U.S. online retailer Camp continues to experiment with formats, following a strategy of expansion into traditional retail. The company opened a physical store today at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., one of the largest malls on the East Coast.
Forbes writes that the nearly 600-square-foot retail space is a new format – more traditional and less experimental than Camp’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York. Nevertheless, the store will find room for hands-on activities for children that have made the flagship one of the most “ideal” toy stores.
Camp is a reimagining of Toys R Us. The company, which owns the rights to the brand, opened its first stores in 2019, initiating a national revival of the iconic chain. However, the outlets closed in early 2021.
The new Camp store has the very process of play built into the shopping experience, with numerous playful objects such as a treehouse, a ride-on slide, or an actual pickup truck in the retail space. Should the store be in high demand, the company does not rule out converting it into a flagship format.
The Camp chain is making its seventh store in Westfield Garden State Plaza, with two more openings in Los Angeles and New England, scheduled by 2021. As the pandemic era of commerce begins, experts say Camp has proven to be the perfect toy store, managing to incorporate many interactive and digital solutions into the retail format and organizing the increasingly popular paid events that make the shopping experience even more fulfilling.
