Click here to read the full article in The Day written by Lee Howard. 

Ellie Greenberg gets pumped up about her immersive retail firm Wonderlosity that currently has four stores at Olde Mistick Village, including the recently opened Arisu that focuses on Japanese culture and food.

Samantha DiLorenzo, Greenberg’s director of retail operations, says that when Arisu opened last July, lines on the weekend were out the door and people were waiting two hours to get in. Something similar happened when Greenberg’s store the Cloak and Wand opened three years ago in the village, a place full of magic where the walls talk and wizardly wands for Harry Potter-inspired kids were almost literally flying out the door.

“I love the village and I feel like we really helped transform it from more of an older demographic to a lot more younger demographic,” Greenberg said. “You know it used to be a lot of mom and pop stores and I feel like we kind of helped revive it.”

The key to reviving retail anywhere, Greenberg believes, is to provide an experience and make it interactive and immersive. She said these experiences are similar to what happen when visitors walk into stores at DisneyWorld or Universal Studios.