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Netflix To Open Branded Retail Stores For Some Reason (engadget.com) 43

Posted by BeauHD from the trending-towards-the-analog-once-again dept.
As reported by Bloomberg, Netflix plans to open a number of brick-and-mortar retail locations, called Netflix House, in 2025. Engadget reports: The stores will sell merchandise based on hit Netflix shows, so you can finally snag that Lincoln Lawyer coffee mug you've always dreamed of. Netflix House establishments will also offer dining and curated live experiences. To the latter point, the two initial locations are going to feature an obstacle course based on Squid Game. This seems to miss the point of the show's brutal satire of modern capitalism, but that's been par for the course since it took the world by storm back in 2021.

Netflix House will also boast rotating art installations based on hit shows and live performances to excite fans. Additionally, the in-house restaurant will serve cuisine and drinks originally featured on the streamer's many unscripted food-based reality shows. The menu will range from fast casual to high-end dining.

The first two locations should open up in the US some time in 2025, though Netflix hasn't said where, with more global outlets to come at a later date. Why the big global push? Josh Simon, the company's vice president of consumer products, told Bloomberg that its customers "love to immerse themselves in the world of our movies and TV shows, and we've been thinking a lot about how we take that to the next level." [...] The company's still finalizing details regarding menus, locations and just about everything else. It has more than a year, after all, to set up shop.
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Netflix To Open Branded Retail Stores For Some Reason More

Netflix To Open Branded Retail Stores For Some Reason

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  • Rewind that DVD before returning... (Score:5, Funny)

    by kackle ( 910159 ) on Friday October 13, 2023 @09:34PM (#63923937)
    Here's a wild idea: They should rent videos!
  • Who needs virtual reality, they will change real reality into a funhouse. Maybe that will stop real wars? Combine this with universal basic income and many peoples reality would be almost entirely synthetic. Until one day it breaks and everything stops. I think I just wrote the summary of a dystopian science fiction novel!
    • Yep, Disney's all about the merch. Who knows how much Disney contributes to plastic waste & landfill but I bet it's a lot. Netflix wants in on those sweet, sweet pointless consumerism & environmentally degrading $$$!

      How much of a better place would the world be if we banned plastic merch altogether? If they want to make it out of other more durable, higher-quality, less environmentally degrading materials, fine.

  • ok? (Score:3)

    by GrahamJ ( 241784 ) on Friday October 13, 2023 @09:56PM (#63923977)

    While I'm glad they finally came up with a solution to the problem of customer growth not increasing forever that isn't raising subscription prices again, I'm dubious as to how likely selling (presumably) crap Chinese merch will be to continue lining investor an exec pockets.

  • Immersive experience (Score:3)

    by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Friday October 13, 2023 @10:13PM (#63923993)

    its customers "love to immerse themselves in the world of our movies and TV shows

    Yeah... AT HOME.

    Basically they want to create Netflixland on the Disneyland model.

    Disney could pull it off because of their many iconic movies and characters. Also, people used to go see Disney movies at the theater: immersing themselves in the Disney universe was synonymous with going out. So Disneyland made sense: it was a place to go out and load up on Disney magic for longer than the 2 hours of a theater outing,

    But NetFlix? People do Netflix on their couch. The Netflix experience is watching good TV with a beer in one hand and scratching your nuts with the other while the kids are at the football game and you have a couple hours to yourself. People don't go out to recreate that experience.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      More like Universal Studios theme park

    • Haven't you seen the cosplay crowds & the sheer numbers of what are essentially adult babies that spend a large chunk of their income on TV & film-themed shit?

      • Haven't you seen the cosplay crowds & the sheer numbers of what are essentially adult babies that spend a large chunk of their income on TV & film-themed shit?

        Here you go [bbc.com]. How much some people spend on cosplay.

    • The Netflix experience is watching good TV with a beer in one hand and scratching your nuts with the other while the kids are at the football game and you have a couple hours to yourself. People don't go out to recreate that experience.

      They don't, but they surely did. It was called "cinema". But it was ruined by absurd prices and braindead movies.

    • But NetFlix? People do Netflix on their couch.

      As families arrive at NetflixLand, they'll experience the wonder of an array of couches far and wide, exceeding the imagination!

  • recently read an article about it:

    https://www.newyorker.com/maga... [newyorker.com]

    With writers and actors on strike this summer, Netflix decided to diversify. The streaming giant opened a restaurant, Netflix Bites, a few blocks west of its Hollywood headquarters. On the menu: dishes featured in Netflix food shows. The daily special: the presence of the chefs who created the dishes. Well, some of them.
    "Dominique Crenn isn"t here, because she"s opening a new restaurant, in Paris," a Netflix publicist said, frowning, of the

  • It's a pop-up store (Score:3)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday October 13, 2023 @10:44PM (#63924039)
    They're extremely common in Japan. Usually small cafes offering branded food you wouldn't normally eat except it's shaped like whatever property you're interested in, usually something cute and you usually get some limited items like cards or merchandise. In the case of something like Netflix It's not meant to hang around it's a quick and dirty way to take some cheap merchandise prettiest in China and use it to promote your brand and get a little bit of attention.

  • Hopefully they sell branded air conditioners.

    But really they should focus on wealthy cities with low crime. Dubai? Singapore?

    US people are not on track to have much disposable income by then.

    Or maybe they're waiting to see if a political revolution happens before making firm plans.

  • Note to self (Score:4, Funny)

    by VonSkippy ( 892467 ) on Saturday October 14, 2023 @12:28AM (#63924165) Homepage

    Note to Self - Sell Netflix Stock before end of 2024.

  • Isn't McDonald's hidden value in all of the real estate it holds?

  • I guess it is one way to get rid of all the dvds they have since they recently discontinued their dvd service.

    • I guess it is one way to get rid of all the dvds they have since they recently discontinued their dvd service.

      Limited supplies, check.
      Recognisable branding, check.
      Retro-nostalgia value, check.

      I think you might be onto something! This sounds like *exactly* the sort of thing young adults would spend money to buy!

      In all seriousness though, I much prefer physical media. I had a Netflix subscription back when they were a DVD mailing service. I don't subscribe to any streaming services.(for reason of cost, limited bandwidth, lack of time, lack of interesting content...) From reading Slashdot, I know I'm not the only one

  • There are a lot of nay-sayers, and even TFS is pretty clueless about the idea.

    Think of each of these shows as 30 or 60 minute advertisements for a given restaurant, theme park, etc., and it makes a lot more sense.

    The prime example? Cheers, the television show, was an advertisement that ran for many years for the bar in Boston's Back Bay. So successful a campaign that other Cheers-branded bars were opened. Someone's going to point out that the branded bar in Boston (not the original) has closed; yes, true

  • Just add a merch store to the app?

    Physical stores gives people a venue to complain about all the merch Netflix has cancelled.

  • Sounds dumb on its face, but with some fun and unique offerings they could capitalize on the brand name recognition.

  • Netflix as a brand makes sense. It has strong brand presence, though it's struggling with favorables since the major content makers left them to twist.

    But the Netflix brand as a lifestyle? That's a very hard sell. It's also expensive. In the case of Netflix, the experience you're selling is streaming at home. People use their product specifically because they don't want to leave the house. Your clientele is at least 50% sloth, guys. The lifestyle is convenient access. Did you do any research? I sure hope so

    • Fuck Netflix. They stole $70+ dollars from me when they switched from $1/dvd to a subscription model.

      Then they told me in 2008 that they would never produce content. They forced you to go through one of 3 of their friends distro companies, all of whom would charge 50-100k to submit...

      Then they hide your films to not have to pay above the minimum.

      25 years of experience with netflix says: fuck them.

  • This is why we need to make it easier for shareholders to control executives or easier to execute a hostile takeover. Otherwise, the incentive for executives is just to use all that cash they control to expand their business in dumb ways that let the execs feel like they have more influence or control more things.

    Sure, netflix merchandise associated with their shows isn't a terrible idea but why start your own stores. Just sell it online or via existing outlets.

  • If this doesn't fail miserably, I'm going to go be a hermit until I freeze or stave to death.

  • If Best Buy is ceasing to sell DVDs, maybe Netflix can get back into the physical media game: https://entertainment.slashdot... [slashdot.org]

  • Awesome! I'll be in the lookout for a fluffy rewind button which triggers a rewind of the current show then starts it playing - even if it was paused.

  • The Netflix "Stranger Things" pop up shop in Las Vegas is very cool. If they model it after that, these will be a success.

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