There’s no question that modern Americans are obsessed with criminal investigations. Just look at the number of TV shows that deal with profiling murders, gathering physical evidence and prosecuting offenders. The CBS drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” is the No. 1 show on TV and now has a spinoff set in Miami.
But it’s hard to see how retailers can translate this slightly morbid interest into appealing products. The average viewer has little need to dust for fingerprints or practice autopsy techniques.
Still, the Discovery Channel stores and catalog are making an effort. For the holidays, the cable channel-turned retailer features a “Discovery Kids Whodunit Forensics Lab” for $79.95. It includes lab experiments like blood analysis, fiber and hair identification and ink testing.
The Discovery Channel doesn’t stop there. It also offers a $17.95 “Spy Listener” that attaches to sunglasses and allows kids to hear conversations up to 30 feet away. And then there’s the “Truth Detector Watch” with fingertip sensors and an instruction book explaining how to read signs that someone is lying. A bargain at $14.95, the watch is approvedfor ages 6 and up.
And who could resist the $39.95 “Night Vision Communicator Goggles,” pinpoint lights that let you see in the dark, or the $16 “Covert Voice Modulator” that lets kids disguise their voice, perhaps to call school and impersonate a parent or doctor.
Although it may be fascinating for the kids, the prospect of children eavesdropping on us, testing our words for truth and listening to our private conversations isn’t all that attractive somehow.
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All dolled up: Soon, Chicago will no longer have the national monopoly on American Girl Place.
When the first American Girl Place opened at Michigan and Chicago Avenues in 1998, the upscale doll emporium and restaurant quickly became a five-star destination for little girls around the country.
The Chicago store has entertained more than 4 million visitors, served more than 300,000 meals and seated more than 155,000 theatergoers. Even without those statistics, the number of red-and-white American Girl shopping bags on the Magnificent Mile is enough to let anyone know the store has been a phenomenal success.
It’s hardly surprising then that American Girl’s parent, Mattel Inc., would want more American Girl Places. Now we know the next one will be at 609 Fifth Ave. in New York City. Scheduled debut: fall 2003.
As for additional store openings, the doll mavens aren’t talking, but a California store seems a no-brainer.
Youthful attitude: A growing portion of the U.S. population is doing everything it can to avoid the effects of aging–mentally and physically. For some, that means exercising more. For others, it means injections of known poisons to paralyze wrinkles.
One less radical strategy that many health-conscious individuals agree on is taking vitamins. Why not? The little pills supposedly play a role in everything from fighting cancer to improving skin tone.
Grocers and drugstores have increased shelf space they devote to vitamins, giving health-food stores a run for their money. Now the Vitamin Shoppe, a specialty retailer of vitamins and herbal products, is making a national push to increase its market share by opening more retail stores.
The North Bergen, N.J., firm, which has a thriving e-commerce and catalog business, opened a Naperville store in July. Merrillville, Ind., and Crystal Lake shops followed in October.
Vitamin Shoppe has signed leases for new stores in Arlington Heights, Orland Park, Niles, Geneva, Deerfield and Calumet City as part of its plan to open between 20 and 25 shops here in the next 18 months.
Why does the Vitamin Shoppe need stores when its catalog and Internet site already provide national reach? Simple, says Corey Bialow, the firm’s director of real estate and construction.
“People like to come in, see what’s new and talk to somebody about them,” Bialow says. “If everybody knew what they wanted, we wouldn’t need vitamin stores.”
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