As many toy retailers across the nation struggle to keep up with online competitors (i.e. Amazon), the CEO of Camp, an experiential toy store that includes activities for kids, said "people don't leave," which has helped his store avoid the feared retail apocalypse.
"There's a tradition at the front of the store, which is the counselors — that's what we call our staff — count the number of kids who cried on the way out," Camp's CEO and co-founder Ben Kaufman told Cheddar. Most people stay, on average, 90 minutes inside the store. "We like to tire [kids] out."
The store offers both free activities for visitors and classes parents can sign their kids up for (like snow globe making or music).
One year after its opening in December 2018, Camp has expanded to five stores with more plans to expand nationwide. Last Thursday, it opened its latest location in New York City's Hudson Yards. Camp "was a great cornerstone of the neighborhood they're trying to build," Kaufman said.
He has been surprised by the excitement the store has received from communities — especially parents eager to find fun things to keep their kids entertained. "One of the craziest things we figured out after launching our first store is that Camp becomes a ritual for families in the neighborhood," he told Cheddar.
Every surface of Camp, which sells both toys and experiences, is a play area for children. Toys R Us, which shuttered 700 stores after filing for bankruptcy in 2017 is planning a similar experiential shopping strategy.
"A lot of people are like 'how are you going to compete with Amazon to sell toys' and we actually don't think about that as part of what we're trying to solve for," Kaufman said. "We like to think we're competing for people's time. What are we going to do on Saturday? What are we going to do after school? If we win that, then they'll come into our stores, they'll have fun, we'll be part of their lives, and they'll buy stuff along the way."
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
