Chelsea Market

Building a brand that’s more than cookie-cutter

Chelsea Market is the heart of New York City’s ultra-hip meatpacking district. Once a Nabisco plant (and the birthplace of the Oreo cookie) it was a daring new retail and office space idea that needed a clear, powerful identity.

Manhattan’s Chelsea Market was not always the tourist attraction it is today. It didn’t always draw more than 6 million visitors a year from across the country and around the world. It wasn’t always one of the great food halls of the world, with more than 35 vendors purveying everything from soup to nuts, wine to coffee, cheese to cheesecake. And there weren’t always offices of hip companies and TV production studios on its upper floors. Once it was a National Biscuit Company relic whose claim to fame was the Oreo cookie.

Before. The personality of the Market was completely absent in a generic cube

Bring a vision to life

For Square360, the challenge of Chelsea Market was to create a brand and visual identity that united the patchwork quilt of “mom and pop” food shops, specialty eateries, and boutique shops on the ground floor with the hip office spaces on the floors above.

Our solution was a hand-drawn tapestry of a logo and a design that captures the area’s historic industrial vibe.

The birth of the cow. The new Chelsea Market logo embraces the neighborhood’s meatpacking past while celebrating its vibrant gastronomic present. It’s unique, bold and fun.

Market merch. The new brand was promoted on an assortment of products reflecting the food-oriented heart of the Market.

Outdoor. To extend the inviting vibe, the logo was hand painted on the side of the building and included several, unique hand-drawn signs.

Back to the future

Chelsea Market had several established tenants, but sought to expand their appeal to “Silicone Alley” companies by leveraging the retail side as a unique amenity.

Large companies like Google and IAC/InterActiveCorp have found homes in Chelsea. Of the 1.2 million square feet of commercial space, 780,000 square feet is leased to technology and media companies like Scripps Networks (which owns the Food Network) and Yext, an Internet marketing company.

Identity kit. Square360 developed a modular brochure system designed to showcase each of the vacant spaces as well as excite potential tenants with the overall aesthetic and culture of Chelsea Market

Interiors. To promote vacant spaces to the brokerage community, we designed large format wall hangings and indoor wall banners with textures reflecting the materials found in Chelsea Market vignettes. These shaped the overall experience as visitors first entered.