Upstarts: New-Biz Watch

The pin with the little white flag stood 510 yards away. To my left were jagged rocks sloping toward the water. I took a deep breath and adjusted my stance. I was on the famed 18th hole at Pebble Beach in Monterey, Calif.--sort of. Actually, I was in a Golf Galaxy store in the American heartland of Minnesota. Golf Galaxy, which bills itself as the "first interactive superstore," has five locations in the Midwest. In a small, dimly lit room outfitted with a state-of-the-art computerized golf simulator, I gripped a titanium driver, preparing to tee off.

It was near the end of the five hours that I had spent one sunny Saturday recently at Golf Galaxy's store in the leafy St. Paul suburb of Roseville, attempting to resuscitate a game that I had quit in 1978 (after wrapping a five iron around a tree). Even though the weather outside was perfect for golf, the store buzzed with patrons trying out Ping putters and Big Bertha drivers. It was also crammed with Ashworth, Izod, and other kinds of golf apparel, as well as with rows of videos and books. Golf bags decorated the walls. Golf scenes flashed by on overhanging TV monitors tuned to the Golf Channel. An in-store travel center offered brochures for golf excursions to Scotland and California. "This is a toy store for adults," the store's cofounder, Randy Zanatta, 40, told me. Zanatta and his partner, Greg Maanum, were executives at consumer-electronics giant Best Buy before they opened the first Golf Galaxy store, in April 1997.

In my tour of the store's interactive marvels, I warmed up on its 400-square-foot Astroturf putting green, surrounded by fake palms. I hit a bucket of balls into a mesh net at the indoor driving range. I even took a lesson from the in-house pro, George Shortridge (cost: $49.99 for a half hour). Two cameras photographed my swing, which a TV and computer monitor displayed. Shortridge reviewed it in slow motion. "You come unglued on the way down," he said gently.

Shortridge set me up on the simulator. (It costs $28 an hour, unlike the other facilities, which are free.) I slammed my first shot hard into a nylon screen, its flight triggering sensors that measure a ball's velocity and trajectory. Unfortunately, I had hooked it left, and the ball landed in the water. Shortridge reprogrammed the simulator to erase my shot. I hit again, knocking a drive that the sensors recorded at 174 yards into the middle of the electronic fairway. My luck proved short-lived, as I sprayed my next seven shots every which way. I scored an 8 on a par 5.

A triple bogey is nothing to brag about, but I had fun at Golf Galaxy. Sure, I missed the sunshine, but I didn't lose a single ball. --M.B.

Entertailing on the cheap

For almost 40 years Martin M. Pegler has lived and breathed store design. In his day job he is a professor of store planning and visual merchandising at the Fashion Institute of Technology, in New York City. Also a speaker and consultant, he is the author of Retail Entertainment, a book that showcases "entertailing" companies. In a recent interview Pegler explained the concept:

Q: What is entertailing?

A: Entertailing sounds like a concept that means you've got to provide bubble gum and balloons to everybody who's coming into the store, which is not the case. It can be as simple as adding music and serving customers wine, or it can be as incredibly elaborate and theatrical as a Disney store.

Q: Is it catching on?

A: You can't open up a trade publication without seeing articles on it. Retailers are talking about it constantly, and malls are hiring entertainment consultants as never before.

Q: Is Disney the gold standard?

A: Disney has perfected the whole concept of combining retail and entertainment. Walking into one of its stores makes you want to buy something. You are inundated with images.

Q: What if your pockets aren't as deep as Disney's?

A: You can do plenty of things that don't cost a lot of money. There's no question that music can be an addition to the store. In a men's shoe shop, you can put little atomizers in the air-conditioning system to give the store the smell of leather. Men respond to that smell. Research shows women will shop more in floral-scented areas. You can play MTV to attract the younger crowd. You want to create that fun feeling.

Q: Won't some customers turn up their noses?

A: You will always find people who will walk away. They don't want the noise.

Q: How simple can it be?

A: A women's clothing retailer could set up a space in the store where bored husbands and boyfriends could watch television or read magazines and newspapers while waiting for their wives to shop. --M.B.

Entertailers: a sampler