It took America 40 years to put wheels on luggage. Forty. Long. Years. Think of all the Nobel Prize winners, rocket scientists and engineers schlepping from terminal to terminal scribbling down the square root of a banana on one spiral bound notebook after another only to not see an obvious problem hanging from their beleaguered shoulder. The revelation passed millions of people by until 1987 when Northwest Airlines pilot Robert Path said there’s got to be a better way (1).
I think this is where we find the current state of retail real estate. The retailers and landlords that are retooling their product and “putting wheels on it” (2)are ringing the register while those carrying the status quo are left holding the bag.
Enter TopGolf. Jilted after pursuing a PGA partnership three years ago and being characterized as a gimmick, it’s looking like this retailer will laugh last as they managed to merge the driving range and bar scene to give new meaning to the term “drinking & driving”. Quick- show me a driving range anywhere in America that has a two hour Saturday night wait while pulling gross profits of $100,000/day. Go ahead. I’ll….”wait” for your answer at the TopGolf bar.
No, this is not rocket science, but Robert Path would be proud. This is simply putting “wheels” on a driving range and creating great retail. Golf’s only been around since 1457. I think it was ready. Other concepts have not been so fortunate.
I grew up a Toys “R” Us kid. This title came with a magical power. The power to get my Dad to drive me 25 minutes (not a misprint) to that glorious place set on a hill. I get nostalgic just thinking about it (I’m not kidding). Some thirty years later I have no idea why Toys “R” Us decided to lose this audience and squander billions of highly coveted nostalgic capital.
Your kids should be going there today to play some Double Dare derivative. Companies should be having their Holiday Parties in the Family Fun Zone so we can all dump slime on that annoying guy from HR. Toys “R” Us should be hosting the junior high LEGO building championship this Saturday(3). Toys “R” Us even had the lease rights to do children’s haircuts and they didn’t! Instead, aisle upon aisle of boxed up toys doomed this retailer. It’s like giving gum to starving consumers. They chew, but they don’t eat. No wheels here folks.
As I survey retail I see plenty of runway for retailers to implement the “just add wheels” strategy and the good news is, I’m not that smart. Hey- REI! I love your store but I’m begging you: Don’t build another one without a climbing wall (Boom: wheels!). Publix, phenomenal retailer: put a cooking school in every location (Boom: wheels!). Dick’s Sporting Goods: don’t build another box without a batting cage (Boom: wheels!). Bed Bath & Beyond: You have a treasure-trove of experiences waiting to be discovered in your new prototype. (Boom: wheels!).
Now before you go thinking this is easy, just remember Einstein solved for Relativity while carrying bag through the Newark Airport (4). All I am saying here is if tenants plan on writing the next chapter instead of filing it, we all must be willing to risk ridicule and put our attention on looking for ways to put wheels on concepts that may even be 561 years-old. A little mockery can be good for the soul.
I think you get the idea and trust me, I could go on, but I’ve got to go. My friends and I paid a $50 reservation fee at TopGolf and my buddy is going to miss his Long Island Ice Tea Time if I don’t bring this to a close.
GroceryAnchored.com – February 2018.
(1) Estimates vary on this exactly how long it took to put wheels on luggage, but you get the idea. It took a long time. See this well written New York Times article for more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/business/05road.html
(2) Nassim Taleb’s book, Antifragile speaks to this concept.
(3) Gary Vaynerchuck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdYtoj4KSeU
(4) I have no idea where Einstein solved for Relativity. You get the point. Even Einstein didn’t think to solve for wheels on luggage, so don’t think it’s just that easy for retailers.