To push back against ‘coach potato’ commerce, brands go bold with in-store experiences.
Starbuck’s newest and biggest Reserve Roastery opened this month on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. A 35,000 square-foot, five-story tribute to coffee culture, the bustling location intends to be less about selling coffee and more about extolling the art and science behind it. The store is part of a broader movement towards “experiential retail” as a way for brands to deepen connections with their customers.
Experiential stores like Starbucks Reserve Roastery give customers a deeper connection to coffee craft.
Consumer data backs up this recent obsession with experiences. According to the Storefront retail blog, 43% of consumers are likely to spend more with a retailer who offers a meaningful experience, while 46% identified environment as a key element of a meaningful shopping experience. Here are five types of retail experiences coming to a city near you:
1. Destination Experiences
Starbucks Reserve Roastery | Chicago, IL
The sheer scale of this Willy Wonka-does-coffeeshop experience will attract the curious and loyal. The company describes its sixth roastery opening as a “…multi-sensory destination of epic proportions…both workshop and stage, it is a three-dimensional window into the coffee journey.”
Take a three-dimensional coffee journey at Chicago’s new Starbucks Reserve Roastery
2. Purpose-Driven Experiences
Lululemon | Bloomington, MN
REI | Farmington, UT
Brands that have a higher calling like conservation or well-being can tap into their own relevant experiences and integrate them into retail operations. The newly opened, 19,700-square foot Lululemon store at the Mall of America in Minnesota includes a meditation space and locker rooms, as well as a full-sized fitness studio for mallgoers ready to work out. In a similar fashion, REI has opened four new stores all with experiential components. The Farmington, Utah, store,
for example, offers programs about canyoneering, avalanche safety and wilderness first aid. The company see its experiential retail stores as ‘launching pads’ for outdoor activities.
Lululemon offers a fitness studio at its
new Mall of America location.
3. The Mall Reimagined
Nickelodeon Universe | American Dream Mall, East Rutherford, NJ
In the face of high vacancies, malls have been getting creative. In the works for the last 16 years, the American Dream mall is a 3-million square foot space split between entertainment and retail experiences. Its anchor “store” is Nickelodeon Universe, the largest indoor theme park in America at 8.5 acres, featuring 35 rides and roller coasters, with chances for the kids to interact with characters such as SpongeBob and Dora The Explorer. The DreamWorks Water Park, with more than 40 water slides, is set to open in the same sprawling mall this month.
4. Pop-up Pop Culture Cafes
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf | Los Angeles, CA
Central Perk | New York, NY
Fan-fave television pop-up stores are hot, helping to extend the sentimental appeal of an old show like Friends, Breaking Bad, and even Saved by the Bell, which according to the Hollywood Reporter generated $8 million in ticket sales from its pop-up café. These cafés, which simulate television show sets and themes, lend themselves to Instagram-friendly experiences and help fuel anticipation and conversations on social media channels.
Can you imagine your coffee served by a meth-dealing chemistry professor? America can.
5. The Excessive Experience
Kaos | Las Vegas, NV
Certain to leave investors with a bad hangover, this full-blown experiential day-turn-to-nightclub concept included 65-foot statues and shark tanks. Kaos, which opened in March at the Palms Casino Resort, closed this month, citing high fixed operating costs and expenses. Indeed, the club drowned in its own decadent tastes. The 73,000-square-foot “day-club”
claimed the highest number of pools of any resort in North America when it debuted, according to Vegas Eater. At the center of the main pool area was a 65-foot bronze sculpture, and the largest LED wall in Vegas, with a 270-foot-tall screen facing the strip, as well as what Kaos touted as “50-million pixels of LED video mapping…to give guests an immersive, 360-degree experience.” Read more about the excess.
Perhaps this 65-foot statue was too much of an experience for even Las Vegas.
