Retailers Try to Snap Customers to Attention

Attention, bored shoppers. Traditional retailers realize it takes a lot these days to engage and entertain increasingly fickle consumers. In an effort to grab shoppers’ dollars, department stores, boutiques and malls have been experimenting with ways to lure shoppers into their stores.

Their efforts range from “entertainment retail” or “shoppertainment” malls to the play-and-shop Nike Town stores to low-key foot massages. It’s too early to tell if these are mere gimmicks or enduring store concepts.

Here are examples of what a few stores are offering:

“Shoppertainment” is the buzz at Ontario Mills in Ontario. Vans, a shoe store, opened an indoor and outdoor skate park (there is a fee) for in-line skating and skateboarding. The mall also offers bike riding, a zoo and an aquarium.

The Bar on Four, at the Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills, is situated, aptly enough, on the fourth floor, which happens to be the men’s floor. The oval, marble bar is surrounded by 30 bar stools and 30 six-inch television sets. After plowing through umpteen cashmere sweaters, the Neiman Marcus man can take a break to down champagne and caviar or a roast-beef sandwich with horseradish dressing and, of course, to watch sports.

Can virtual shopping be combined with real shopping? In the middle of the Max Studio boutique in Brentwood, sandwiched between racks of clothes, stands a frosty green kiosk with a computer screen. Customers who don’t find what they want in the store can browse by computer through the chain’s entire inventory and order anything right there.

So is that entertainment?

Candace A. Wedlan can be reached at candace.wedlan@latimes.com.