Retail design firm to be acquired

JLL has entered into an agreement to acquire Big Red Rooster, a brand experience and retail design services company based in Columbus, Ohio.



The acquisition, expected to close in January 2016, will expand JLL’s project management and design services with dedicated brand experience and design experts who can serve a broad mix of retail, food service, grocery and healthcare companies across the United States.



Big Red Rooster counts Under Armour, FedEx, T-Mobile, American Express and Nationwide Children’s Hospital among its clients.



“Adding Big Red Rooster’s team of designers and brand experts gives JLL a new level of expertise and a unique understanding about how important the customer experience is today to retailers and other consumer-facing companies,” said Todd Burns, president of PDS, Americas, JLL. “This acquisition strengthens our project and development capabilities while adding further expertise to our retail multi-site and brokerage services.”



Martin Beck and Aaron Spiess, who founded Big Red Rooster in 2002, will run this new arm of JLL’s project and development services business in the Americas. The firm’s entire staff of more than 100 strategists, designers, architects and digital experts is expected to join JLL.



“Our business has grown dramatically since it began 13 years ago as companies have realized the need to create multi-channel experiences for their customers,” said Spiess. ”The next step in our evolution is to integrate our strategy and design services with JLL’s project implementation processes to give clients a global and full-service experience for all of their retail brand experience needs.”