Retail design the middle of town. The first shopping centre in the Netherlands was built in the 1950s, as retail design ideas began spreading east. The next evolution of retail design was the creation of the boutique in the 1960s, which emphasized retail design run by individuals. Some of the earliest examples of boutiques are the Biba boutique created by Barbara Hulanicki and the Habitat line of stores made by Terence Conran. The rise of the boutique was followed, in the next two decades, with an overall increase in consumer spending across the developed world. This rise made retail design shift to
Steve Thomas (artist) Paul McCartney as well as brands such as Levi's, Lucky Strike, Subaru and British American Racing. With Alwyn W. Turner, Thomas is the author of Welcome To Big Biba. In 2008 Thomas was the subject of the exhibition Big Biba And Other Stories at London gallery Chelsea Space. Thomas attended Latymer Upper School in Hammersmith, west London, and studied painting at Chelsea School of Art, supplementing his grant with work as a male model and waiter at restaurants on the adjacent King's Road. He also helped realise the psychedelic design by art collective Binder Edwards & Vaughn for the facade