STUDIO MOVING INTO RANKS OF MERCHANDISER; FIRM JOINS DISNEY, WARNER.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer Universal Studios, after years of watching archrivals Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney and Warner Bros BROS Brothers BROS Benefits and Retirement Operations Section (King County, Washington) BROS Barnes and Richmond Operatic Society (London, UK) . gobble up Verb 1. gobble up - eat a large amount of food quickly; "The children gobbled down most of the birthday cake" garbage down, shovel in, bolt down eat - take in solid food; "She was eating a banana"; "What did you eat for dinner last night?" profits with their 800-plus stores, has decided to join the cutthroat world of retailing. Universal will launch its first store, using a movie-marquee entrance, at its CityWalk entertainment complex in mid-October as a prototype for a chain of stores. The two-story outlet, at the west end of CityWalk and next to the main entrance to the studio tour, likely will sell plenty of apparel, collectibles, videos and games. While Universal lacks a single all-powerful character like Disney's Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse Famous character of Walt Disney's animated cartoons. He was introduced in Steamboat Willie (1928), the first animated cartoon with sound. Mickey was created by Disney, who also provided his high-pitched voice, and was usually drawn by the studio's head animator, and Warner's Bugs Bunny, it has plenty of firepower: the highly recognizable Universal globe logo and a stable of characters including E.T., Jaws, the Jurassic Park dinosaurs, the Land Before Time dinosaurs, Woody Woodpecker woodpecker, common name for members of the Picidae, a large family of climbing birds found in most parts of the world. Woodpeckers typically have sharp, chisellike bills for pecking holes in tree trunks, and long, barbed, extensible tongues with which they impale , the Wolfman, Frankenstein and Dracula. ``I would say that Universal has enough appeal to a variety of age groups to ride this trend for a while,'' said Mark Kissel This article is about a dessert. For the car company, see Kissel Motor Car Company. Kissel (Kisiel in Polish, kiisseli in Finnish) is a popular dessert in Eastern and Northern Europe. , a Maryland-based retail consultant. ``Developers will be happy to make a deal with them.'' The opening of the CityWalk site, next to the Malibu Ranch and Things From Other Worlds stores, will be the second launch of a studio store chain this year. In May, Viacom opened a store in downtown Chicago based on its ``Star Trek  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. ,'' Nickelodeon, MTV MTVin full Music Television U.S. cable television network, established in 1980 to present videos of musicians and singers performing new rock music. MTV won a wide following among rock-music fans worldwide and greatly affected the popular-music business. and Paramount properties, then recently indicated it might roll out a Nickelodeon chain. Universal executives have said little about the concept other than confirming that plans for a chain are in the works. But earlier this year, it hired several retailing veterans to head a new consumer products group and launched an apparel licensing program. ``You don't have to sell the concept of the studio store very hard because they work,'' said Kevin Skislock, an analyst with Irvine-based investment bank L.H. Friend Weinress Frankson & Presson. ``Everyone knows that Bugs Bunny is a Warner Bros. property, for example. So if you want to keep properties alive, operating stores is one way to do that.'' Disney was the first to take characters out of theme parks and into malls a decade ago when it launched the Disney Stores chain with a single outlet at the Glendale Galleria The Glendale Galleria is a large 3 story regional shopping mall located in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. It is the second largest mall in Los Angeles County. It is located in Downtown Glendale. . The entertainment giant now has 440 U.S. outlets and 191 overseas, while Warner started in 1991 and now has 134 U.S. Studio Stores and 40 foreign sites. Both chains not only have sold billions of dollars of Donald Duck Donald Duck cantankerousness itself. [Comics: Horn, 216–217] See : Irascibility Donald Duck frustrated character jealous of Mickey Mouse. [Comics: Horn, 216–217] See : Jealousy key chains and Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Daffy was the first of the new breed of "screwball" characters that emerged in the 1930s to supplant traditional everyman characters, such as boxer shorts. They've also reinforced the Disney and Warner names as entertainment brands, according to Skislock. ``Operating stores is not just about selling more product,'' he said. ``What you're trying to do is create brand name equity, like Disney has done. People have a clear idea of what the Disney name means when it comes to films.'' Universal's stable of properties has plenty of the same potential, according to Skislock. ``How about simply saying that E.T. will be in the store this weekend?'' he suggested. ``My 8-year-old daughter would probably be very interested in that.'' The studios' operations, Skislock said, were in the forefront of combining entertainment with retail, which led to explosive growth of themed restaurants such as Planet Hollywood and new concepts in the so-called location-based entertainment sector such as the ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network Store, Club Disney, Disney Quest, Marvel Mania and Sega GameWorks. The first three are Disney chains; the others are partly backed by Universal. Analysts believe Universal Studios Stores is a sensible approach to strengthening the Universal brand name beyond its theme parks, movies and television shows. And they note that the competition is intensifying. ``Entertainment is moving to the consumer,'' Skislock said. ``There's a race on to create more direct contact with the consumers, so instead of hoping someone from New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of visits every three years, you put the store in Times Square.'' The merchandising is not the key part of all this, according to Peter Chernack, president of the Burbank-based Themed Entertainment Association The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) is an international non-profit association representing the world's leading creators, developers, designers and producers of themed experiences such as museums, zoos and theme parks. . ``These stores and restaurants are a new form of entertainment,'' he said. ``Retailing is becoming not just a place to shop but something that's tied into experiencing the environment, whether it's Nike Town or the Warner Studio Store, that's presenting a whole attitude and lifestyle.'' Universal apparel? Universal Studios is opening its first retail outlet next month on CityWalk, the fourth Hollywood studio to open a retail store. Other studios considering retail outlets include Nickelodeon, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Retail outlet Studio Launch Date The Disney Store Walt Disney 1987 Warner Studio Store Warner Bros. 1991 Viacom Entertainment Store Viacom May 1997 Universal Studios Store Universal October 1997 CAPTION(S): Photo, Chart Photo: (Color) Visitors pass by the future location of the Universal Studio's Store, under construction Monday at Universal CityWalk in Universal City. Phil McCarten/Daily News Chart: Universl apparel? (See text) |
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