Alt Media
Music
Music Retail Store
Case Study: Chicago Blues Store – Designing and Organizing a Cross-Brand Music Retail Hub
The Chicago Blues Store wasn’t just an e-commerce build—it was a full-blown inventory, branding, and ecosystem integration project. Designed to serve as the merchandise hub for a collection of interconnected blues projects, including Chicago Slim, Chicago Blues All-Stars, and the Chicago Blues Society, this Shopify-based site had to work hard: look beautiful, function flawlessly, and support multiple brands under one digital roof.
While Shopify is known for ease of use in some circles, building out this site was anything but easy. With a massive amount of product data, categories, and branding to align, this project demanded a serious mix of creative direction, patience, and technical organization.
My Role
- Full store setup on Shopify
Creative direction and visual styling
Category planning and product organization
Inventory upload and formatting
Cross-site linking and brand alignment
Graphics and visual consistency across platforms
Testing and optimization across devices
Design & Structure
The store needed to reflect the soul of the Chicago blues scene—urban grit meets historic reverence. I designed a clean, dark-toned layout that let the merch shine while staying true to the aesthetic I’d built across Slim’s site, the All-Stars, and the Society.
Merch was pulled from across projects:
Apparel and accessories for Chicago Blues All-Stars
Historical merchandise for the Chicago Blues Society
Signature items tied to Chicago Slim
Everything needed to be categorized, styled, and described accurately—with consistent branding and SEO metadata throughout.
Key Features
Branded Product Collections: Each project has its own collection, with tailored product images and copy
Homepage Layout: Visually rich banners and branded highlights
Cross-Site Integration: Navigation between the store and other project sites
Mobile Optimization: Full responsiveness across screen sizes
Custom SEO Metadata: Built-in structure for search visibility
Unified Cart and Checkout: Simplified user experience, no matter which brand the merch came from
Outcome
The result is a sleek, unified store that sells merchandise across multiple blues projects while maintaining a clear, user-friendly experience. Despite Shopify’s many limitations, the site is visually compelling, well-organized, and a major asset to the entire Chicago Blues digital ecosystem.
This was a labor-intensive build. The product entry alone was monumental. But I’m proud of the result—it’s proof that even when the tools are limiting, good design and obsessive attention to detail can elevate the experience.
Visit the Site
Building a Store?
Whether you choose Shopify, Woocommerce, Etsy or any other platform, I’ve got your back. If you would like to see more stores I’ve created, please ask me.