Adverlab: The obvious future of in-store experience: you find something you like, reach into your pocket for a small device, scan the barcode, and the device tells you whether and were the same product is available for a lower price. Brick-and-mortar stores become little more than showrooms for merchandise bought elsewhere.

This future just got one step closer today with the release of an iPhone app Checkout SmartShop, "a shopping assistant meant to help you fine online and local prices when you’re out and about shopping." For now, you still need to type in the UPS code; they are working on converting the iPhone camera into a barcode scanner.

How much time do you give for this app to hit the market: you go into a Blockbuster, scan a box, and the movie is cued up for download on your BitTorrent client?

The Future of Retail: Instant Price Match [Adverlab]

Springwise: For dieters working to lose weight, maintaining a decent wardrobe of clothes that fit can be an ongoing—and expensive—challenge on the way to a target size. With just that situation in mind, Transitional Sizes rents out name-brand clothing for temporary use while the pounds come off.

Maryland-based Transitional Sizes, which just recently launched, offers women's and maternity clothing in a range of sizes for monthly rental fees ranging from about USD 3 to USD 25. (Men's clothes are coming soon, the site says.) Customers order items in the sizes they need and keep them for as long as they want; once they're done, they clean them per the instructions provided by Transitional Sizes and send them back in the original box. Customers needn't be members to order from the site, but membership packages ranging from USD 10 to USD 40 per year are designed to give dieters a range of extra perks, including coupons, discounts, email alerts and weight-loss incentives.

Clothing rental for size-changing dieters [Springwise]

Elmidae is an eco-minded woman-owned clothing company that makes a line of women’s clothing using largely sustainable and organic fabrics, as well as hand printed textiles using strictly non-toxic water based inks. Every stitch on every garment is lovingly produced in the United States by woman-owned factories at honest wages. Celebrating the artistry and intellect of garment making, Elmidae offers a line that is a true departure from mass-produced clothing.

Elmidae
Profile on IdeaBlob.com

Elmidae is a finalist for June at the Ideablob.com competition where entrepreneurs and small business owners can share and grow their business ideas – and have a chance to win $10,000 towards fulfilling them. CoolBusinessIdeas.com will be highlighting some of the winning ideas weekly.

A week or so ago, my partner and I (and the unfortunate couple we had visiting for dinner) came down with what was for me the worst case of food poisoning I've ever had. It made me think about the increased awareness of sanitation in public spaces like retail stores.

Here in Toronto, where we were hard hit by the SARS crisis in 2003, consumers are very conscious of hygiene, and need to feel safe from potential exposure to health risks when outside of their home environments.

An article in the Wall Street Journal from February 15th described a common problem. After washing and drying your hands in a public washroom, how can the washroom door be opened without touching the handle? Sanitgrasp, an small American company based in Atlanta, has a solution that allows the door to be opened by pulling with the forearm.

In retail, there are many locations where germs easily (and frequently) reside. The handles of grocery shopping carts are an obvious one. As I was wandering the aisles of the recent FMI trade show in Las Vegas, I noticed this display.

Disinfecting wipes are made available to shoppers to clean the cart handles - a great idea, highly visible, and inexpensive. A great way for a retailer to demonstrate that they are listening to their shoppers' needs.

Are there other ways that retailers are making their stores cleaner? Please comment.

Graeme Spicer is a Canadian trendspotter, ethnographer and observer of all things retail. As Director of Retail Strategy at DW+Partners he spends his time consulting with leading retailers; presenting at conferences across North America; lecturing at OCAD, Canada's leading design school; and reading too many blogs. Graeme blogs at http://graemespicer.typepad.com.

Springwise: As the weakening economy causes purse strings to tighten, consumers are increasingly looking for new ways to earn a little extra cash. Enter My Gold Party, which facilitates Tupperware-style parties focused on helping guests sell their unused gold.

Launched earlier this year, My Gold Party sells all the equipment minipreneurs need to host parties in which guests can sell their gold, including a scale, karat tester and book of instructions. Party hosts then invite guests to bring gold coins, watches and jewelry to their party, where they assay and weigh each item to determine its current market worth. The party host pays guests for the items with cash or a cheque, then ships the gold to a refinery, which in turn pays the host—at a rate the host hopes will be higher than paid to the party guests. The gold is then melted down and reused.

Consumers in hard times have always been able to sell their spare jewelry in pawn shops, but by bringing the process out of the back alley and into the living room, My Gold Party legitimises and updates it with a social and entrepreneurial twist.

Parties help guests sell their gold [Springwise]

CoolHunting: Re-Shirt is an Austrian-based company that resells second-hand t-shirts. What sets them apart from other online boutiques is that every shirt comes with a personal story. Owners submit the unique history pertinent to the garment they donate—often the circumstances behind buying it, or a memorable event while wearing it. The Re-Shirt philosophy is rooted in the question, "Do products last longer if you know their history?" The idea seems promising. Like a table made with reclaimed wood from some distant castle, a story can equate to desirability.

Once a shirt goes through the system, it's marked with a Re-Shirt code. Stories can be added onto the shirt's history, perhaps increasing its value.

Re-Shirt [CoolHunting]

TrendHunter: Shopaholics rejoice! Let us do the dance of joy! On Tuesday Amazon launched TextBuyIt, letting people text the name of a product, description, UPC or ISBN to the numbers “262966” (which is Amazon on the keypad), so we can buy from our cell phones, including from inside stores.

The service returns two results at a time, where you can buy one of the first two selections by texting “1” or “2,” or you can ask for more info by texting the letter “M.” Enter the e-mail address you have with your Amazon account and your shipping zip code and wait for the service to call you. They walk you through the checkout process with an automated voice system. You then get confirmation by text message and e-mail and as well as view your order online.

Shopping by Text Message - Amazon TextBuyIt [TrendHunter]

Merchants of Green Coffee is a Toronto, Canada based wholesaler and retailer of coffee beans, but with several twists that make them unique and therefore of interest to readers of coolbusinessideas.com.

The owners and employees of this company are passionate about the search for the perfectly brewed cup of coffee. They teach their shoppers about the three steps to great coffee: the highest quality coffee beans, the freshest roast, and proper brewing.

Therefore, they sell only the best arabica beans sourced from small, shady, organic certified plantations in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Sulawesi and Costa Rica. They have a strong commitment to fair trade, and pay a fair price for the product in most cases directly to the farmer. A percentage of sales of their coffee goes to sustainable coffee programs.

The flavour and aromas of coffee are generated only after roasting brings out the essential oils and caramelizes the carbohydrates and sugars in the beans. Within minutes of roasting oxidation starts breaking down these oils, and will quickly turn the sweetness and complexity of aromas and tastes to bitterness. According to Daniel Byrnes of MGC (pictured in the photograph above), roasted coffee has a shelf life of only 3-5 days, regardless of how it's packaged. Ground coffee has a life of only 3 hours before it is stale.

So what is the key difference between Merchants of Green Coffee and your local Starbucks? MGC only sells green, unroasted coffee. Shoppers must purchase a small coffee roaster and roast the green beans at home - the store does not sell roasted coffee beans. Coffee is roasted at around 450 degrees F in small electrical appliances that resemble hot air popcorn poppers. The roasting process is complete is about 8 minutes.

The business model is also different. Customers generally pre-purchase 30 pounds of coffee for CDN$375, and receive the CDN$180 home roaster for free. They then drop by the store and take away coffee as they need in until their 30 pounds are exhausted. They can then continue purchasing green coffee at CDN$7-12 per pound - very inexpensive even by Canadian supermarket standards for arabica coffee.

With increasing consumer interest in trends like authenticity, provenance of products and environmentalism, organic green coffee that they can then roast, grind and brew at home is certain to gain more and more acceptance.

For more information: www.merchantsofgreencoffee.com.

Graeme Spicer is a Canadian trendspotter, ethnographer and observer of all things retail. As Director of Retail Strategy at DW+Partners he spends his time consulting with leading retailers; presenting at conferences across North America; lecturing at OCAD, Canada's leading design school; and reading too many blogs.

Inhabitat: It’s still surprising to see how few retail spaces there are dedicated to green products. However, hopefully this is set to change in Britain, with the arrival of Eco Age, a cutting-edge, high-end designer gadgets and interior designs store in the upmarket family district of Chiswick, London. The retail space enables customers to see, touch and smell products before purchase – essential for customers who want to make a considered purchase based on their appreciation of all of these sensory aspects, and crucial for products that want to break from the ‘instant landfill’ norm. It also makes it much easier for good intentions to be turned into green-minded action.

Aware that cheeky consumers may treat the store as a showroom before purchasing goods off the net for less, the store has integrated a range of services into its offer. The basement houses an interior design consultancy that recommends paints, wallpapers and home energy systems to individuals and businesses. The store is also intended to be used as a networking space for anyone who wants to know more about how best to do their bit. With this much convenience, advice and encouragement on offer, we’re expecting the store to be responsible for a lot of positive change in the capital.

Eco Age’s Green Glam Hits London [Inhabitat]

TrendWatching.com: LA-based SilverJewelryClub give away many of their jewelry pieces to spread the word about the quality and craftsmanship of their designs. Customers just have to pay for shipping. The club's homepage displays four pieces at a time and visitors have 15 minutes to order each piece, after which a new product takes its place. In their own words: "Giving away our jewelry for free is our way of introducing our products. We know the competition is fierce, and we want you to experience our jewelry so that you will remember our brand." SilverJewelryClub currently ships to 54 countries.

FREE LOVE [TrendWatching.com]

MediaCart® is revolutionizing shopping with a computerized shopping cart which assists shoppers, delivers targeted communications at the point of purchase and streamlines store operations.

One of the highlights for retailers here is the Use Scan and Bag to Accelerate Checkouts, Reduce Labor Costs. The MediaCart® System allows shoppers to scan and total all of their items, providing valuable displays while they shop and allowing shoppers to bypass traditional checkouts.

MediaCart® system accurately anticipates and responds to shopping needs – letting shoppers locate products, check prices and scan and bag their items seamlessly while shopping.

Via Chipchick

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TrendInsights. A blog to inspire, stimulate creativity and trend spotting.

Adrenalina The Extreme Store. Check out the video! We don't have to say more, it's simply COOL.

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TrendInsights. A blog to inspire, stimulate creativity and trend spotting.

The idea of take-out has taken off. The emergent trend of buying online, picking-up in-store (‘bopi’ for these purposes) was listed as eMarketer’s #7 Key Online Predictions for 2008 and NearbyNow’s #4.

While seemingly inherent that companies would diversify their distribution efforts, many are still 1-pronged. Yet with benefits like bigger shopping carts (27% of bopi customers make additional purchases in-store) and opportunities for web cross-selling (44% of bopi customers buy more merchandise online than average), it’s easy to see why it’s on the ‘08 countdown.

Recently Circuit City, founder of the bopi method, added a 24-minute guarantee for pick-up customers. This comes, not surprisingly after the Forrester report noted the top reasons to buy locally were ‘want it now’, ‘try it first’ and ‘no shipping charges’. Further, mobile bopi is forecasted to spike as well. ‘Order en route’ has quite the ring to it. With giants like Wal-Mart (see Site to Store launch in Q107) and the top 3 pizza distributors jumping on board, their success will determine how quickly others join in.

Because who doesn’t want a generic prescription or a Lexus or a latte, to-go.

Katie Sherman is a NY-based freelance writer. After years of multi-tasking at downtown ad agencies, she's recently returned from a European backpacking sabbatical. During the day she works as a Copywriter in Soho. In the off-hours she concentrates on analyzing social/ cultural trends, business innovation and local entertainment. Her work has been published on PSFK.com, CoolBusinessIdeas.com, EatDrinkSleepny.com, and Glamourite.com. Email her at katie_sherman@hotmail.com

Nvohk is a community-managed, eco-friendly, surf-inspired clothing company. Nvohk is now recruiting members via www.projectnvohk.com. Pronounced 'invoke', the company combines the best of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding business models to develop and launch a new lifestyle brand that blends social responsibility and financial performance.

Nvohk is recruiting 20,000 – 40,000 members to contribute $50 a year to develop and shape the Nvohk brand. Members will make major business decisions including logo design, web design, product design, advertising, etc. Members will also receive a free member t-shirt, 35% of Nvohk's net profits in the form of reward points that can be redeemed to purchase products, and 25% off all Nvohk products. Nvohk will donate 10% of net profits to environmental organizations selected by its members.

ProjectNvohk.com

The Cool Hunter: Back in May this year, we told you about a little shop in New York called Pong. A tiny table tennis parlor that you could hire out and film your slide into sporting greatness. What we also mentioned was after three months, Pong would be gone in favor of something else.

And the time has come for it to be replaced, by a Drive-in theatre. What was formally a sporting arena, is a cinema fitted with a 1965 Ford Falcon convertible and widescreen. Starting with films from 1960 and progressing chronologically each night, DRV-IN speeds through four decades of cinematic achievement.

With seating for six and a full concession stand, where else in Manhattan are you going to relive all those crappy B-Movie moments you saw when you were a kid?

GRAND OPENING - Drv-In (New York) [The Cool Hunter]
Grand Opening [CoolBusinessIdeas.com]

EARTHtimes.org: Pay By Touch, the leader in integrated biometric authentication, personalized marketing and payment solutions, today announced that four separate retailers will pilot its internet-based Rapid Enroll kiosks to facilitate loyalty program customer sign up. All four will be live by the end of August.

Replacing the traditional paper-based enrollment process which is timely and error-prone, the sleek in-store kiosk facilitates simple and efficient electronic loyalty program sign-up. To join a retailers' loyalty program, a shopper needs only to enter a phone number and second identifier such as the first three letters of the last name. The back-end technology then automatically populates address information. The shopper can also enter her information manually.

The system also scrubs profile data against existing databases and automatically corrects any errors. The result is a more accurate loyalty program database that requires less time to process than paper based applications. What once took weeks can now be accomplished in minutes.

"To build and retain a loyal customer base in today's competitive retail environment, retailers must provide personalized service, and the most efficient way to do that is through loyalty programs," said John Rogers, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Pay By Touch. "At half the cost of paper enrollments and infinitely faster, Rapid Enroll is the most efficient way to facilitate a positive return from loyalty program investment."

Pay By Touch's New Rapid Enroll Product is an Immediate Hit with Four New Customers [EARTHtimes.org]

Boys to Men Gifts: The male gender is always the hardest to find gifts for, this is why we started Boys to Men Gifts. We are here to help you find creative solutions to the problem of what to buy for all ages of the male gender.

Boys To Men Gifts has a unique selection of carefully chosen gifts from around the world that you won't find in the high street stores, and will be debuting several products to the North American market. To help you find the perfect gift for the males in your life, we have found unusual, high quality and uniquely designed products for all ages, to give you a one stop resource for all your male gift needs throughout the year.

Visitors to our site will also be able to book a gift experience on line to make that occasion extra special for the male that thinks he has everything which makes an original and memorable gift and can also be a great opportunity for quality time.

Boys to Men Gifts

TrendCentral: While websites such as SeenON! have touched on the idea of purchasing show-based product, ICE is different in that it essentially turns any footage, ranging from live TV shows to DVR’d movies and even DVDs and VHS (old or new), into an onscreen retailer. Almost everything you see will be available for purchase, e.g., Carrie Bradshaw’s nameplate necklace, Jack Bauer’s cellphone, or songs heard on Weeds. With IVC (interactive video commerce), viewers can “click” through highly organized menus, selecting product ranging from categories such as jewelry, electronics, clothing, and appliances to more media-based product such as in-show music, video, and show branded merchandise. There’s even a sponsor section, where viewers can check out the brands and products advertised during the show. Viewers also have an option to access detailed information on the show and cast members. The search and purchasing process is similar to an online retailer, but instead of using a mouse, viewers use their remote control to click through selections, choose color/size/version, etc., and ultimately buy items.

ICE [TrendCentral]

The Cool Hunter: Call it the relentless march of capitalism, or the material manifestation of our fickle society, but the high street is in a constant state of flux. Shops change hands at the drop of a hat, and most of the time, it’s not for the better.

It is precisely this commercial whimsy that inspired Canadian brothers Ben and Hall Smyth to create GrandOpening, a space that will constantly reopen every three months. Except, rather than hand over the keys to new owners, the Smyth’s will completely overhaul the 400-square foot space into something new.

Image

Based in Norfolk Street, New York, GrandOpening is currently a ping-pong parlor equipped with full-sized table and recording facilities so you can watch your performances on YouTube. For $6 you can get the table for twenty minutes, and for $50 you get the whole room for an hour with access to the projector screen and bleachers.

But it won’t be around for long. Come July, it’ll be gone, replaced by something equally quirky. Perhaps a cinema, driving range or even a dominoes emporium, who knows.

GRAND OPENING - Pong [The Cool Hunter]

Fast Company: We're talking about consumers who want to own the same pair of jeans that Meredith wears on "Grey's Anatomy" or a dress that was seen on Gabrielle's character on "Desperate Housewives." The Times dubs this new phenomenon "shopping-enabled entertainment," a rapidly-growing marketplace now aided by several new websites selling the most popular and fashionable of the as-seen-on-TV products to consumers.

Shopping enabled entertainment gives a whole new meaning to product placement where viewers no longer have to be persuaded by advertisers to buy their products, but instead their brands are being actively sought-out by a celebrity-obsessed culture.

I first came across such fans last summer when reading message board posts on a design magazine's website. One fan had just seen the movie "The Break Up" with Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn and was dying to locate the living room furniture used to decorate the couple's condo. The message board soon revealed hundreds of other fans who had admired the set as well and were seeking advice on which stores carried the exact couch, the end table and even the paint color on the walls.

Now, websites such as SeenON.com or StarStyle.com cater exclusively to these consumer demands and fans no longer have to fret over where to find their favorite TV items; a visit to the sites reveals just how extensive this market has become. As reported in the Times article, these websites don't just sell the clothes and accessories worn by characters on more than 100 televisions shows and movies, they also allow visitors to take virtual tours of TV and movie sets to purchase the tiniest details such as the Tupperware set used by Bree on an episode of "Desperate Housewives."

Need A New Wardrobe? Shop TV [Fast Company]

BurlingtonFreePress.com: There are fewer and fewer people asking, "Paper or plastic?" at supermarket checkout aisles throughout the Burlington area and across the country.

At Price Chopper's Burlington store, eight of 19 checkout lanes are equipped with automated "Easy Scan Checkout" machines. Each of the two sets, known as "quads," has four automated checkout stations and one employee to verify age for alcohol purchases, witness credit card transactions and assist shoppers.

The rest of the duties are left to customers: punching produce codes, weighing vegetables, scanning for prices and bagging food. To pay, shoppers feed cash into the machine or swipe a credit or debit card.

"They are embracing the opportunity to participate in a process that will help them move faster," Price Chopper spokeswoman Mona Golub said of the shoppers, adding that those who ring-up their own purchases experience "a sense of accomplishment."

Supermarket self-checkouts on the rise [BurlingtonFreePress.com]

MarketingVox: Interactive services firm IconNicholson has created a new type of in-store experience that combines social networking and shopping, and has come to be known as Social Retailing, according to fashion.psfk.

Demonstrated at the National Retail Federation conference earlier this week, the Social Retailing technology uses an in-store three-paneled "magic mirror" that can send photos or videos of shoppers in outfit options to their MySpace page or to friend's emails and mobiles for instant opinions.

The technology will also allow customers to see what others have purchased, and also view similar options that are not in stock but can be purchased online and delivered to their homes.

Social Retailing: The New In-Store Experience [MarketingVox]

Personalized comparison shopping site, DealMine.com announces the launch of its wireless application for consumers to access their membership deals on the road. With thousands of discounts, miles, points and cash back rewards from credit cards, frequent flier programs and associations, DealMine.com guides shoppers how to take advantage of the programs where they belong as well as learn about new programs.

Free membership with DealMine.com enables travelers and shoppers alike to bookmark their favorite deals and save their membership numbers – all in one place. Now when checking in at the rental car or hotel desk, or checking out at their favorite store, consumers can access DealMine.com (http://www.dealmine.com or http://m.dealmine.com) on any WAP-enabled wireless phone to compare deals and put them to work.

“We are all members of countless programs designed to save us money; the hard part is keeping track of which deal is best. By making our discounts and rewards search wireless, we hope to make choosing the right deal much easier and more accessible.” said Scott Cherkin, CEO and Founder of DealMine.com. The site currently features over 100 car rental deals, 800 hotel deals, 12 JCPenney.com deals, 11 Target.com deals and much more from programs including American Express, AAA, AARP, Veterans Advantage, Visa, Delta SkyMiles, American Airlines AAdvantage, Upromise and more.

On the web, DealMine.com is the only place consumers will find a one-stop shopping website that showcases how membership-based deals compare with general sales and discounts available to all consumers.

DealMine.com

Times Online: The nostrils of consumers are to be assailed with a wave of artificial odours designed to lull them into parting with their money.

The smells, pumped into shops and the foyers of hotels, range from melon, which psychologists have found induces feelings of friendliness, to figs, said to be welcoming, and the invigorating whiff of lemons.

“Scent branding” is widespread in America and is now arriving in Britain.

Customers in Mothercare, the baby and toddlers’ shop, can smell its distinctive “soft” odour. The Sheraton chain, meanwhile, has begun to perfume the lobbies of all its British hotels with a chemical smelling like fresh fruit.

Crafty odours woo shoppers to spend more [Times Online]

KioskMarketplace: Calling Get & Go Express an “unmanned c-store” might be a bit misleading. It not only doesn’t have a staff, but the goods are all stocked in machines facing outward. What’s more, it doesn’t have tobacco, alcohol, gas or lotto tickets — c-store staples. And its profit margins are even more distinct from its traditional cousin.

Founder Jeff Parsons is building the chain on a simple idea. He realized removing the employees would widen margins to the point that it was feasible, even without the traditional high-margin items that require employees to verify age. And he’s augmenting his efforts with kiosk technology: deploying DVD rental kiosks and ATMs in the mix.

The employee-free c-store [KioskMarketplace]

CNN: It looks almost like any other shopping cart, except sensors let it follow the shopper around the supermarket and slow down when needed so items can be placed in it. And it never crashes into anyone's heels.

"The immediate thing that jumped to my mind was all those times as a kid when my sister would accidentally hit me with a cart," said its inventor, Gregory Garcia. "It seems like the public would really want this, since everybody shops."

His cart, also known as B.O.S.S. for Battery Operated Smart Servant, was one of about 30 robots displayed last week by University of Florida students.

A shopping cart that doesn't run into things! [CNN]

SFLORG.com: Researchers from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Institute of Textiles and Clothing have recently developed "An intelligent Simulator for Cross-selling & Up-selling using Smart Fitting Room & Smart Dressing Mirror". It is envisaged to help fashion retailers boost business volume by improving sales and customer services.

This system uses the technology of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to detect items brought into a fitting room or placed in front of a dressing mirror. When an item is picked into the fitting room or placed in front of a dressing mirror, the product ID will be immediately detected and transmitted to the system through the antennae and reader.

The mix-and-match database of the system will then deliver recommendations to the customer through a touch-screen LCD monitor or projected screen. In the fitting room, if the customer is interested to pick the recommended mix-and-match items, he/she can make their choice by clicking the items shown on screen. The salesman in the shop counter will thus be informed, through the intercom system, of the additional items required by the customer inside the fitting room.

PolyU develops intelligent dressing mirror and fitting room [SFLORG.com]

Springwise: Remember Norwegian 'Paraplyselskapet AS', who came up with the world's first fully connected umbrella vending machines? Well, Springwise guess they hit a bit of a rainy spot (maybe it was their name?), as the company is basically inactive these days. So bad idea, end of story? Not really: UK-based Umbrolly has resurrected the concept, and is busy installing machines all over London. There are currently 10 of them dotted around London, with a further 10 out at the end of this month. Machines sell approximately 50 umbrellas per machine per rainfall day. They also signed a deal to place the machines exclusively across the London Underground and will have 150 units on the network by the end of 2005. International expansion is also in the works: the company is in talks with location providers in Germany, Holland and the US.

Umbrolly [Springwise]

Springwise: We don't mind spelling it out again: in an age of abundance, curators rule! Riding the CURATED CONSUMPTION trend in all its glory is Japanese Ranking Ranqueen, a Tokyo chain selling only the top 3, 5 or 10 items in a bewildering range of categories. Rankings are based on sales data from big Tokyo department stores and independent research.

Think best-selling lists for bath powder. Tooth picks. Pasta sauce. Cell phones. And so on. Rankings are updated every week, mercilessly replacing the out of favor with the Next Big Thing.

There are eight Ranking Ranqueen stores in total: five stores in Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Otemachi, Jiyugaoka, Kitasenju), two stores in Yokohama (Azamino, Kamiooka), and one store in Fukuoka (Fukuokatenjin).

Ranking Ranqueen [Springwise]

Iconoculture: When wedding guests don’t put out, savvy newlyweds cash in. Retailers are toasting just-marrieds with completion sales – post-honeymoon promotions that let start-up spouses score discounts on un-purchased registry items. Staples like Bloomingdale’s, Williams-Sonoma, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn have all integrated completion programs or events into their pre-wedding registry services. Most post-wedding offers give newlyweds a 10% to 20% discount on unfulfilled registry items for three to six months after the ceremony.

Registries help new couples pick up the picket-fence essentials – and get a head start on their new family homes. If guests don’t buy it, chances are they still need (or want) it. When it comes to registering for silver tuna items, it doesn’t hurt to ask. And if friends and family don’t bite on the big ones, enterprising newlyweds can always get a deal.

Completion sales let newlyweds buy out registries for a bargain [Iconoculture]

BusinessWeek: Light years apart in brand image and market appeal, both shops are targeting "the to die for" position which retailers the world over are striving to reach, the point at which a store becomes "a destination," a place where people choose to linger, learn, and be stimulated or simply have fun.

The best shops have always aspired to be more than mere merchants, but intense competition on the high street has upped the stakes. This is particularly so for department stores and specialist retailers, such as booksellers, caught in a pincer action by the advance of online sales on one flank and supermarkets offering heavily discounted blockbusters on the other. As Gennaro Castaldo, head of press and public relations at music store HMV, sums it up: "It's certainly the case that consumers have many more [retail channel] choices today. You have to give people an added reason to come into your store, something that makes the act of visiting a shop as rewarding as acquiring the good itself."

Hot Shops: Retail Revamps [BusinessWeek]

NYTimes.com: A new shopping complex in Ohio will try to combine the convenience of online stores with the hands-on experience of browsing at a mall.

Sometime near the end of 2006, the complex, called Epicenter, is scheduled to open in Columbus at the Polaris Fashion Place. The nucleus of Epicenter will consist of two parts - the Buypod, a hand-held electronic device, and electronic kiosks located throughout the mall.

Under the concept, customers will enter the mall and register their credit card information, which will then be put into their Buypods. As customers browse merchandise, they can use their Buypod - which, as the name suggests, looks something like an Apple iPod - to scan the labels of items they want to buy.

Although a small number of items will available to take home, most orders will be sent directly to the warehouse, where they will be filled and shipped. The electronic kiosks will print receipts and can be used to cancel orders, if needed.

A Mall Hopes You'll Try Products in Person but Buy Them Online [NYTimes.com]