Post #279322 by ikitnrev on Wed, Jan 17, 2007 7:44 AM

Visiting the Taschen website, I came across this book which will be released soon: "Shop America - Mid Century Storefront Design"

From what the website shows, this book will be a great complement to both the Book of Tiki and Sven's upcoming Tiki Modern. The illustrations of storefront designs (the website show a liquor store, a restaurant, a bank, a dress shop, a men's furnishing shop, a dairy bar, a china shop, and 3 others) had me drooling.

http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/books/popculture/work/facts/05015.htm

From the Taschen website:

In postwar America, everything pointed to a bright, shiny future. Sheer optimism and opulence informed everything from automobile design to architecture, infusing design with larger-than-life planes and curves. Storefront design of the era is particularly indicative of this phenomenon, incarnated here in an extensive collection of hand-illustrated shop window designs from 1938 to 1950. These spectacular, often grandiose plans for grocery stores, shoe shops, beauty salons, bakeries, and more are reminders of a time when stores were sacred shrines for the congregation of American shoppers—impressive and even slightly intimidating, just like the future itself. Collected for this unique book, the designs viewed in retrospect reveal the mindset of a unique period in history.

The Taschen website says this book will be available in February, but Amazon.com site says April.

Vern