MY NAME IS JEN GIBBONS.
I like making places that make a difference.
Over the years I've worked to design and build hundreds of bike and outdoor shops: spaces where seamless workflow, vibe, and community engagement are critical priorities. Most recently I led the development and launch of new retail experiences for Specialized, one of the world’s leading cycling brands. Evolving an innovative brand's presence from small footprints in dealer-operated shops to immersive brand-pure destinations has fueled my passion for the power of physical spaces.
Whether the environment is a flagship store, a pop-up, an expo, or even an office, the opportunity to make a lasting impression in person transcends what's possible with exclusively digital platforms. Sensory experiences and personal interactions create powerful, visceral responses. In specialty retail, where people shop to reinforce their identities and passions, emotional connections are paramount. Working with bike shops I saw first-hand how optimizing a space's design to support these connections can influence an individual's lifestyle, a community's cohesion, and a brand's impact. When great brands fully leverage in-person experiences, the potential is massive.
How I Work
COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP, DIVERSE TEAMS
More than 15 years of design project management, concept development, and team leadership inform my belief in the power of diverse teams and strong collaboration. Designers, business leaders, and end users often bring very different perspectives and priorities to a project. I believe in creating space and respect for all of these varied viewpoints. Aligning diverse collaborators around a common vision builds excitement, investment and shared ownership across functions. It also helps distill key priorities to yield results that inspire and perform.
THOUGHTFUL HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN
I bring to this work a deep interest in the ways that physical space design affects how we feel, move, and interact. Even small design decisions can affect flow, atmosphere, and behavior. At Specialized, I changed the store design development process to include a dedicated review by Retail Operations experts. This requires project teams to analyze how floor plans influenced things like a service technician's efficiency or a customer's journey to drop off a bike for repair. Adding this step led to better designs with fewer pain points and more streamlined workflows.
LOOKING BEYOND THE TARGETS
It's important to set and achieve meaningful KPIs, but pursuing targets with a laser focus can lead to tunnel vision. I promote a broader view. Framing each goal as a step in a larger mission helps keep our perspective and long-term priorities calibrated. Reinforcing this mindset fosters excitement and creative thinking, and it empowers teams to aim higher, find unexpected solutions, and accelerate progress.
KEEPING IT FUN
I pour a lot of energy into my work, and I'm at my best when I have fun doing it. Taking delight in what we do inspires creativity and improves both the quality of our output and the nature of our impact. I especially enjoy collaborating with others who share this perspective.
WEARING THE HATS
My experience spans the full project lifecycle from strategic planning to final delivery. I've overseen early concepting and ideation, design development, permitting, construction, custom fixtures, signage, and final merchandising. I've forged strong working relationships with third-party providers and with internal partners in Marketing, Sales, Retail Ops, Event Management, and Executive Leadership. I've managed complex programs, lean budgets, aggressive expectations, and incredible teams. Bring it on!
How I play
(and why it matters)
Outside of work, I'm a recreational endurance athlete and outdoor enthusiast. Navigating backwoods trails, training for marathons, and venturing out on solo paddling excursions, I've learned to value discipline, patience, community, and the wisdom of experts.
Through these pursuits I've also learned that while big goals can be well-served by practical metrics, focusing too narrowly on those metrics can cause us to lose sight of a more important mission. (It's hard to see the forest OR the trees when you're looking at the Garmin!) This perspective informs my approach to work, where I often bridge the divide between the data-minded and the blue-sky visionaries. I've seen teams abandon vision in order to meet short-term targets, and this almost always creates setbacks. Numbers matter, but only in support of a bigger vision or long-term goal. Balancing priorities fuels success.