The company that Walmart bought for $3 billion just opened the ‘grocery shop of the future’ in NYC — here’s what it’s like

Sarah Jacobs

Fresh Story, a temporary store in Manhattan sponsored by Jet.com.

Jet.com — the online retailer that Walmart bought in 2016 for $3 billion — is now selling some of its products IRL.

From May 10 to June 18, Jet will have a food-themed concept shop in Manhattan which showcases artisanal accessories, cookbooks, and kitchen appliances. Most of the items are pretty quirky, like face masks made from tomatoes, kale-flavored chocolate bars, socks with ice cream prints, and banana-shaped flasks.

The Jet experience comes to life at Story, a 5-year-old retail space that changes its products, decor, and events programming about every month based on its particular sponsor. For the next six weeks, the sponsor is Jet, where people can also find most of the store’s items. 

The larger goal of the temporary store is to raise awareness around Jet’s grocery delivery service, Sumaiya Balbale, Jet’s VP of marketing, tells Business Insider.

As thousands of mall-based stores close around the country, she says the set-up — a store that’s constantly changing and includes interactive events — could signal the future of brick-and-mortar retail.

“Retail is rapidly evolving,”Balbale tells Business Insider. “Tech is changing a lot of the ways in which people shop, and the way that retailers can fulfill on those behaviors. It’s an exciting time to experiment. I don’t think shopping behaviors are set in stone, and there’s a lot of opportunity to help shape them.”

Widely considered an Amazon competitor, Jet was founded in 2014 by Marc Lore, who now serves as the CEO of Walmart E-commerce. Jet’s installation at Story is the first time the online retailer is selling its products in a physical location.

Business Insider got an inside look:

On May 10, Jet.com opened a 2,000-square-foot temporary store, called Fresh Story, on Manhattan’s west side. It will be there for six weeks.

The store lives inside Story, a retail space that changes every three to eight weeks like a gallery. It was founded by marketing consultant Rachel Shechtman in 2012.

Past sponsors have included American Express, Mr. Robot, and GE. There have been 34 “stories” so far.

For Jet’s installation, Story laid artificial grass on the floor …

… and the walls. On a few walls, there’s also cherry scratch ‘n’ sniff wallpaper.

Everything inside the space is food-themed, like these watermelon wallets and socks:

Most of the tables and shelves revolve around a certain produce item. There are bowls of free, fresh fruit next to the products, too.

“You can’t have fake fruit in a Fresh store!” Shechtman says.

There’s even a floor-to-ceiling installation of Jet boxes, which brings its delivery experience to life.

Grocery delivery “is an area we’re really focused on and innovating in,” Balbale says.

All the products, which Shechtman’s team chose, are pretty unique.

The average price for the store’s 680 items, which range from clothing accessories to artisanal food to kitchen gadgets, is $38, Shechtman tells BI.

The least expensive item in the store are these $5 grass pens …

… while the most expensive item is Silicon Valley’s famed June Oven, which uses artificial intelligence to cook meals and costs $1,500.

The banana-themed clutch and sandals pictured below cost $1,095 and $795 respectively. They’re surrounded by other banana-themed items, like flasks and notebooks.

Though it may not be apparent to customers, the store’s floor features heat-mapping technology that can track people’s movements, Shechtman tells BI. If the system notices that a certain area of the store doesn’t attract many customers, the staff may choose to re-arrange the displays.

The store will also host over a dozen events, including happy hours with live DJs, culinary workshops for kids, and free talks from big names like celebrity chef Mario Batali and beauty expert Bobbi Brown.

“It’s going to be a cocktail of community and entertainment,” Schectman says. 

The store will be a way for Jet to connect with customers IRL. “We are the same people offline as we are online. People are craving for connection in the physical world,” Shechtman tells BI.

Jet’s larger goal of opening the temporary store is to raise awareness around its food delivery service as well as its more niche, artisanal offerings, Balbale says.

“More and more folks are used to shopping for their everyday essentials and groceries, but by focusing on that yes, you can buy your Tropicana but also your specialty cheeses through Jet, it will hopefully showcase that we have a breadth of interesting things that you would otherwise not think of,” Balbale says.

Though Story’s happy hours and talks may seem modern, in some ways, getting customers to interact in stores is not a new concept.

As early as the mid-19th century, retailers have used events, like Christmas displays and celebrity author readings, as a way to market their products. Story’s Jet event with alcohol-infused ice cream, cocktails, and a DJ, for example, will be a 21st century update to that concept.

More big-box retailers are starting to push social events as well — to get customers to hang out in stores longer (and ideally buy more things). In 2015, Barnes and Noble launched its annual “Get Pop Cultured” series, which has included cosplay meet-ups and “throwback Thursdays” with 1950s-style hula hoop contests.

What is novel, however, is the fact that the entire interior and theme of Story changes almost every month. Though Story doesn’t consider itself a pop-up store (it has a permanent location), temporary retail has been a growing trend among brands in recent years.

The retail strategy of constantly being in flux may help brick-and-mortar stores, many of which will inevitably continue to feel competition from online retailers, survive in the 21st century.

Story is located at 144 10th Avenue on the southeast corner at 19th Street in New York City.

Read more stories on Business Insider, Malaysian edition of the world’s fastest-growing business and technology news website.

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