Christchurch, a city rattled with complete devastation from the magnitude 6.1 earthquake just 12 months ago, has successfully developed a retail gem right in the middle of an otherwise dormant landscape. Christchurch suffered not only one earthquake, but locals will tell you that 10,000 more in the weeks and months since the first quake shocked this quiet city on the South Island of New Zealand in February 2011.

Although rebuilding in Christchurch will take years, an opportunity to reclaim a sense of retail normalcy has resulted in a quaint and unexpected high-end outdoor mall built totally out of steel shipping containers and landscaped pathways known to locals as simply “The Container Mall.”

This collection of retail stores is a vibrant and authentic collection of spaces. Typical city buildings and store fronts have been replaced with colorful, graphic one and two-story steel containers giving retailers such as 3 Wisemen, Cosmic and Mimco the opportunity to provide locals with a sense of celebration and positivity in an area otherwise surrounded by cranes, rubble and rebuilding.

In addition to retail stores, The Container Mall boasts coffee cafés that are so much a part of the Kiwi culture. Rooftop decks give locals the opportunity to have a coffee and a bite to eat amidst the hustle and bustle below – a stark comparison to the completely desolate and uninhabited city only blocks away.

In South Korea, Tesco Homeplus opened a virtual supermarket in a subway station.

Romanticism, a Chinese women’s wear retailer, designed its Hangzhou flagship of netlike material inspired by woven fabric and the idea that clothing should be like a second skin.

Australia’s health and beauty chain, Aesop, believes unequivocally that good design can improve your life. The brand collaborates with designers and architects to create the stunning showcases for their specialty products with materials of local origin.

In an imaginative use of technology, one retailer created an interactive installation in order to play music that matched the style/genre of the clothes tried on, whether indie, punk, rock or hip hop.

A vending machine is expected to transform the beverage business.

The Quai Branly Museum in Paris, France features a hydroponic Vertical Garden System that allows both plants and buildings to live in harmony with one another.

According to A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index, Brazil ranks as the top developing economy for global retail expansion

Drugstores are tired and old and haven’t changed in a lot of years

An elegant new consignment marketplace in Tokyo encourages customers to recycle belongings they love but no longer need

If you bill yourself as “la banque d’un monde qui change” which means the bank for a changing world, your retail branches need to reflect that ethos

While the U.S. is known for its generic architecture, the rest of the world is not so constrained. Innovative projects from around the world may inspire retailers at home to follow their lead.

The ION Orchard in Singapore represents the best of the Asian design aesthetic