Next month, Tommy Bahama is opening a restaurant at its flagship store in Manhattan. Shoppers will be able to buy one of the chain’s tropical print shirts, then order the macadamia-nut encrusted snapper.
More retailers are following the Tommy Bahama model these days, using food and drink to lure customers into stores as sales migrate online. Urban Outfitters has served lamb merquez and striped bass at its Terrain home-and- garden store in Westport, Conn. J.C. Penney plans to add juice bars and coffee shops. Tommy Bahama has become a model for other retailers because its restaurant-stores generate 21/2 times the sales per square foot of the chain’s regular locations, Chief Executive Officer Terry Pillow said.
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