A slime-oozing experience that opened in New York a few months before the onset of COVID-19 is expanding to Chicago and Atlanta, adding to the growth of hands-on concepts more than 2½ years into a pandemic that initially devastated that portion of the retail industry.
Sloomoo Institute, after beginning as a pop-up store in Manhattan in October 2019, now plans to open the Chicago and Atlanta spaces in November, with plans to start doing business in other cities after that, the company said in a statement.
The experience, including a slime waterfall, day-glow cove, interactive mirrors and do-it-yourself slime kitchens, is the latest multisensory retail concept to have sold enough tickets in initial cities to warrant signing long-term leases and expanding into additional markets, including the Museum of Ice Cream and Museum of Illusions.
In another example of the growth of whimsical, photo-generating experiences, the Color Factory opened in June its largest space yet: 24,000 square feet in Chicago’s tallest skyscraper, the 110-story Willis Tower. That lease came after successes in San Francisco, New York and Houston.
Co-founded by Karen Robinovitz and Sara Schiller, Sloomoo Institute was intended to be a short-term pop-up at 475 Broadway in Manhattan. But visits topped 30,000 per month before the start of the pandemic, prompting it to shift to a long-term store.
Tickets in New York sell for $39, a price that includes an 8-ounce bag of custom slime, or $69 for an “enhanced” experience. Sloomoo also hosts birthday parties and other events, in addition to selling slime online. Slime comes in scents such as cotton candy and birthday cake.
Sloomoo's 12,000-square-foot New York space closed on Sept. 6 for updates and will reopen Sept. 24.
A 28,000-square-foot space will open in Atlanta's Buckhead Triangle shopping center at 3637 Peachtree Road, the company said. Sloomoo’s 20,000-square-foot Chicago space is set to open within a five-story loft office building at 820 N. Orleans St. on the city’s Near North Side.
Sloomoo said its deals are long-term leases.
A spokeswoman said the company plans to move into other cities, which she declined to name, after the Chicago and Atlanta openings. She said Sloomoo is working on smaller-format stores and international licensing deals.
For the Record
Sloomoo Institute was represented in the leases by broker Amie Claps of Easy Street Properties. The architect of the spaces was Demetrios Comodromos of Method Design.