Entertainment Tie-ins / Licensing

It's hard to find a brand more excited about the first day of fall than UGG.   Ready to kick off its favorite season in style, UGG is launching a custom, fall-themed Snapchat lens. The lens, which will be available until midnight tonight, is part of the company’s digital campaign, #UGGseason. UGG fans can log onto Twitter and post their favorite looks, memes and comments, including those created through Snapchat.  

Fun. And smaller stores.   Both are part of Toys “R” Us’ plan to revive itself, Bloomberg reported.  

Lululemon has opened a new concept store in Toronto that’s unlike anything the retailer has done to date.   The 10,000-sq.-ft. store is part retail, part health food café, part gallery — and part practice studio, according to a report by torontolife.com. It even boasts a trailer.    For more, and photos, click here.

Triple Five’s American Dream project in the New Jersey Meadowlands got closer to the finish line today with the announcement that Nickelodeon would be attaching its name and entertainment brands to the retail-entertainment center’s theme park.   To be called Nickelodeon Universe, the 8.5-acre indoor amusement park — reputed by Triple Five to be the Western Hemisphere’s largest — will feature rides themed by Mutant Ninja Turtles, SpongeBob SquarePants, Blaze, and the Monster Machines.  

Grandin Road has made the leap to brick-and-mortar with a spooky in-shop at Macy’s Manhattan flagship.
   
The brand’s 1,400-sq.-ft. Halloween pop-up is elaborately designed to offer a bewitching immersive experience, complete with digital signage animated with spiders, a costumed witch and scary animatronic products (also available for purchase.) An on-site photo booth allows customers to create a fun memento of their visit.
 

Target Corp. is putting out the red carpet for the opening of New York Fashion Week.     The retailer, in partnership with IMG, the parent company behind Fashion Week, opened a temporary sing-a-long piano lounge at The Park at Moynihan Station (on West 33rd Street), one of the official NYFW venues. It kicked off the fashion event with an opening party that drew such luminaries as Queen Latifah, Christie Brinkley, and Kendall Jenner.  

Ikea is giving new meaning to do-it-yourself retailing.   The home furnishings giant will open a pop-up DIY restaurant in the Shoreditch section of London where patrons will build their own meals, serving as the chef and preparing food for their group.