I was the technology and experience design lead on the prototype Toys R Us Store of the Future installation in Freehold, NJ. Desiring to increase the appeal of their stores, Toys R Us contracted to build modular experiential installations for a test store, opened to the public in December 2015. During the course of development, I led a group of programmers and designers to create the software and hardware necessary to bring the store to life.
The store incorporated a registration kiosk, 10 video displays, 5 projection mapped toy booths, 3 Kinect powered ‘magic mirrors’ and a 360° video theater to create an exciting and engaging experience for visitors.
Each of these experiences could be further controlled by a custom built Android based ‘wishing wand’ signed out and carried around by customers. Tied together by WiFi and Bluetooth for communication and proximity estimation, the wand allowed children to trigger unique interactive events at the various store kiosks.
The Wishing Wand also enabled the automatic generation of wish lists tied to visitor’s toysrus.com accounts when used to scan product barcodes around the store.
Following the grand opening, the Freehold store recorded a substantial increase in sales and online wishlist generation. Each of our interactive experiences received tens of thousands of customer interactions.
