For more than 26 years, Anthony Hoffman’s career has been shaped by instinct, experience and an unwavering belief that great retail design is about far more than aesthetics. As founder and director of ACRD, a renowned Melbourne-based interior design and architecture studio, Hoffman has helped redefine some of Australia’s most recognisable retail brands – from R.M. Williams and Nike to Lovisa, Platypus and Priceline – creating spaces that don’t just look good, but deeply connect with customers.
What started as a fresh-out-of-school job drawing supermarket checkouts has evolved into one of Australia’s leading retail and brand experience studios, with a philosophy firmly grounded in customer behaviour, storytelling and experiential retail.
A Career Built From the Ground Up
Hoffman’s pathway into design was far from traditional. Leaving school at 16, he landed his first role with shopfitting company Trollope, Silverwood & Beck, drawing checkout systems for Coles supermarkets.
“I wasn’t very good at school,” Hoffman admits. “But I was really good at drawing.”
That early exposure to manufacturing, cabinetry and retail environments laid the foundations for what would become a lifelong fascination with how people move through and experience spaces.
After roles in engineering and architecture firms – while simultaneously studying architecture at night through RMIT – Hoffman found himself immersed in Melbourne’s design world during the recession of the early 1990s. When work dried up, he travelled to Hong Kong before unexpectedly landing a warehouse role at Country Road on his return to Australia.
That moment would prove career-defining.
Within a week, Hoffman had moved from the warehouse into Country Road’s drawing office under the mentorship of retail designer Russell Granger – a relationship he still credits as one of the most influential of his career.
“He taught me everything about retail,” Hoffman says. “How you tell stories in a space, what customers need to see first, how lighting works, how people move through a store – absolutely everything.”
At a time when Australian retail was rapidly evolving, Hoffman was exposed to global retail concepts years before they became mainstream locally. Through Granger, he studied emerging international brands including Zara, Gap and Massimo Duit, learning how retail environments could create emotional responses and shape customer behaviour.
Building a Business – and a Philosophy
After several years working across retail design studios and launching his first boutique practice, Hoffman eventually founded ACRD in 2000 from a studio built at his home.
Within months, the business was growing rapidly.
Today, ACRD operates across retail, hospitality and architecture, delivering projects throughout Australia and internationally. While the studio has expanded significantly over the years, Hoffman says the business has intentionally evolved into a more focused, collaborative structure.
“We realised we didn’t want to be the biggest studio – we wanted to do the best work,” he says.
Central to Hoffman’s approach is a belief that retail design should never be purely decorative. Instead, every design decision should support customer engagement, brand identity and commercial performance.
“People think design is about selecting finishes and making things look pretty. It’s absolutely not that,” he explains. “If you design a store correctly, you can completely transform the way customers behave – and the results come through the till.”
One of Hoffman’s most notable examples came during his time working with Priceline, where a simple layout adjustment – relocating cosmetics to the left-hand side of the store – dramatically increased sales.
“Everyone thought I was crazy,” he recalls. “But people naturally move left when they enter a store. We flipped the layout and cosmetics turnover doubled.”
‘Moments of Truth’
Over time, Hoffman’s design philosophy has evolved into what he describes as creating “moments of truth” – key moments where customers emotionally connect with a brand and space.
At ACRD, this philosophy revolves around three core principles: attract, engage and connect.
“When someone walks into a retail environment, you need to attract them first,” Hoffman explains. “Then you engage them with the product or story, and finally you create a connection – through the space, the sound, the smell, the service or the atmosphere.”
That thinking has shaped some of the studio’s most recognisable projects, including the original Lovisa concept stores and the evolution of R.M. Williams’ retail spaces.
Hoffman describes the recently completed R.M. Williams George Street flagship as one of the rare projects that genuinely exceeded his own expectations.
“You walk in and instantly want to touch everything,” he says. “The textures, the materials, the atmosphere – it just feels right.”
The results speak for themselves. Hoffman says redesigned R.M. Williams stores have consistently delivered significant increases in performance, particularly across apparel sales.
The Future of Retail is Experiential
For Hoffman, the future of retail lies firmly in experience-led environments – spaces that give customers something they simply cannot replicate online.
“I think people are moving away from transactional shopping,” he says. “They want experiences. They want to feel something.”
Post-COVID, Hoffman believes customers are placing greater value on physical connection, hospitality and community-driven spaces, pushing brands to rethink what stores can offer.
One example is Courtside – a large-scale experiential retail concept that Hoffman co-founded that combines basketball courts, retail, food, fitness and community spaces under one roof.
“It’s retail mixed with lifestyle and community,” he says. “Parents can shop while kids play basketball. People can train, eat, socialise – it becomes a destination, not just a store.”
Hoffman sees this blending of retail, entertainment and hospitality as one of the industry’s most important shifts, alongside increasing use of sensory design – including lighting, sound and scent – to shape customer experiences.
“Retail spaces now need to create emotion,” he says. “That’s what people remember.”
Bringing the RM Williams Story to Life in the UK
A prime example of Hoffman’s innate ability to infuse emotion into a retail fitout and really tell a story is ACRD’s latest overseas venture: R.M. Williams’ new store in Guildford – the fifth R.M. Williams store ACRD has designed in the UK.
By leaning into the historic nature of the brand in the UK as opposed to the Australian stores which look and feel more modern, the store feels more localised and grounded, honouring the historic building and “one of Surrey’s most characterful market towns.”
The team sourced local antique furniture and display items that sit alongside commissioned artwork by First Nations artist Tiarna Herczeg, to create a space that celebrates British interior design with a nod to the iconic Australian brand’s heritage.
“Today’s retail customer demands more from the retail experience and can tell when a brand is ‘phoning it in’ or trying to adjust their direction and story to meet a trend for appearances, as opposed to a brand like R.M. Williams who puts their money where their mouth is,” explains Hoffman.
Always Evolving
Even after more than 25 years in the industry, Hoffman says the ever-evolving nature of retail design continues to fuel his creativity.
“What continues to inspire me is the opportunity to give purpose to the brands and spaces we design,” he says. “Retail is constantly evolving, and the challenge of solving problems, responding to changing consumer behaviour, and shaping meaningful experiences keeps the industry dynamic and engaging.”
For Hoffman, the future of retail and commercial design lies in creating genuine human connection through physical environments.
“The future of retail lies in creating spaces that genuinely connect with people,” he says. “Designing environments that feel warm, welcoming and experience-driven has the ability to elevate everyday interactions and create lasting emotional connections – that’s what makes the future of design exciting.”
And if he could offer one piece of advice to his younger self at the beginning of his career?
“Trust your instincts and don’t overcomplicate the creative process,” Hoffman says. “Often, the strongest design direction is the first one that genuinely feels right. Experience simply teaches you to trust it sooner.”
