Rising to the Challenge

It’s always refreshing to see which retailers, when push comes to shove, rise to the challenge. The national economy is still stiff, and the retail landscape is, for the most past, still static. There's just not an awful lot to celebrate about, but there are several retailers not playing possum--they have taken the bull by the horns, and each has come up with a unique way to lure shoppers back into their stores.
 
Banana Republic has partnered with the successful and award-wining (everyone loves a winner) series “Mad Men.” A series noted for its effect on the revivalist movement in men’s suits. Think Thom Browne, only the clothing actually fits. The windows feature smart and sexy suits that looked good in ’61, and great in ’09, conveying the message that style is timeless (whereas fashion gets dated). Besides, who wouldn’t want to look like John Hamm? Not only can you pick up a whole suit for a song, but you can enter Banana Republic’s contest for a walk-on role in the show. Acting ability not required--okay, you might need to pick up smoking, but you’ll look great! P.S. the suits come with white pocket squares ala Don Draper. For real fun, take a fantasy trip with a not to be missed avatar on this site, where you can dress yourself virtually, and even place yourself in the glamorous world of Sterling Enterprises instead of your cruddy job. You can save it as your desktop wallpaper!
 

Nordstrom abandoned their classical pianists long ago amidst cries of foul play, but Diesel, which like many teen retailers is known for its loud piped in music and indie playlist, has converted their toney Fifth Avenue front windows into a tricked out DJ booth worthy of a hole in the wall night club in the East Village. Live guest DJs cater to the crowds outside and inside the store, “interactivity” being the watchword for Diesel. That in and of itself is clever, but Diesel has invited a slew of relatively unknown, but emerging bands to play live in the store--it’s just like YouTube, but live. Getting a gig and finding a venue for bands in NYC is nearly impossible, but Diesel has welcomed the fold, and cult-like fans are charging up a storm in the store in appreciation just to have the opportunity to see their favorite bands--like Zoe Kravitz and her band Elevator Fight; Anti Pop Consortium; Hundred in the Hands and Throne of the Blood--for FREE. (Even the band names sound loud, I sound like my father!). It’s a total win-win for all. FYI: Diesel does not sell denim covered earplugs for those of us who are over 35. 

 
Okay, Daffy’s, which is a mostly NY retailer famous for its great discounted designer duds, captured the interest of all the major networks and print media with its ingenious marketing campaign. Last week when the housing market reports came out and showed that real estate remains as flat as a polyester T-shirt, Daffy’s tied into the depressing economic news. It may seem counter intuitive, but wait, like its discounted clothing, Daffy’s is offering a designer apartment in one of New York’s trendiest neighborhoods. It's a fully furnished 2 bedroom, 2 bath, with floor-to-ceiling windows in an architectural landmark for just $700 a month, and the lease is good for a year. The apartment usually rents for $7,000 a month (unfurnished). Mind you, a studio apartment in a lousy section of the Bronx rents for $1,500 a month easy. No purchase is required, all you need to do is go into the store at selected times and fill out an online video essay (30 second minimum) on why you deserve the apartment. The lucky winner will not only have the grooviest apartment in New York City, but celebrity neighbors. I would be happy to lend Gwyneth Paltrow Coldplay a cup of sugar.
 
Ricky’s, the trashy trampy cosmetics store, has the most implausible, albeit attention-grabbing, gimmick going. They have a live drag queen in the window walking on a treadmill all day in high heels (like obscene stiletto heels) with the wry equal rights comment, “Help! I have a blister. Ricky’s endorses men in heels.” Okay, I didn’t buy any Band-Aids, let alone Ricky’s “Help! I Have A Blister Kit,” but I did stop…

--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger

 

Nintendo Brings the Beach to Times Square

New Yorkers were treated to a beach getaway in the middle of Times Square last week, courtesy of Nintendo.

To promote its new Wii Sports Resort video game, Nintendo turned the Military Island area of Times Square into a gamers' paradise, which included a sandy beach, swimming pool and rows of game consoles. The beach served as a real-world stand-in for Wuhu Island, where Wii Sports Resort is set.

Visitors to the Nintendo beach, which sat just a few yards from the huge Wii Sports Resort billboard on the side of the Toys "R" Us building, were able to test out the game days before it hit stores on July 26. The game allows players, who were given branded leis, to participate in any of 12 sports including archery, basketball, canoeing, Frisbee and wakeboarding. The game also includes the new Wii MotionPlus accessory, which attaches to the Wii Remote to provide greater precision, according to Nintendo.

The cross-section of people walking through Times Square allowed Nintendo to reach their target audience--everyone. “Times Square is really the intersection of tourists, residents, seniors, young people,” said Denise Kaigler, a Nintendo of America rep.  “Those who are walking through are truly reflective of Nintendo’s audience. It’s a broad base of consumers of all ages, all backgrounds, veterans and casual gamers.”

Top athletes in archery, Frisbee and table tennis were also in attendance to compete against passersby, as well as to offer their testimony on the game’s similarity to their actual sports. Those in attendance included tennis prodigy Alston Wang and Frisbee expert Bradford Keller. In addition to the sports players, there was an appearance by "Gossip Girl" star Chace Crawford, who went head-to-head against Kaigler at the beginning of the day in a game of Wii Sports Resort.

--Alex Palmer

Source: Brandweek

I'll Have a Grande Merlot

They’re called “wineys”--yuppies that are obsessed with wine tastings, wine parties, spa vacations in the Napa Valley, and some can even recite every other speech from the movie “Sideways.” They can be annoying, hence the play on words (whiney), but they have some disposable income--and discriminating wineys also appreciate a good cup of coffee, readily citing its aroma, fragrance, bouquet, undernotes and aftertaste. So praises to Starbucks, which recently announced that it's beginning to test a new concept store to cater to wineys in its hometown of Seattle, where it all began. Starbucks is changing the name of one of its current locations to a neighborhood friendly sounding, "15th Avenue Coffee and Tea" (note conspicuous absence of alcohol in new name) and will be serving wine and beer alongside its beverages. Do I see reruns of “Cheers” playing in the background? You may be appalled, but remember they all laughed at Christopher Columbus.

Starbucks is already the equivalent of a singles bar, with its friendly staff (usually) and socially accessible meeting place atmosphere. It’s the perfect (safe and respectable) place to hang out. If successful, the company says it will expand this new concept. (Trust me, it will.) "It's interesting," said Morningstar analyst, R.J. Hottovy, "especially since the Starbucks brand has been such an integral part of their success. The test is clearly examining an innovative sub-brand strategy to counteract the pushback by some customers disillusioned by a large corporate chain." So time permitting, you may need to be “proofed,” the next time you waltz into your local Starbucks.

Alcohol license not withstanding, Starbucks also has made major changes to its food offerings over the last several months, and now they're ready to finalize the big push to offer healthier items. (Yes, we’ve seen the news reports, we’re all getting fat.) The company has been overhauling its menu over the last several months, introducing oatmeal, naturally sweetened baked goods, and smoothies with protein and fiber. Oatmeal, in particular, has been a big hit in today’s depression-era climate. It’s very “The Walton’s.” That’s right, oatmeal, that slimy whole grain cereal our mother couldn’t get us to eat--well now it’s the comfort food for breakfast. Starbucks announced that it has overhauled 90 percent of its bakery case. Starbucks is heading off the move of fast-food retailers to eliminate transfats and is posting calories on their desserts. To support the move, Starbucks is announcing the shift in newspaper ads in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today. From Advertising Age: "There are few things good enough to go with Starbucks coffee," says the ad, from BBDO, New York. "Luckily we now have them all in our bakery case." Starbucks has readily acknowledged that its food offerings failed to stand up to its premium beverages (read: artery-clogging), and CEO Howard Schultz has made upgrading the chain’s consumables a top priority.

Here’s the real low down, the benefit to all this: you can tell all your colleagues that you stopped off for your afternoon refill of Pike Roast, but really chill out on a venti Chianti. Now that’s just too Hannibal Lechter!

--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger

SoHollister

There are only three places darker than hell when the hell fires burn out--an S&M club at 4 a.m., Abercrombie & Fitch, and now, Hollister. I have never been to an S&M club or hell, but I have been to A&F and Hollister.

The Abercrombie & Fitch template for success is simple--turn off the lights, turn up the music and take off your clothes. It has worked so well that sister store Hollister is going one better, by doubling those efforts. Will it be successful? Hollister opened last week on Broadway, just below Houston Street, in New York, making it the first store South of Houston Street (SoHo). The lines suggest that it will become a destination spot in a neighborhood full of destination spots like Topshop, Bloomingdale's, Prada, Desigual, H&M and Forever 21. Hollister appeals to the A&F crowd, but is distinguished by its slightly smaller price points, younger-looking sales staff and more-revealing product.

Hollister caters to the surf crowd. Okay, I’m a native New Yorker, all I know of the beach I learned from when Gidget was wiping out with Moondoggie, but I do know that surf, ski and skate attire are important fashion statements these days.

At Hollister last week, there were slews of families in from Jersey, tourists and locals checking out the new space. In fact, Miss Rhode Island even made an appearance. Adults were overheard to say, “Let me out of here!” while their pre-teen prodigy waxed rhapsodic over flannel, which only goes to show you that some people will buy anything. Hollister didn’t miss a trick; there were cute girls in bikinis and cuter guys in surf shorts posing in every nook and cranny. To create “buzz,” collegiate-age model wanna-bes were strategically placed by stairwells in packs, making the store appear more crowded than it actually was. Bars use this strategy during happy hour, too. 

On every landing (four floors) there were couples hanging over the balusters welcoming customers. I received nine greetings of “What’s up?”, five “Hey, how ya doing?" and three respectful, “Can I help you”s (as in, “Hey Grandpa, are you in the right store, you look lost!"). The question remains, can you trust a 19-year-old in flip-flops, red surf shorts (sans undies), sunglasses and a zinc-oxidized nose to offer an unbiased opinion on whether the blue and gray, or red and gray flannel tank top is hotter?

With a reported 40,000 sq. ft. of sales space, there is ample space to shop. The store is set up in a series of predictable little rooms, almost like you wandered into some strange meandering mansion, come library, come antique store, come gentleman‘s clubhouse. The rooms are set off a center hallway, with clichéd low-hanging chandeliers, leather wing back chairs, potted palms, Pendleton blankets, antique luggage, non-working billiard tables acting as merchandise tables, and stacks of surf magazines. The store is not signed, but sepia graphics by Bruce Webber reinforce the nascent sexual tone. There are no mannequins, just dressmaker forms, stained in vintage tea. The dressmaker wheels were removed so that forms don’t move. The dressmaker forms are poorly made, lacking bosoms and hip, or any musculature at all. Visually, it was not imaginative. It was predictable.

Technology promised to be a central focus. Indeed, it’s one promise that was kept. Huge monitors are split up into faux windows that border the perimeter of the store, giving customers a wrap-around view of the California Huntington Pier and the adjacent shore. It’s a bold stroke, and is visually arresting--customers are transported to the Southern California (SoCal) coast, where waves crash and surfers hang 10. It looks as real as an Imax. As you venture into the store, the city outside disappears, and one feels that the shore might really be outside. In truth, it’s just a Getty parking lot.

Will abdominal muscles continue to draw in the crowds? Well, sex sells. I did find it disturbingly lurid, and there was a sort of an “ick” factor to see little girls and boys no more than 7- or 8-years-old, posing with half-dressed models. Is this retail indoctrination? Well-meaning parents were snapping photos right and left. Would I really want Grandma to see my 9-year-old with her hands around some guy with his navel practically in her face? “Say cheese!”

--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger

Photos: Ron Knoth

Horton Hears a Who

I know with the flurry of Michael Jackson coverage that many other news stories are getting short shrift, including the recent invasion of the United States by Canada. You scoff? CNN neglected to cover it, but it’s true. Over the weekend, nine former Dunkin' Donuts were converted into Tim Horton’s Coffee and Bakery Shops in New York City. Plans call for several more Tim Horton’s location to to take up occupancy in former Cold Stone Creamerys (as part of a co-branded concept being developed between the brands) before summer’s end, all of which are part of the megalomaniacal Riese Organization of fast foods, which also includes, Pizza Hut, KFC and Wendy’s. Well we all know that Dunkin', in its thirst for world domination, over-expanded, but we didn’t see those sneaky Canadians coming.

Holy Celine Dion! The name of Tim Horton may not ring a bell to most U.S. citizens, but it is as familiar and beloved in Saskatchewan as Starbucks is here. Tim Horton is one of the largest and most successful coffee shop franchises in the world. The coffee is supposed to be legendary. Well, that’s what Canadians say. Canadians love their Tim Horton’s, whose chain of coffee and doughnut shops appeal to the budget-conscious with some discriminating taste. Tim Horton was a successful Toronto Maple Leaf Hall of Fame hockey player who later died in a car accident, but came to epitomize the quintessential guy-next-door who made good. Eh?

Okay, so this is how it went down...on last Friday, it was business as usual at Dunkin' Donuts, pink and orange interiors, Tropicana Coolatas and wildberry doughnuts. On Saturday and Sunday, quicker than you fry Canadian bacon, the stores were shuttered, repainted in brown and orange, and the signage changed accordingly. It was as if squatters moved in, moped the floors and called it a day. There was no hoopla, but lots of balloons, bunting and free coffee coupons on Monday morning. The floorplans were not altered; the seating was not swapped out for new. In fact, in my neighborhood, the same naugehyde banquettes have the same duct tape covering a nasty tear. If not for the signage, as little effort as possible was made to distinguish one retailer from another. Yuck!

I don’t drink coffee, I drink tea, but in reported taste tests Tim Horton’s fared better than Dunkin' Donuts with customers by a 6-to-5 margin. Speaking of “cruller” intentions, as for the baked goods, one comparison concluded that both products were virtually indistinguishable, lamenting how "mass-produced doughnuts are achieving total global mediocrity." Due to the diminutive size of the stores, Horton’s best-loved products like its signature Maple Crunch doughnuts and Dutchie are not even available here. What a rip off.

So Tim Horton and Riese might take some advice from Dr. Seuss: ‘‘Even though you can’t see or hear them at all, (a customer is a customer) a person’s a person, no matter how small.’’ Please give us a pleasant place to shop in, that looks different from the tried and true, with a fuller more reflective menu, including your best products--not just more bland blueberry muffins and bagels with cream cheese.

--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger

Fly Me Away

What could be more appropriate than a travel-themed store in an airport (except for maybe a mini-spa or massage retreat)? Well Travel + Leisure magazine is capitalizing off this idea, and has teamed up with airport retailer Hudson Group to launch a new travel retail concept of the same name. (I love the magazine, so I’m hoping the store is just as great!)

The first store debuted at Vancouver International Airport on June 18, soon to be followed by additional locations in Halifax International Airport and JFK International Airport. New Hudson retail Galleries in Sanford Orlando and San Francisco International airports will feature the Travel + Leisure store as a shop-in-shop.

Hope Remoundos, EVP of Marketing for Hudson Group, had this to say: "The Travel + Leisure concept grew out of Hudson's relationship with the magazine publishing industry through our newsstand Hudson News, which sells millions of books and magazines each year. Hudson has successfully partnered with TV networks in the past, in our CNN Newsstand and CMT Loot stores. But this marks our first partnership with a magazine.”

Travel + Leisure stores will offer products aimed at enhancing the travel experience, such as luggage and travel accessories, along with local maps and travel guides, as well as current editions of Travel + Leisure magazine and its sister publication, Food & Wine (That’s right, Food & Wine…did you just have the same great idea I did?).

Have you seen the new Travel + Leisure store in your travels? Tell us about it here!

--Jessie Bove

And a Bicycle Built for Two

The welcome wagon was not wheeled out when British retailer Topshop opened in SoHo (New York) just a stone’s throw from Bloomingdale’s, Urban Outfitters, H&M and Prada. With British sensibility, Topshop broke out the celebrities, held 12 star-studded fashion galas, where guests could schmooze with Jennifer Lopez, Lindsay Lohan and Kylie Minouge. Topshop had a groovy jitney that cruised throughout the city corralling customers with free trips downtown, and offered them goody bags with discount coupons from $5 to $500, but that so yesterday.

Starting last week, Topshop began an inventive program offering free or low-cost bicycle rentals. When it’s not raining, which is often, a bicycle rental may be a welcome diversion to New Yorkers who are trying to enjoy their recession staycation.

To help launch the green event, once your shopping was complete, Topshop offered free photographs by legendary nightlife photographer Nicky Digital. Street Style backdrops were on hand in the store, as well as stylists to help you get your style just right. Now anyone can download their own Topshop fashion shoots on www.chictopia.com, where a fashion competition will run over a month, and each week there will be five winners, four chosen by Chictopia.com users and one chosen by Topshop. Each winner will receive a free bicycle. Even if you don’t win, your photographs can be uploaded onto Flickr and Topshop's Facebook page, allowing people to tag themselves and comment on their favorite images. Here’s a retailer who really knows the power of social networking.

If self promotion and fashion photography is not your thing, a small fleet of 30 blue beach cruisers accessorized with baskets and cupcake stickers are parked outside the store and available for free daily rental (11 hours) to passersby. There’s even a dedicated bike valet. Just leave a credit card and sign a liability waiver to receive a customized helmet, a U-lock and a map of Topshop-endorsed destinations throughout 31 suggested attractions in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. Bicycle rentals in NYC usually run you about $35. Therefore, this is a win-win. For the exercise buffs, you can burn 1,200 calories biking 60 of the 61 miles that the free Topshop map identifies for you. The route will encompass sweet treats at (British-owned) “Tea & Sympathy" (love their cranberry scones and English Breakfast tea), a visit to “DIY” (a trendy clothing emporium), “Home Ec” from the owners of boutique clothing shop “Flirt," and a trip to the “Pixie Market” to browse the up-and-coming designer offerings. The map also includes hidden gems, such as the fabulous nail bar, “Hello, Beautiful" in Williamsburg, and luxury Italian apothecary “Santa Maria Novella” in SoHo.

I don’t know what Bloomingdale's, Urban Outfitters, H&M and Prada are doing for their customers, but praises from on high to Topshop. For more on the fabulous promotion, visit their Web site by clicking here.

--Ron Knoth, Guest Blogger

Photo: Andrew Townsend, Dalziel & Pow Design Consultants Ltd., London

Fixture This!

I am one to often take note and observe my surroundings, especially in a retail environment. How product is shelved, where signage is hung and how mannequins are poised--all are as relevant to a retail design eye as where the deals and steals are. (Diva is quite the mystery shopper.) Fixturing, oftentimes, goes unnoticed to the untrained shopper's eye, as a successful fixturing unit often does what it is supposed to do best--showcase the product. Some do it exceptionally well and some (as I'm sure we have all noticed from time to time) do not.

My observations and opinions on the fixturing front are one thing, but observing others’ opinions--especially the opinion of those whose careers have followed the fixture industry's ever-changing trends and goings on--are particularly of interest to me. Which is why I've taken interest of late to a new fixture tell-all blog that has entered onto my radar screen. This blog has more of my attention than any of the latest star-tracker TMZ wannabes.

From analyzing shopping carts with coffee-cup holders to weighing the value of dollar stores displaying mops “guerila marketing” style, readers of the pictorial “Fixtures Close Up” blog don’t have to like snarky, in-the-moment gossip. They don’t have to like the fixturing examples they see--in fact, many of the entries inspire thought-provoking questions about the validity and effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of particular merchandising situations. They don’t have to like much of anything to still be informed and entertained--they just have to like fixtures.

Viva racks, bars, hooks and merchandising!

--Diva