New Nintendo Shop at the Times Square Toys R Us

Nintendo has opened a shop at the Times Square Toys R Us. I was fortunate to work with Nintendo, Toys R Us and the design and build team at FITCH.

It is a thousand prime square feet in the best retail location in the world: Times Square. It has a dedicated window on the Broadway side and is directly opposite the entrance, second only to the three-story Ferris wheel.

The shop features the Wii and DS platforms and the fun of playing together. There is plenty of room to try the games and there is an interactive portrait wall highlighting Nintendo's characters, history and plenty of Miis.

The design is decidedly different from anything else in the store or what Nintendo has done in their other dedicated spaces. The designers gave it a home-y feel, a comfortable place turned up a couple of notches where kids can show Mom, Dad and Grandparents the fun of gaming. Sort of what Mario's den would look like. Visitors are greeted with an 8-station DS bar loaded with plenty of the latest titles. At the center of the shop is the portrait wall with digital screens scrolling images of games, characters and Miis.
The big fun is in the Wii Theater that boasts two 9-screen 10-foot high play areas where guests can play together and watch from all over the store.

Kudos to all who worked on it: Heather, Melissa, Laura, Tom, Amy, Jennifer, Dave D, Bri, Killian Great job all! It looks great. I'll buy you a cold one, next time we're together. You deserve it.

We'd all love to see more pictures, so when you are there next, check it out, submit pix and let us know what you think. Here's a link to the official news release http://www.nintendo.com/whatsnew/detail/IgohHKLbtt8Ztwr7aIYwvZF0NKadK5MI and here's a link to Wired's coverage http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/12/times-square-to.html?cid=144588006#comment-144588006.

The Power of Digital Signage

As a retail consultant, I need to stay on top of lots of things: first and foremost, consumer behavior. From new forms of loyalty programs to the balance of rational and emotional drivers, shoppers are hit with thousands of messages before, during and after their store shopping experience.



One thing to look out for is digital signage. It holds great potential for retailers to provide much more infomation in stores where you are trying to make an informed decision, it can also provide fun, entertaining atmosphere, too.

Every client I have worked with in the last several years is very interested in figuring this out. Digital signage holds great potential to make the shopping experience more robust. Consumers can get the right amount of information they want when they want it. Retailer and brand marketer can integrate out-of-store media and there is significant opportunity to reduce operational costs and create new effeciencies by centrally controling content.

Look at what Sears and Kmart are doing in test stores in Richmond Illinois and Cincinatti, Ohio. They have installed several approaches to integrate digital signage, media content and their websites. Also, and this may seem obvious, look at what Nintendo is doing in NYC. Their NintendoWorld store not only provides lots of robust gaming experiences, but the screens, when idle, rotate brand and product messages.

There seems to be a gap, though, between the hardware people and the store people. I think we in the retail design industry need to go to school on time-based graphic communication, put it in the hands of the talented designers and see what they can do with it.