That's Retail-tainment!

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A fact of modern American life: shopping for cosmetics, like wading through certain Don DeLillo novels or trying to make sense of the plotlines for Melrose Place, is not an easy undertaking. Step onto the mazelike cosmetics floor of almost any department store and you are likely to be assaulted by salesclerks--some spritz-happy, some too eager to confront you about your shiny forehead. Chances are the beauty product you're looking for is under glass, off limits to mere customers. According to at least one market-research survey on the way cosmetics are presented and pitched in stores, the entire process "inhibits friendliness."

A friendly environment is just what you get at Sephora, the successful French cosmetics chain that opened its first U.S. store in New York City this summer and plans to have 50 stores around the U.S. by the end of 1999. Thousands of square feet in size, Sephora stores are chicly decorated, easy-to-navigate bazaars for the sale of scores of brands of makeup and fragrance. The music is low, the lighting is flattering and the merchandise, much of which is helpfully arranged by category rather than brand, is out for the touching and taking. Salesclerks leave you alone unless you need them; and if you'd prefer to avoid the staff altogether, touch-activated video monitors can guide you through product selection. Sephora's ambition, says the company's marketing vice president Sherry Baker, is to create an experience that is exciting--"visually, sensually, spiritually, intellectually."

While this might sound like a lofty goal for an outfit in the business of selling things like eye-makeup remover, it is one that more and more merchants are aiming to achieve. From department stores to specialty chains to boutiques, retailers are deciding that the way to get customers into the stores is to make the shopping environment less forbidding, more theatrical and more fun. Some call it "retail-tainment" and hope it will counter the rising threat from Internet shopping sites, low-priced outlet malls and the feeling among time-pressed shoppers that fighting your way through the crowds (particularly during the busy holiday season) is no fun at all.

The idea that the store can be a destination, a pleasant rather than an off-putting experience, has been popularized by retailers such as Barnes & Noble, which added lounge chairs and coffee bars, turning the bookstore into a relaxed, meet-and-greet emporium. Children's stores entice their young clientele with play areas and performances, while athletic retailers like Oshman's and the Sports Authority woo customers with batting cages, on-site golf pros and roller hockey games in the parking lot. Veer beyond the All-Clad pots offered at Williams-Sonoma and you might just stumble upon a cooking class. Walk into an Old Navy clothing store and you're apt to find clerks handing out tote bags for carrying merchandise, a soda fountain, and a billboard announcing the store's au courant motto: SHOPPING IS FUN AGAIN.