Walk into the Radio Flyer store, which opened in the Woodfield Mall outside Chicago in November, and it’s one of the first things you notice: parked on a bright green circle of astroturf is one of the brand’s signature red wagons, except this one is much bigger, with wheels the size of a sedan’s.

“It’s like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” Robert Pasin, who instead of CEO, calls himself the Chief Wagon Officer of the company, told Retail Brew.

Lori Mukoyama, a principal at Gensler who worked on the store’s design, climbed into the cart for a photo she posted to her Instagram account.

“I’m sitting in this huge wagon, but it automatically makes you feel like even as a full-grown adult, I’m kid-sized again,” Mukoyama told Retail Brew.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Customers have *opinions* about what the modern store’s capabilities should entail. Wanna hear them—and learn how you can ace them? Tune in for Aptos’ webinar, where featured speaker Brendan Witcher from Forrester joins Aptos VP of Strategy and Product Nikki Baird to discuss high-priority initiatives for store-ops teams.

In 2023, the Petco in New York’s Union Square relocated to…Union Square. It moved just a block east, from the park’s northwest corner to its northeast corner, but when it comes to design, the store’s in another galaxy.

Visiting the old store, for example, you may not have noticed that it had a pet grooming department, tucked as it was in a corner of the basement. But enter the new store, which occupies the 95-year-old Tammany Hall building, and you can’t miss it: There it is, just to the left, looking like a classic New York barbershop. There’s a barber chair, black-and-white mosaic tile floors, and a gold-leaf sign painted on the window: “Ruff’s Barker Shop.”

A fluffy dog getting a summer cut can be adorable to behold, and that’s not lost on Petco.

“It’s not just dropping your dog off for grooming,” Rick Neira, VP of creative, visual merchandising, store design, and merchandise operations at Petco, told Retail Brew. “Now there’s theater in it.”

Keep reading here.—AAN

We’re halfway through 2024 if you can believe it, and if pageviews are any indication, it seems our readers really like stories about stores, marketing, and Taylor Swift. Here’s a midyear look at our 10 most read of the year to date:

• Target slashes prices on 5,000 items across its assortment
• Unilever to spin off ice cream division into new company
• Inside the Kraft Heinz team that helps retailers reimagine their shelves
• How retailers are using generative AI right now
• What Whole Foods is looking for in new brands
• Why Matty Benedetto turned his CVS receipt into a 50-foot-long rug
• How Crocs and Claire’s became ‘cool’ again
• A four-decade compendium of retail brands’ April Fools’ pranks
• What happened when Taylor Swift wore this brand’s skort
• Why are some luxury shoppers getting empty boxes when shopping online?

Make it a win-win. Influencers are not often super excited about affiliate-only partnerships—they usually want deeper, meaningful collabs. Fortunately, Partnerize has the scoop on how to make everyone happy. Their new e-book offers a definitive playbook on how to seamlessly combine influencer and affiliate programs. Give it a look.