One of the benefits of having some 'bench time' is being able to just do random things, like read a bunch of books and/or (sometimes simultaneously) flip through channels on TV (which is admittedly a bit limited when you can't afford cable or sattelite).

Today my reading and watching crossed paths (not simultaneously). Visiting some friends recently, I was mentioning my 'list of foods' (from "Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type"), and they pulled a book off of the shelf to share: "The Antioxidant Miracle". Today I flipped to PBS and heard a lot of the 'lingo' from the latter book and thought perhaps I was listening to the author (I ran to find the book to check the author's name, "Lester Packer"). That wasn't the case. Instead, I learned that yet another individual, Nicholas Perricone, had similar perspectives all based on additional research (hmmm, two people with similar conclusions based on their own observations or drawing conclusions from even really old research, rethought). Unfortunately, I had tuned in for the last 10 minutes of the presentation, so I had to quickly uncover more details.

As I attempted to learn more (to update the supplement shopping list I was going to fill this evening), I uncovered the transcript of a Larry King interview with the doctor (a dermatologist by practice). Here's where the story bears relevance. Larry asked the doctor about the purpose of a storefront he has on Madison Avenue. Dr. Perricone replied: "The store is basically an information center. I believe that the health care industry and beauty industry is going to merge so what people need is good information so you come to the store, we have registered dietitians, we have skin specialists, there is a library there, there are video screens, you can sit and learn and think about what's happening, complete evaluation, medical history, what you should be eating, vitamins to be taken, what are your skin problems. The idea is that information is the key. If people have good information, they can take very good care of themselves."

Experiential and educational shopping...something even I created a concept for just as an exercise for a destination 'village'. Any other good examples of 'immersive' commerce?