Marketers within driving distance of New York City might want to consider a trip to the Big Apple sometime over the next few months. Bring along a pen, a notebook, and a camera — and leave all preconceptions about the retail environment behind.

Any brand manager who deals with any retail channel should take a good, hard look at what Paramus, NJ-based Toys “R” Us opened in Times Square late last month: the most partnership-friendly retail store on the planet. The massive 110,000-square-foot store, located on Broadway between 44th and 45th streets, was designed “in every step with the marketing of our brand and the building of our partners’ brands in mind,” says Warren Kornblum, TRU’s executive vp-worldwide marketing and brand management.

It’s the chain’s most expensive retail project ever, as well as a signal from company executives that the sermon they’ve been preaching on in-store branding over the last two years hasn’t been just lip service: Toys “R” Us has put its money where its

mouth has been. For a story on the retail environment, words alone do not suffice. And in the case of this store, you truly have to see it to believe it. Thus, we’ll go light on the copy and heavy on the photos here to offer more of the visual experience this store was designed to provide.

Walking through the main entrance of what is being called “the center of the toy universe,” you’re greeted by a 60-foot-tall, working Ferris wheel with 14 gondolas bearing logos and images from such marketing partners as M&M/Mars, Nickelodeon, Fisher-Price, and Hasbro. TRU recruited its best partners for the effort, but some cars will be refreshed every 18 to 24 months to give other brands shots on the wheel. (The paid ride will employ a Walt Disney World-like waiting system that assigns time windows, giving moms more time to shop before it’s Junior’s turn to take a spin.)

But that’s just the beginning. The store’s three floors boast 25 themed sections, all with grandiose experiential treatments that undoubtedly will have even FAO Schwarz drooling.

It’s doubtful that any store has ever had as many third parties carving out niches on such a scale. El Segundo, CA-based Mattel’s 4,000-square-foot, two-story Barbie Doll House has its own elevator, staircase, and live Barbie look-a-like. The E.T. area, born out of a merchandising deal between TRU and Amblin Entertainment, features a 1,500-pound spaceship floating above a 42-inch animatronic version of the beloved alien, who comes complete with trademark glowing finger and heart. Universal City, CA-based Universal Pictures is also on board, with a Jurassic Park section dominated by a 20-foot-tall, five-ton animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex that moves and growls. Enfield, CT-based Lego’s shop boasts 25-foot-tall replicas of New York City landmarks erected out of the company’s product.

In its first foray into the restauraneur world, Purchase, NY-based Pepsi-Cola Co. claims the store’s highest location with Pepsi World, an area above the third level that serves soda, snacks, and ice cream. Customers can mix and match soda flavors at a Taste Station or get their pictures taken with life-size standees of such brand spokespeople as Britney Spears and Ken Griffey, Jr. Pepsi plans to use the venue to sample standards and test new products, and will tweak the format after things get rolling. “This is a great platform for any marketer to add excitement to a brand,” says Rand Eyberg, Pepsi’s senior marketing manager for customer marketing. “This is a first for us and we’ll [maximize] our activities.”

Elsewhere, a 2,000-square-foot Candy Land sweet shop offers everything from M&Ms to gummy worms and sports a replica of Hasbro’s ageless board game as flooring. “We can take a product and bring it to life,” says Elliott Wahle, the store’s vp-general manager. “We think this is a pretty big deal.”

One look at the high-tech marquee outside and you believe him. The store’s exterior consists of a “scrim-roller” comprised of 165 five-foot-by-six-foot panels that can be changed instantly to form a 5,000-square-foot billboard facing the heart of Times Square (which 30 million people pass through annually). As many as seven billboards at a time can be programmed into the rotation, which is controlled by computers in the store’s technology room along with the 70 plasma screens situated around the store (that also can be used to run messages from partners).

Companies that can’t squeeze into the billboard rotation might want to buy some time on the huge “Geoffreytron” that faces northbound and southbound traffic on Broadway. The rest of the store is segmented using TRU’s standard inventory classifications (with pricing that mirrors the chain’s national model). But there are a number of other sections offering special service for vendors. There’s the 4,000-square-foot World’s Fair section, located prominently on the third floor, that will showcase the newest and hottest toys. And there’s the first-floor “R” Zone gaming center, which looks more like an upscale arcade than a retail department. Additional merchandising sections are positioned on each floor to spotlight product launches or special promotions.

Background music is tailored for each section. In a departure from toy store norms, check-out stations are located throughout. Employees — there are 700 of them — are assigned to specific sections and receive intensive training in their specialties. “Clearly there is a great expense involved with doing something like this,” says Tim Rothwell, senior vp-merchandising and marketing with Universal Studios Consumer Products. “But it’s all about brand-building these days, and we felt this warranted such a presence.”

Play Time
Partnership opportunities are endless. In addition to the myriad advertising and merchandising opportunities it offers, the store is a perfect venue for launch parties (the media-friendly structure has more than a dozen ports for easy live-broadcast feeds).

And keep in mind, partners currently in high-profile spaces aren’t necessarily there for good. “There are definitely opportunities. People who want to be part of this can sit with our merchants and marketers and discuss the possibilities,” Kornblum says.

“Everything we do is about moms and kids and using a ‘wow’ factor to get to them. If another brand has a way to help us get that ‘wow,’ we’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Kornblum has promised for two years that this store wouldn’t disappoint (April 2000 promo), and it doesn’t. “This is the jewel on the crown that we’ve been trying to build. This is all about the brand,” he says. “This store will position us where we want to be. The obligation on our part is to maintain that position.”

For years, retailers have been talking about the need to develop a “retailtainment” environment for customers.

They can stop talking — and head over to Times Square.

Marketers within driving distance of New York City might want to consider a trip to the Big Apple sometime over the next few months. Bring along a pen, a notebook, and a camera — and leave all preconceptions about the retail environment behind.

Any brand manager who deals with any retail channel should take a good, hard look at what Paramus, NJ-based Toys “R” Us opened in Times Square late last month: the most partnership-friendly retail store on the planet. The massive 110,000-square-foot store, located on Broadway between 44th and 45th streets, was designed “in every step with the marketing of our brand and the building of our partners’ brands in mind,” says Warren Kornblum, TRU’s executive vp-worldwide marketing and brand management.

It’s the chain’s most expensive retail project ever, as well as a signal from company executives that the sermon they’ve been preaching on in-store branding over the last two years hasn’t been just lip service: Toys “R” Us has put its money where its mouth has been.

For a story on the retail environment, words alone do not suffice. And in the case of this store, you truly have to see it to believe it. Thus, we’ll go light on the copy and heavy on the photos here to offer more of the visual experience this store was designed to provide.

Walking through the main entrance of what is being called “the center of the toy universe,” you’re greeted by a 60-foot-tall, working Ferris wheel with 14 gondolas bearing logos and images from such marketing partners as M&M/Mars, Nickelodeon, Fisher-Price, and Hasbro. TRU recruited its best partners for the effort, but some cars will be refreshed every 18 to 24 months to give other brands shots on the wheel. (The paid ride will employ a Walt Disney World-like waiting system that assigns time windows, giving moms more time to shop before it’s Junior’s turn to take a spin.)

But that’s just the beginning. The store’s three floors boast 25 themed sections, all with grandiose experiential treatments that undoubtedly will have even FAO Schwarz drooling.

It’s doubtful that any store has ever had as many third parties carving out niches on such a scale. El Segundo, CA-based Mattel’s 4,000-square-foot, two-story Barbie Doll House has its own elevator, staircase, and live Barbie look-a-like. The E.T. area, born out of a merchandising deal between TRU and Amblin Entertainment, features a 1,500-pound spaceship floating above a 42-inch animatronic version of the beloved alien, who comes complete with trademark glowing finger and heart. Universal City, CA-based Universal Pictures is also on board, with a Jurassic Park section dominated by a 20-foot-tall, five-ton animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex that moves and growls. Enfield, CT-based Lego’s shop boasts 25-foot-tall replicas of New York City landmarks erected out of the company’s product.

In its first foray into the restauraneur world, Purchase, NY-based Pepsi-Cola Co. claims the store’s highest location with Pepsi World, an area above the third level that serves soda, snacks, and ice cream. Customers can mix and match soda flavors at a Taste Station or get their pictures taken with life-size standees of such brand spokespeople as Britney Spears and Ken Griffey, Jr. Pepsi plans to use the venue to sample standards and test new products, and will tweak the format after things get rolling. “This is a great platform for any marketer to add excitement to a brand,” says Rand Eyberg, Pepsi’s senior marketing manager for customer marketing. “This is a first for us and we’ll [maximize] our activities.”

Elsewhere, a 2,000-square-foot Candy Land sweet shop offers everything from M&Ms to gummy worms and sports a replica of Hasbro’s ageless board game as flooring. “We can take a product and bring it to life,” says Elliott Wahle, the store’s vp-general manager. “We think this is a pretty big deal.”

One look at the high-tech marquee outside and you believe him. The store’s exterior consists of a “scrim-roller” comprised of 165 five-foot-by-six-foot panels that can be changed instantly to form a 5,000-square-foot billboard facing the heart of Times Square (which 30 million people pass through annually). As many as seven billboards at a time can be programmed into the rotation, which is controlled by computers in the store’s technology room along with the 70 plasma screens situated around the store (that also can be used to run messages from partners).

Companies that can’t squeeze into the billboard rotation might want to buy some time on the huge “Geoffreytron” that faces northbound and southbound traffic on Broadway.

The rest of the store is segmented using TRU’s standard inventory classifications (with pricing that mirrors the chain’s national model). But there are a number of other sections offering special service for vendors. There’s the 4,000-square-foot World’s Fair section, located prominently on the third floor, that will showcase the newest and hottest toys. And there’s the first-floor “R” Zone gaming center, which looks more like an upscale arcade than a retail department. Additional merchandising sections are positioned on each floor to spotlight product launches or special promotions.

Background music is tailored for each section. In a departure from toy store norms, check-out stations are located throughout. Employees — there are 700 of them — are assigned to specific sections and receive intensive training in their specialties.

“Clearly there is a great expense involved with doing something like this,” says Tim Rothwell, senior vp-merchandising and marketing with Universal Studios Consumer Products. “But it’s all about brand-building these days, and we felt this warranted such a presence.”

Play Time

Partnership opportunities are endless. In addition to the myriad advertising and merchandising opportunities it offers, the store is a perfect venue for launch parties (the media-friendly structure has more than a dozen ports for easy live-broadcast feeds).

And keep in mind, partners currently in high-profile spaces aren’t necessarily there for good. “There are definitely opportunities. People who want to be part of this can sit with our merchants and marketers and discuss the possibilities,” Kornblum says. “Everything we do is about moms and kids and using a ‘wow’ factor to get to them. If another brand has a way to help us get that ‘wow,’ we’ll find a way to make it happen.”

Kornblum has promised for two years that this store wouldn’t disappoint (April 2000 PROMO), and it doesn’t. “This is the jewel on the crown that we’ve been trying to build. This is all about the brand,” he says. “This store will position us where we want to be. The obligation on our part is to maintain that position.”

For years, retailers have been talking about the need to develop a “retailtainment” environment for customers.

They can stop talking — and head over to Times Square.