The imaginative, one-of-a-kind Best Products retail buildings of the 1970s and 1980s are getting their moment in Richmond. Imagining Best Products (May 7–June 21) at The Branch Museum of Design traces the visually radical retail experiments led by Richmonders Francis and Sydney Lewis—Best’s owners and passionate art collectors—who partnered with architects James Wines, Malcolm Holzman, and others to bring their art-plus-commerce vision to life.
Beginning in 1970, when the Lewises commissioned Wines to design an unconventional store, more than 10 unique Best buildings were eventually built—from Richmond to Sacramento. Their deconstructivist exterior features—crumbling walls, tilting facades, and other architectural provocations—delighted and mystified visitors while capturing the attention of architects and engineers. Through images, scale models, and film, the exhibition traces how these stores generated a media firestorm and helped redefine retail architecture in late 20th-century America.
“Architecture is rarely this much fun,” says architect Don O’Keefe, the exhibition’s curator. “You don’t need to know architectural history to understand what makes them special.”
Imagining Best Products was conceived by O’Keefe and former Best employee and architectural historian Edwin Slipek, who passed away in December 2025. O’Keefe carried the project forward, conducting research and sourcing materials. He also taught a graduate course at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design on Best Products’ architecture and brand identity—the latter designed by the noted New York firm Chermayeff & Geismar—with his students contributing to elements of the exhibition.
“Best is a Richmond story, but it connects to much bigger currents in the history of art and design,” O’Keefe says. “These buildings are studied around the world, and it all started here with the Lewises. This exhibition brings that story home, and makes the whole narrative visible in a new way.”
This article originally appeared in the June 2026 issue.
