Music & Games

Retail spaces find new life springboarding location based entertainment

The mixing of immersive entertainment in established retail environments carries significant creative potential.

Image courtesy of Tru Kids.

September 19, 2022 by Kevin Williams

The concept of repurposing previous retail department stores and spaces with entertainment is often labelled "retailtainment" — although this is not a very accurate expression of the various applications of entertainment within a space previously occupied by retail, be it a hall or standalone unit.

This past summer witnessed a "dipping of the toe" by the largest entertainment operation, Walt Disney Corp., into the location based entertainment sector at Polk Bros Park at Chicago's Navy Pier, a temporary golf installation called Pixar Putt based on the popular "Toy Story," "Wall-E" and "Monsters Inc." movie characters.

Developed by Rockefeller Productions and TEG Life Like Touring in partnership with Disney, the concept even featured an "after dark" element for older guests — with this being the first in a series of temporary LBE installations planned.

Disney has dabbled in the LBE sector with its short-lived Club Disney, DisneyQuest and ESPN Zone properties. Likewise, with the shuttering of many Disney Stores in a recent purge, the operation has been reinvestigating the use of properties in high-foot-traffic locations to promote its brand.

Disney is also reportedly in discussion with holding firm Hyper Reality Partners on reopening TheVoid, the immersive reality enterprise forced to shutter its 17 venues by COVID, with updated versions of the original free-roaming ILMXLAB developed game experiences.

Mixed use leisure spaces

Entertainment within a space previously occupied by retail has certainly emerged elsewhere.

We have seen Gravity Active Entertainment take over several previous Debenhams department stores in the U.K. to turn them into mixed-use leisure entertainment spaces.

And in the U.S., Launch Entertainment announced it would be opening its 28th family entertainment center branded "Launch" venues in Massachusetts — in a location that had previously housed a Toys "R" Us store.

This has also seen reinvestment in existing models — the need for current facility chains to stay relevant in major times of change as new properties appear on the landscape.

CEC Entertainment, for example, announced that some 10 Chuck E. Cheese venues in South Florida were receiving a full upgrade in their entertainment offering. This comprises video and redemption games and illuminated dancing floors. These site improvements will be rolled out across more than 600 venues.

In the U.K., Tenpin Entertainment Group invested some $300,000 into upgrading its bowling entertainment facility in Croydon, outside of London. This was soon followed by Tenpin Coventry reopening after a $630,000 makeover, in an overall refurbishment that will be rolled out across its own 47 Tenpin Bowling venues.

Preservation needs upkeep

An example of the need to stay relevant and address service neglect was revealed with the announcement in Intergame that the world-famous Circus Las Vegas Hotel and Casino would be seeing investment into its dilapidated amusement and entertainment offerings. An expected $30 million will be invested into the operations, seeing particular focus on the Adventuredome indoor theme park and Carnival Midway amusements areas — with the purchase of new machines and the renovation of the locations.

Reports circulated following the acquisition of the resort from MGM Resorts for $625 million in 2019 that investment would start from the new owner into refurbishing the location — with an expected opening in 2023. With new casino resorts such as the new Atari Hotel scheduled to open soon with an extensive gaming element, it is expected that all venues will be looking to up their game.

Investment has continued apace regarding the establishment of "competitive socializing" properties, building heavily on active entertainment.

One of those championing the move was soccer technology training developer Toca Football. After opening their first entertainment facility in London during 2021, the company has revealed its second facility planned for Dallas in 2023.

This development will inject another four locations into the operation, and the corporation said it will instigate acquiring another 20 soccer training centers and another three entertainment centers in U.S. locations for the end of the year. The Toca Entertainment operation is alongside the original Toca Football training operation — which originated the ball launching technology and facilitating the training and coaching.

Mixed reality on the move

Meanwhile, mixed reality takes center stage in new product introductions.

• The latest Yaw VR motion seat, the "Yaw 2 Pro," was supported by a Kickstarter investment, and now comes with a heavy-duty construction, hoping to offer commercial as well as consumer variants of its motion seat, looking at arcade and educational centers.
• Talon Simulations, another provider of VR motion seat technology, updated the turnkey D&B VR motion system running the new "Top Gun VR" experience and introduced its "Talon Vortex" platform with standalone motion seat and tethered VR headset unit. Haptic motion seats, haptic vests and gloves offer a means to increase the physicality of the virtual experience.
• SynthesisVR, a location-based entertainment VR content distribution and facility management platform, revealed a VR streaming product to VR arcades worldwide through a co-development partnership with QuarkXR. The platform offers LBE VR arcade operators an automated VR streaming solution, simplified to connect between the host PC and Android VR headsets.

There is no question that the mixing of such state-of-the-art immersive entertainment in established retail environments promises significant creative potential.

(Editor's note: Extracts from this blog are from recent coverage in The Stinger Report, published by Spider Entertainment and its director, Kevin Williams, the leading interactive out-of-home entertainment news service covering the immersive frontier and beyond.)

About Kevin Williams

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Along with advisory positions with other entrants into the market he is founder and publisher of the Stinger Report, “a-must-read” e-zine for those working or investing in the amusement, attractions and entertainment industry. He is a prolific writer and provides regular news columns for main trade publications. He also travels the globe as a keynote speaker, moderator and panelist at numerous industry conferences and events. Author of “The Out-of-Home Immersive Entertainment Frontier: Expanding Interactive Boundaries in Leisure Facilities,” the only book on this aspect of the market, with the second edition scheduled for a 2023 release. 

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