2021 Eat Drink Design Awards: Best Retail Design

Jury comment

A retail space inside a bar or cafe is often a lesson in awkward trade-offs, but not at Little Prince Wine. Here, underneath the Prince Hotel in St Kilda, a counter selling cheese, cold cuts, wine and dry goods sits comfortably within an intimate bar, the two functions of the venue complementing each other and making the overall space richer. Standout features include zinc countertops, an eye-catching counter fridge and illuminated metal shelving, but it’s a striking green-tiled back wall that delineates the retail from the rest of the venue and draws in takeaway customers. Still, this relatively small venue encourages exploration of its line of drink fridges and timber wine shelves, and a cellar tucked down a second staircase. “Very often you compromise putting retail in a restaurant space,” said one juror. “But for these elements to work together and make each other richer, I think is pretty extraordinary.”

Design statement

Rather than being designed as a discrete retail and hospitality venue, Little Prince Wine is imbued with a sense of connection to other parts of the hotel. Signage and sight lines, including one carefully framed view through a new window into the Public Bar and out to Fitzroy Street, are always hinting at something beyond. Beneath the main space, an old cellar provides an additional dining area and an extension to the retail offering. It’s been updated with a waiter station and custom zinc table, while the existing bottle storage racks and timber floor have been retained and restored. Carefully choreographed lighting ensures that the mood here is darkly dramatic, marking this subterranean vault as a rather special place to seek out fine wine and goods.

Project credits

Design practice: IF Architecture; Project team: Iva Foschia, Tamara Glick, Anouska Milstein, Meagan Brooks

Little Prince Wine is built on the land of the Boon Wurrung people.

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See the whole gallery of images at the Eat Drink Design Awards website.

The 2021 Eat Drink Design Awards are organized by Architecture Media and supported by supporting partners Roca, Latitude and Yal Yal Estate; and presenting partner James Richardson Furniture.

The Eat Drink Design Awards are endorsed by the Australian Institute of Architects and the Design Institute of Australia.