Viacom: megastores, megastars and megabucks

Discount Store News, May 5, 1997 by Robert Scally

Big Entertainment, which operates 28 stores and kiosks in shopping malls in the United States under the Big E name, has 15 additional domestic retail locations that are currently being designed or are under construction. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based chain expects to operate between 40 to 50 sites nationwide by the end of 1997. BIG E stores sell a wide array of merchandise tied to films and TV series from every major Hollywood studio. BIG E recently announced that comp store sales for March 1997 rose 22.5%. BIG E has also signed an agreement with the ABC Television Network to carry ABC programming as part of its in-store programming mix in exchange for advertising spots on local ABC affiliates. The ABC agreement became effective May 1.

Warner Bros. Studio Stores is developing a new prototype store in Times Square in New York that studio executives promise will be unique. The Times Square store will supplement the nine floors of Hollywood retailing pizzazz that Warner already has in Manhattan at Fifth Avenue and 57th Street, while offering an entirely different experience than the existing store, said Dan Romanelli, president of Warner Bros. Worldwide Consumer Products. The new prototype store should open in 1998.

Planet Hollywood continues to develop stand-alone retail shops around the world and will have 10 stores by yearend. The chain three months ago opened its eight SuperStore, which is located at Disney's MGM Studios in Orlando, Fla. In addition to the Las Vegas and Orlando stores, its other retail shops are in Chicago's Woodfield Mall, Berlin, Germany, Singapore and London. Units are slated to open later this year in Houston and Tumon, Guam.

Imagine a store where you can beam up, rock out, get the flavor of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and even buy a new Rugrats toy.

Soon all of these experiences and more can be had at the Viacom Entertainment Store, flagship of Viacom Inc.'s newest retailing concept.

The two-level, 30,000-sq.-ft. store is slated to open May 23 on Michigan Avenue in Chicago and will feature six zones that showcase Viacom's most valuable existing brand names and their rich entertainment libraries, said Janice Hamlin, vp of marketing for Viacom Retail Group.

"Warner Bros. and Disney and certainly NikeTown took retailing and entertainment into a whole new level," Hamlin said.

In the same manner, Viacom wants to go to whole new level, making a connection between the audience and the brands.

Merchandise and activities in the new Viacom store will center around Star Trek, MTV, VH-1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Night and Paramount Pictures.

Thomas Byrne, vice chairman of Blockbuster Entertainment, a unit of Viacom Inc., which operates Blockbuster Video and Music stores, first announced some of the specifics of the Viacom Entertainment Store concept two months ago in Chicago.

"As a global leader in entertainment with some of the strongest brands in the industry, Viacom is in a position to take entertainment retail to a new level, offering our audiences a captivating shopping experience and a direct connection to their favorite shows and characters," Byrne said in a statement. "The Viacom Entertainment Store will be an exciting fusion of retail and entertainment under one roof."

The Viacom Entertainment Store's individual environments will bring together merchandise, authentic artifacts, memorabilia, a variety of media and live entertainment from Viacom brands.

Walking into the store, the customer will be immediately drawn into two of the areas that offer the widest appeal.

Entering on the bottom level, the kid-oriented Nickelodeon area will be on the left and the Paramount area will be on the right. VH-1 and Nick at Night sections will be along the back wall.

A side stairway will offer a "private" entrance into the MTV area, which will also contain a cafe. In addition to the cafe, the second level will be the home base of the Star Trek area and more Nickelodeon product.

Similar to an approach taken by the Disney Store and Warner Bros. Studio Stores, where merchandise for sale is developed separately from products available in the mass market, most of the merchandise in the Viacom Entertainment Store will be available no where else but there.

Of the more than 2,600 skus of merchandise the store will carry, 85% will be exclusive, Hamlin said.

"We specially created unique merchandise for the store to differentiate ourselves,: Hamlin said. "We have a fairly extensive product development group and merchandising group going full throttle."

A heavy emphasis will be placed on involving the customer in participatory adventures that Hamlin calls "consumer captivations," or more blatantly "hooks." There will be more than 50 different "captivations" spread throughout the store.

For instance, visitors will be able to "beam up" from the Starship Enterprise through blue screen technology and take home photos of the experience to show the folks back home.

Nickelodean's Hideout Hut will feature real periscopes that allow kids to spy on other areas of the store. MTV fans will sound off in the Rant Room, and their comments will be downloaded to the cable network. Customers will be able to navigate the final frontier from Captain Kirk's control chair on the bridge of the Enterprise.