About R.J. Fortmann

R.J. Fortmann is a retail store design and innovation consultant and the founder of Raymond James Design. For more than 25 years he has helped retailers and brands design, test and roll out stores that customers remember and that pay back: from a single fixture to flagship stores, national store rollouts and new retail formats across North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

His work connects four things most firms treat separately: store design, design thinking, customer experience and operational execution. The result is retail environments that look right, work for store teams, and move the numbers that matter: conversion, sales per square foot and cost to build.

Retail store design at scale

R.J. has led store design and development for some of North America's best-known retailers:

• Burlington Stores: directed a 700-store exterior nationwide brand refresh and facade design and branding for 405 new stores.

• Best Buy: led customer experience across 1,100+ stores, generating $135M in conversion impact, and led store design and procurement for market entry and flagships in Mexico, China, Turkey and the U.K.

• Meijer: led creative and visual merchandising services, including award-winning experiential design for the Meijer LPGA events, which reached 100,000+ attendees.

• Dorel Sports/Cycling Sports Group (Cannondale and six other brands): directed global visual merchandising and brand experience across brand stores, shop-in-shops, dealers and big-box partners. Designed innovative displays and events that drove Dealer/franchisee and customer acquisition.

Retail innovation and new store formats

R.J. helps brands prove a concept before they commit capital. He designed one of Texas's first mobile medical cannabis dispensaries, led "Future of Retail" prototype work for Goodblend, and develops concepts for pop-ups, mobile retail, digital touchpoints and robotics-enabled stores. Through Raymond James Design, his recent work includes delivery-experience concepts for KFC and Nuro.

Design thinking that drives business results

A certified practitioner of design thinking and a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, R.J. starts with the customer and the store team, not the floor plan. That approach has produced measurable results: $135M in conversion impact at Best Buy, 20% lower rollout costs at Parallel, and in-store digital uptime raised from 48% to 98% through better processes and training.

The future of retail

R.J. uses AI-assisted visualization and generative tools to move concepts from idea to client approval faster, and he writes about how AI, robotics and experiential design will reshape physical stores. His view: technology should make stores more human, not less.

Industries served

Big-box and Specialty retail · Off-price and department stores · Grocery · Sporting goods · Consumer electronics · Cannabis and regulated retail · Quick-service restaurants and coffee · Consumer brands and wholesale

Frequently asked questions

What does Raymond James Design do?
Raymond James Design is an independent retail design and innovation consultancy. Its services include store design and prototypes, brand environments, visual merchandising, fixture design, design thinking workshops and future-of-retail concept development.

Who has R.J. Fortmann worked with?
Best Buy, Burlington Stores, Meijer, Dorel Sports and Cannondale, Parallel and Goodblend, plus concept work for brands including KFC and Nuro.

Where is R.J. based?
R.J. works with clients across the U.S. and internationally, and travels for site visits, installations and workshops.

Is Raymond James Design affiliated with Raymond James Financial?
No. Raymond James Design is an independent design consultancy named after its founder, Raymond James "R.J." Fortmann.

Let's talk

Planning a new store concept, a rollout or a test of what's next?