Steve Jobs was always going to be subtle in his influence of Disney, where with the sale of his Pixar Films 3 and a half years ago, he became the company’s largest single shareholder.
Jobs continues in his day job at Apple, but is widely attributed in an article in the New York Times this week, to have been instrumental in convincing Disney executives to think outside the box when it came to reinventing its 340 US retail stores.
While he wasn’t personally involved he encouraged execs to think bigger, and is reported to have given them access to all of Apple’s secrets, including the research it used to construct its own hugely successful retail footprint
In effect these stores will now become electronic play parks where you can mostly play, but you can also buy stuff, and some of it’s from Disney, so that they make a profit in their own right, rather than act as a brand extension of Disney only products. The stores will use many of the ideas pioneered in Apple stores like staff having portable check outs with them so transactions can happen where you are, not on the way out. It is trick like this that have made Apple stores the most productive in revenues terms per square foot, of all US retail chains. The entertainment on offer will include VoD film theaters, karaoke contests and live remote chats with Disney stars.
Disney will now open a flagship for this new concept store in Times Square in New York and it may even get a new name, though this has not been decided yet, though Imagination Park has been suggested.
The New York Times said that Disney would spend about $1 million per store on the refurbishment and redesign, which has been perfected by testing the idea in a single store first in California.