Imagine taking a romantic tea in the Bridgertons’ drawing room. Or, if you’re a bit more adventurous, consider trying to complete a Squid Games challenge. If such access to the imaginary worlds provided by Netflix seems appealing, the streaming service has just the thing for you: in-person experience venues called Netflix Houses.

Planned for King of Prussia Mall in Pennsylvania and the Galleria Dallas Mall in Texas, the first two Netflix Houses will have some similarities with theme parks, while taking advantage of the large spaces left uninhabited by department stores. Spanning approximately 100,000 square feet of unused retail space, these Netflix Houses will offer shopping outlets, themed dining, and experiential activities tied to popular shows, including Bridgerton and Squid Games but also Stranger Things and Money Heist. They will be decorated with original artwork, sculptures, and murals, all harkening back to or representing scenes from the series.

By providing such immersive, compelling experiences, the novel spaces aim to enhance consumer engagement and thereby boost sales and revenue. In this sense, this retail experiment appears to have taken inspiration from other firms, known originally for their entertainment content, that sought additional revenue by building theme parks—we’re looking at you, Disney and Universal. Whether in a vast, outdoor park or a large, indoor mall space, the experience of making emotional and physical connections with characters, sets, and replicas related to appealing entertainment promises to produce a substantial new revenue stream.

Finding new revenue streams appears especially important for Netflix, which needs to move beyond its sole reliance on subscriptions and deal with the growing competition in the entertainment streaming market. The unique structure of the Houses may help it do so, in the sense that they can offer broad appeal and attract both tourists and locals. They also seem likely to draw in younger audiences, who signal their strong demand for in-person brand experiences. These audiences also might balk at the substantial time, effort, and money needed to plan an extended visit to Disney. If instead, they can look forward to popping over to their local mall to experience the Netflix House for an hour or two, it likely represents an appealing, alternative form of entertainment.

The initiative also takes inspiration from the concepts of pop-up stores and other types of promotional tie-ins, designed to create tangible connections with consumers. But most previous such examples have been temporary. Netflix Houses instead hope to establish permanent locations that promise constant access to in-person brand experiences, even as the shows being featured and displayed shift with consumers’ preferences. Still, the success of this retail innovation remains to be seen. It lacks typical benefits of amusement parks, like rides and attractions. Malls continue to struggle to attract visitors too, such that perhaps there will not be enough foot traffic to fill the Netflix Houses. Their long-term prospects thus will require both novelty and high quality shopping, dining, and entertainment—just like any other retail offering.

Discussion Questions

1. How should we define the retail model being established for Netflix Houses? Can they be categorized into existing typologies, or do they represent totally new retail strategies?
2. Could this business model work for other streaming services? Why or why not?

Sources: “Netflix to Open Entertainment, Dining and Shopping Complexes in 2025,” Yahoo! Finance, June 20, 2024; Henry Goldblatt, “Netflix House Will Let You Experience Your Favorite Shows, Movies in Real Life,” Tudum by Netflix, June 20, 2024, https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/netflix-house; Danny Gallagher, “Netflix House Will Open Two Locations in Texas and Pennsylvania in 2025,” Engadget, June 18, 2024; Marie Albiges, “Netflix to Open Two Entertainment Venues with Shopping, Dining,” My Total Retail, June 19, 2024; OpenAI ChatGPT, “Assistance with Research on Netflix’s Novel Retail Centers,” ChatGPT, July 1, 2024.