Anthropologie Evolves with New, Larger Stores
A retailer has been opening stores two- and three-times the size of its typical stores. No, it’s not April Fool’s Day. It’s the strategy of Anthropologie & Co., and as the Bloomberg.com headline blared, it’s working. The company began in 2016 launching “large-format, destination marketplaces” that feature products from all their brands accompanied by “high-touch guest services intended to complement” the shopping experience with a “home design center and full service café to capsules from BHLDN and Terrain.” Right now, the experience is in a handful of cities around the country, and more are coming.
Case Study: From Convention Center to Mixed-use Property in DC
CityCenterDC in the nation’s capital is about a decade old, and the Conrad Hilton Hotel, the centerpiece of phase two, is set to launch in early 2019. The project was the focus of the National Retail Federation’s Retail Gets Real podcast. Executives from real estate developer Hines discussed how CityCenterDC is more than a traditional shopping mall. It offers a “dynamic experience” for large-scale events such as a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony similar to what’s held annually at New York City’s Rockefeller Center. “My advice is to not overthink things. At the heart of it, we’re all consumers. What makes your shopping experience different? Answering these questions can help developers arrive at the right solutions,” said Whitney Burns, senior manager of corporate communications at Hines.
Amazon’s New Groove: Opening a Bookstore in NYC
Web retail giant Amazon.com has opened a new retail storefront in New York City’s Columbus Circle. It was noted with some irony in a recent New York Post article that the company that helped put bookstores out of business has come around and is now itself opening bookstores. The store simultaneously fulfills immediate purchasing satisfaction, but also serves as “a promotional opportunity for Amazon, which encourages shoppers to join Amazon Prime in order to get the best prices on books and free two-day shipping” (retailers with websites, take note). New York Post writer Jonathon Trugman called it “bricks to clicks and back to bricks, all in the name of market share” and sarcastically asked, “What’s next, Apple selling 8-track tapes and vinyl records?” To borrow a phrase from another Post writer, “Only in New York, kids, Only in New York.”
