Walt Disney Company uses Screen Goo in creating "Magic Trees" for its 340 Disney Stores in the United States & Europe

LOS ANGELES — The Walt Disney Company, with the help of Steven P. Jobs and his retailing team at Apple, intends to drastically overhaul its approach to the shopping mall.

At a time when many retailers are still cutting back or approaching strategic shifts with extreme caution, Disney is going the other way, getting more aggressive and putting into motion an expensive and ambitious floor-to-ceiling reboot of its 340 stores in the United States and Europe — as well as opening new ones, including a potential flagship in Times Square.

Disney Stores, which the media giant is considering rebranding Imagination Park, will become more akin to cozy entertainment hubs. The chain’s traditional approach of displaying row after row of toys and apparel geared to Disney franchises will be given a high-tech makeover and incorporated into a new array of recreational activities. The goal is to make children clamor to visit the stores and stay longer, perhaps bolstering sales as a result. Over the next five years, analysts estimate that Disney will spend about $1 million a store to redecorate, reorganize and install interactive technology.

Among the critical design elements of the re-modeled stores are 13 foot tall “Magic Trees”.  Finished with Screen Goo Rear Projection coatings, these acrylic trees and their suitability for displaying high quality projected images are a key component of the interactive experience planned for the stores.

Please see the accompanying photos for what is just one example of the almost limitless possibilities Screen Goo makes available to architects and designers for incorporating projected images into their designs in innovative and compelling ways

To read the whole article as it appeared in the New York Times on October 12, 2009 please click here

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