Richmond, Virginia: Last Conceptual BEST Products Store

I remember the catalogs growing up as a kid. It was kinda cool to actually see a store. Too bad they didn't make it.

In the '70s and early '80s, BEST Products, a retail chain based in Richmond, built nine showrooms designed by SITE (Sculpture In The Environment), the same design firm responsible for the Ghost Parking Lot. Each store had a unique facade. One was made to look like the front brick wall was peeling away from the building. In another, a whole corner of the building detached to allow customers to enter and exit. Another had a tropical rain forest in between the front glass and the actual front of the building.

Nearly all of the store buildings have either been torn down or had their unique fronts removed. This one in Richmond is the last BEST Products store with its '70s/'80s facade still intact. Called the Forest Showroom, it was made to look like the front of the store had been pulled away from the rest of it, allowing trees to grow in the space between. BEST Products is long gone, but the building is still there and now houses the West End Presbyterian Church.