“Today’s shoppers want to be entertained. Niketown is theater. And for retailers, that’s the key to the future”. You might think I pulled this quote out of a recent newspaper discussing the success of Niketown versus the trouble many retailers find themselves currently in.

Wrong.

It’s 20 years old. Back in 1992, it appeared in CNN Money. The article also mentioned: “Niketown is putting the fun back into shopping.” Nike is not the only company who realized the potential of a ‘store which entertains its shoppers’. Five years after the first Niketown, candy company M&M opened M&M’s World in Las Vegas. Currently, about 8 million people visit this Las Vegas store every year.

Several years later (2001), Apple opened their first Apple Store. In Apple’s own words: “The stores are designed to simplify and enhance the presentation and marketing of personal computing products.” Just as Niketown and M&M’s World, the Apple Store is a theater. A theater for shoppers.

The other day, I read an article about Dutch retailers struggling “because of the economic crisis”. People buy less. And when they do buy stuff, people tend to visit large well-known chain stores. Or shop online. Most retailers find it hard to compete with these large chain stores and the Internet. It’s hardly impossible to compete on price (they win). In order to survive, retailers need to find other ways of attracting customers.

Retailers should start (and win) the entertainment battle. Put the fun back into shopping. Turn stores into theaters, so to speak. Just like Nike, M&M and Apple did. These companies had tremendous success with it. So why don’t you?