With technology changing retailing at lightning speed and brick-and-mortar stores closing by the thousands, the global-management firm McKinsey & Co. is opening a store of its own.
Modern Retail Collective, which opens Friday at the Mall of America in Bloomington, will be as much of a living laboratory as a high-tech shopping experience.
Designed to allow people to shop among several fashion and beauty brands, consumers will test drive new technology, such as smart mirrors, fit-predictor software and cryptocurrency payments.
Meanwhile, McKinsey & Co. — which works with 17 of the world's largest retailers, along with the individual retailers and officials at the Mall of America — will gather real-time data on how consumers relate to new technology, how they prefer to shop and buy, and what the store of the future might look like.
"This is a concept to learn, test and try," said Jennifer Spaulding Schmidt, a senior partner at McKinsey's office in Minneapolis.
Retail labs are a growing trend, allowing retailers to work out kinks in technology and send up trial balloons for an increasingly fickle, tech-savvy and demanding consumer. Shoppers seek out experiences as well as instant gratification whether they are shopping online or in stores.
Walmart opened an Intelligent Retail Lab in one of its Neighborhood Market grocery stores in New York this spring to test out artificial intelligence to signal when merchandise is out of stock.
Bed Bath & Beyond is closing dozens of traditional stores and opening Next Generation Lab stores, where it is testing new products and store layouts.