STORES Magazine - August 2008 - (Page 24)

fullprice/markdown Switch It Up WHEN the economy gets tough, retailers get creative. LL FU E There are numerous stories of reRIC P tail companies and restaurant chains looking to buck the battered economy by evolving, adapting and innovating. Case in point: MaMa Fu’s fast-casual restaurant concept. The Austin, Texas-based company, now under the ownership of Murphy Adams Restaurant Group, plans to revamp its operations and food practices and retrain employees and franchisees. And, in an unexpected turn, it will make a quick change in the evening to a full-service operation. The goal: raise the average check. Delivery is also in the offing. At Denny’s, best known for casual family dining, the wait staff is switching from black pants and collared shirts to jeans and t-shirts between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m., when alternative rock will replace the middle-of-the-road music usually piped over the sound system. (Executives say 47 percent of late-night customers are under the age of 24.) Last month the company announced Denny’s AllNighter is partnering with Van’s Warped Tour to host special events in five cities. Artists from the tour, including Katy Perry and Say Anything, have agreed to chow down at Denny’s after the show. & RETAIL HITS MISSES pick apart the company’s plans. The women weighed in on numerous details, and some of their opinions and ideas challenged conventional retailing wisdom. For example, the women wanted more landscaping and parking and meandering pathways; ornate brick and stone buildings were considered less important. They also suggested that the developers swap out formal fountains for calming water areas. The first phase of Watters Creek opened in May, and it was clear the developers had taken the suggestions to heart. Data points and demographics are critical to decisionmaking, but if you want to know what women really think, ask them – and listen to what they tell you. Much Ado About Nothing “SEINFELD” was famously a TV show about RK nothing, but its amazing success turned it into MA N something unrivaled. DOW Listen When She Speaks A SHOPPING center developer in Fort Worth, Texas, listened to a handful of women before he began building his latest project — and he’s glad he did. When Terry Montesi, chief executive of Trademark Property, began work on the Watters Creek mixed-use center, he hired two female consultants and invited two dozen women from neighborhoods surrounding the center to L FUL ICE PR 24 STORES / AUGUST 2008 Could nothing work in retail? Designers of the Jil Sander store that opened this summer in New York’s SoHo district seem to think so. The ground floor of the store is empty. There are no mannequins, no apparel, no sales associates and no signage. Shoppers who enter the vast white space must climb the grand marble staircase to the second floor, where the Jil Sander collections are showcased. The store design is the result of collaboration between Raf Simons, the creative director of the brand, and Germaine Kruip, a Dutch artist known for her meditative works using minimal amounts of space and light. Kruip refers to the creation as a “mind space . . . a conceptual air lock that allows you to smoothly acclimate from the . . . [street] to the promise of a world where clean lines are next to godliness.” It could be perceived that way; then again, in Manhattan — where every inch of real estate comes at a premium — it seems more like a real-world version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - August 2008

STORES Magazine - August 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page The Lure of Free Shipping Walmart’s New Look What Shoppers Think Will Widgets Work for Wheat Bread and Wasabi? 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Store Design Industry Economics Hot 100 Retailers Concept2Watch Mobile Technology Small Store Technology Website Optimization Site Selection Mobile Payments Recycling Merchandising: Cool Sells Merchandising: Merchandising in Mexico Store Construction & Development Human Resources Loyalty Programs Mobile Marketing Loeb Retail Letter Arts Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - August 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.