Think retail grand openings are little more than a few balloons and some samples or coupons? Think again. Interactions is taking grand openings to a whole new level for retailers—offering fully customized event planning and execution with services such as promotional street teams, live music, professional entertainers, games and more.
Thanks to their commitment to reinventing and elevating the grand opening experience, Interactions recently won the contract for all of Ahold USA’s grand opening and grand re-opening events for 2014. This includes all four of Ahold USA’s divisions: Giant Carlisle, Giant Landover, Stop & Shop New England and Stop & Shop New York Metro. The team plans to tailor these events to the communities the stores are located in, just as they did with a recent grand opening of the Giant O Street Market in Washington, D.C.
“When planning the O Street event, we were very cognizant of the fact that the community saw this store not just a place to buy groceries but also a local hangout,” says Ryan Dee, Interactions’ Account Executive for the Ahold grand opening program. “We tailored our services to reflect that, providing everything from a mocktail bar to a balloon artist to live jazz musicians playing hits from Duke Ellington, who grew up in the neighborhood surrounding O Street.”
The O Street event reached thousands of customers, with Interactions’ Street Teams handing out over 3,000 flyers prior to the event, and Interactions’ Brand Ambassadors serving over 9,000 samples and giving away more than 1,000 prizes during the 4-day grand opening.
In addition to grocery retail, Interactions also offers grand opening services to mass market and specialty retailers. Recent events for footwear retailer Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse included promotional Street Teams, in-store champagne receptions and red carpet runway shows featuring the retailer’s latest styles. Interactions also helped design and manage a sweepstakes program associated with the events.
“No matter who a retailer is targeting, we can provide tailored events to reach those individuals in their communities and help shoppers see a location not just as a store but as their store,” says Dee.
