Vinnie's Store Rebrand
project type
brand redesign
year
2026
my role
lead designer
client
Vincenzo's in Waterloo
project overview
This project began with a deep audit of Vincenzo's, a family-owned Italian grocery store founded in Waterloo in 1967. Through analyzing the store's website, social media, packaging, in-store experience, and competitor landscape (primarily Eataly), the core problem became clear: Vincenzo's had built an incredibly loyal customer base over six decades, but that base was aging and the brand was doing nothing to welcome new people in. The store experience itself was chaotic and overwhelming to first-timers, the packaging communicated nothing about the brand's remarkable history, and the gift card couldn't tell you it was an Italian grocery store. The brand was authentic, but it was accidentally exclusive.
The redesign centered on a single guiding idea: "Nonna's Table." Every decision was filtered through one question — does this feel like pulling up a chair at Nonna's? The rebrand introduced vinnie's as a friendlier sub-brand identity, built around the Powell typeface and an apostrophe-as-icon that layers in Nonna, love, Italy, and Vincenzo's legacy all at once. The colour system, packaging, store mockups, merch, and social strategy were all designed to position Vincenzo's as Waterloo's third place — somewhere you belong just by showing up. The project pushed me to think beyond aesthetics and treat brand design as a tool for genuine business problem-solving: how do you modernize a brand without erasing the soul that made it worth saving in the first place?
This project began with a deep audit of Vincenzo's, a family-owned Italian grocery store founded in Waterloo in 1967. Through analyzing the store's website, social media, packaging, in-store experience, and competitor landscape (primarily Eataly), the core problem became clear: Vincenzo's had built an incredibly loyal customer base over six decades, but that base was aging and the brand was doing nothing to welcome new people in. The store experience itself was chaotic and overwhelming to first-timers, the packaging communicated nothing about the brand's remarkable history, and the gift card couldn't tell you it was an Italian grocery store. The brand was authentic, but it was accidentally exclusive.
The redesign centered on a single guiding idea: "Nonna's Table." Every decision was filtered through one question — does this feel like pulling up a chair at Nonna's? The rebrand introduced vinnie's as a friendlier sub-brand identity, built around the Powell typeface and an apostrophe-as-icon that layers in Nonna, love, Italy, and Vincenzo's legacy all at once. The colour system, packaging, store mockups, merch, and social strategy were all designed to position Vincenzo's as Waterloo's third place — somewhere you belong just by showing up. The project pushed me to think beyond aesthetics and treat brand design as a tool for genuine business problem-solving: how do you modernize a brand without erasing the soul that made it worth saving in the first place?
