Introduction
Retail markets are more diverse and fragmented than ever before, presenting consumers with an overload of information and alternatives. To attract these consumers, retailers have increasingly turned to retail atmospherics to create a more memorable and attractive consumer experience (Gottdeiner, 1997; Kotler, 1974; Martineau, Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Wolf, 1999). Entertainment consultant Wolf (1999) asserts that, as entertainment has seeped into every aspect of the economy, shopping has become blended into entertainment, becoming what he terms shop- pertainment.” This seemingly futuristic trend is actually a recent reappearance of an ancient imperative. Anthropologists tell us that the origins of the commercial marketplace are in festival marketplaces, places that have traditionally existed on the borders of cities, where celebrations, exotic peoples, mysteries, and tricksters presided (e.g., Lears,
1994; Sherry, 1995). In order to realize the present-day incarnation of this enterprise, in which stores tell stories,
retail marketers have had to pay evermore detailed attention to esthetics and to the processes by which consumers make meaning out of their physical experience of place.
The themed flagship brand store phenomenon maybe at the cutting edge of this trend. The primary intentions of most flagship brand store designers are to take the branding concept to an extreme level. We identify several types of brand-related stores. Flagship brand stores can be distinguished by three characteristics. First, they carry a single
(usually established) brand of product. Second, that brand’s manufacturer owns them. Finally, they are operated—at least in part—with the intention of building or reinforcing the image of the brand rather than operating to sell product at a profit. Flagship brand stores can be exclusive outlets fora manufacturer’s brand, such as Old Navy, Banana Republic, or Body Shop, or nonexclusive, such as Tommy Hilfiger or Ralph Lauren. Other examples of nonexclusive flagship Robert V. Kozinets is Assistant Professor of Marketing and John F.
Sherry, Jr. is Professor of Marketing at the Kellogg Graduate School of
Management, Northwestern University. Benet DeBerry-Spence, Adam Du- hachek, and Krittinee Nuttavuthisit are PhD. students at the Kellogg
Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University. Diana Storm is a PhD. student at the University of South Denmark-Odense University Corresponding author. Tel.:
⫹1-847-491-2716.
E-mail address r-kozinets@kellogg.nwu.edu (RV. Kozinets).
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