approach. By identifying key partners, activities, resources, and value propositions, we have developed a robust plan that leverages collaborations and unique experiences to attract and engage our target customer segments. The framework has also enabled us to outline effective channels for reaching our audience, understand our cost structure, and diversify revenue streams, ensuring a sustainable and profitable business model.
PROTOTYPE
We created a high-fidelity prototype of a Branch Collective event centered around pairing wine with poetry, exploring themes of love, longing, loss, and nostalgia. This prototype event meticulously combined sensory experiences and storytelling, engaging participants with carefully selected wines that complemented the emotional tones of the poetry readings. While this particular event focused on poetry and wine, each Branch Collective event will revolve around a different theme—whether cultural, artistic, or otherwise. By varying themes, we aim to continually offer fresh and immersive experiences, fostering community and connection through diverse and meaningful narratives.
SUCCESS METRICS
We measured success first and foremost through transformation in the room. A key indicator was mindset shift, such as attendees who previously felt disconnected from poetry leaving eager to explore it further. We also looked for emotional openness and sustained engagement, assessing whether guests felt comfortable sharing personal experiences and actively participating throughout the event. Interest in purchasing the featured book and wine, along with expressed intent to attend future gatherings, served as tangible signals of resonance.
To formalize our evaluation, we conducted a post-prototyping feedback workshop to review participant reflections and assess the experience against our initial hypotheses. This allowed us to synthesize insights, identify moments of impact, and refine the concept for future iterations.
PROFIT PROJECTIONS
The profit projections for The Branch Collective demonstrate the financial potential of three event package options: Basic, Wine Partnership, and Wine Partnership & Booklets. The Basic package, with a cost per person of $18.90 and a selling price of $40.00, yields a 54% gross margin. The Wine Partnership package, with a reduced cost per person of $9.88 and the same selling price, offers a higher gross margin of 75%. The Wine Partnership & Booklets package, priced at $50.00 per person, maintains a 71% gross margin despite the additional booklet costs. Projecting for the first year, with 1,000 attendees, the total revenue is estimated at $50,000, with a gross margin profit of $40,120 and an overall gross margin of 71%. These figures highlight the profitability and strategic advantage of leveraging partnerships to enhance value and reduce costs, ensuring financial sustainability for The Branch Collective's events.