Friday, June 24, you had to see the crowd queuing for the inauguration of the pop-up store of the series Stranger Things, broadcast on Netflix, to understand the recipes of a successful store.
Because the result is anything but disappointing. The vintage universe of the Stranger Things series can be found in this 400 square meter space, located at 44 avenue des Champs Elysées, in place of the Zara brand. Like its neighbor (the Disney store), the Netflix pop-up surfs on the goodies of a successful cinema, but where the experience is immersive is that it immerses us in the universe of the series, and more precisely in the last season, season 4, even going so far as to teaser unreleased episodes.
Thus, we find Joyce’s living room with THE sofa on which fans can sit to take selfies, the Starcourt shopping center, the Rink O Mania (rollerblade track), Hawkins’ laboratory and his mural in front which Eleven shows her powers… In short, the whole universe that made the series so successful, populated by many vintage nods, like the Pac Man video consoles. All this against a background of music from the eighties which guarantees the atmosphere. The must ? The video screen behind the box where passages of the series are broadcast and especially the appearance, with amplified sound, of Vecna, the monster. A guaranteed way to capture attention (just in case, seeing the queue, you change your mind).
All the products marketed are exclusives, derived from the series: backpacks, stuffed animals, mugs, caps, sweatshirts, hair scrunchies, vinyl edition of the Stranger Things soundtrack… And t-shirts with vintage prints, which have either a small logo indicating that it is a limited series or can be personalized.
After New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas, Netflix has chosen Paris for its first European pop-up store dedicated to Stranger Things
“We are the gateway to Europe and to the Champs-Élysées, we couldn’t do better! confides to us, Cédric Rosse, new manager of this probable cash business. It took two months to do the decoration, four days for the merchandising and we employ a hundred employees in turnover. There is no digital version. We target Generation Z and 40-somethings who are still geeks. At the time, if we had had a series on the Gremlins, we would have come running! The strength of a series is to be addictive, this pop-up makes you want to discover Stranger Things. And vice versa”.
The opening will last until September. At a time when cinemas and independent multi-brand stores are suffering from a lack of attendance, should we see in this success the sign that today showing films without too much scope or opening a store without a strong concept, able to attract the public, is, to say the least, complicated? The question does not even place itself.
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