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Hershey's new Chicago site for the kid in a candy store
By Matthew Hall
![9392-4.jpg](http://vmsd.com/sites/vmsd.com/files/imagecache/Full_gallery/editorial/9392-4.jpg "The centerpiece of the store is the Hershey's Magnificent Chocolate Works Machine. Instructions for customers wishing to become "official" Hershey workers and use that interactive device are on the left. To the right is the cashwrap, which houses a 42-inch plasma screen that plays vintage ads and provides promotional information. (A second screen is in the store's bakery/café area.)")
Chicago played a pivotal role in the hershey Co.'s early history. While visiting the Windy City during The World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, Milton Hershey – by then an already-successful caramel manufacturer – came across the German chocolate-making equipment that he would use to revolutionize the sweet-tooth world.
Now, the company that Hershey founded has returned to the site of that seminal event to open a 3600-square-foot store on North Michigan Avenue. The store (or "interactive retail experience," as the confectioner prefers to call it) combines elements of its Times Square store in New York and the Hershey's Chocolate World complex at its Pennsylvania headquarters, along with some only-in-Chicago features.
Don Papson, Hershey's vp, consumer interactive, says because the company's products can be bought just about anywhere, the new store is designed "to give people the chance to immerse themselves in Hershey's brands like never before. Hershey markets nearly half of the 50 most-recognized confectioner's brands in the U.S. [Hershey's, of course, and also Reese's Pieces, Kit Kat, Almond Joy, Mounds, Bubble Yum, York, Jolly Rancher and Twizzlers, among others], and the store offers us an opportunity to acquaint visitors with the full breadth of our product line. The basic idea is to take the 'kid-in-a-candy store' experience to a whole new level."
To create that experiential environment, Hershey again teamed with JGA, the Southfield, Mich., retail design firm that helped create the whimsical Times Square store in 2002. JGA chairman Ken Nisch describes the Chicago and New York stores as "brother and sister."
"They're the same, but different, just like siblings are," Nisch explains. "For instance, the neighborhoods housing the two stores are very different: The New York store is in Times Square, with giant billboards and MTV blaring, while the Chicago store is on the Magnificent Mile in a somewhat quieter setting, with such neighbors as Ralph Lauren and a Four Seasons Hotel. Yet both are places where people can grab what I'd describe as a 'great city moment.' At the Chicago store, that might involve enjoying a Hershey's treat at the store's outdoor seating, something that's not available at the New York site."
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