December 28, 2011
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My 92-year-old grandmother is the hardest person to shop for. “Just give me a hug for Christmas,” she always tells me. Thanks a lot. I undoubtedly always get her stationary (yawn), but this year I decided to make a change. While on a pre-holiday shopping spree in downtown Chicago, I strolled into Marbles: The Brain Store. I was soon face-to-face with architectural models of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), genius-level crossword puzzles and memory games for Ph.Ds.
Transfixed on a Sudoku-looking toy, I was startled to hear, “Hello, I’m a brain coach, how can I help you today?”
Brain coach?
I looked up and into the face of an employee with a wide smile. He explained that Marbles is a store that specializes in games for adults. The idea: mentally challenging games not only serve as entertainment, but they can also slow the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
Jackpot.
My grandma is as sharp as a tack, but who couldn’t use a little brain exercise? Ten minutes later I left with a word search game and since Christmas, she’s been hooked.
Such a successful shopping trip got me thinking about Marbles. With a little research, I learned that the company was co-founded by Chicagoan Lindsay Gaskins in mid-2008 and has since expanded to 18 locations in six states.
So how has a brick-and-mortar shop achieved such success in an online commerce-heavy market? I called Gaskins to find out.
Q: Could you tell me about your background?
A: I grew up all over the country, went to high school in Massachusetts and graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. After college, I went into consulting and worked with the Boston Consulting Group. Then I decided to do something different and got a high school teaching degree and moved to Austin, Texas, where I worked as a teacher and basketball coach for two years.
After that, I moved to Chicago and worked in corporate strategy at Sears Holdings for five years. By the end, I wanted to try something different—something I had control over. So I went to Sandbox Industries, a business incubator, in Chicago and joined them as an entrepreneur in residence. One day during a group meeting a bunch of us came up with the idea for Marbles.
Q: What was the genesis for Marbles?
A: We were trying to find something different, so we focused on the baby boomer generation and researched pain points for that group. Someone’s mother told us that she wished she could go to a brain gym because her fitness gym didn’t exercise her brain. The idea resonated with us, and we decided to work with a concept for a place that would provide mentally challenging products for adults.
Q: What challenges did you face starting out?
A: Our original thought was to operate as a mall kiosk. We opened out first kiosk in May 2008 at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg (30 miles west of Chicago), and it failed. We realized a kiosk was just the wrong format. We almost scratched the idea altogether, but then decided to try physical stores.
Q: What was it like to open your first store?
A: Nerve wracking. We wanted the concept to work, so we made the store feel and look like a Barnes & Noble, where customers could spend time and engage with our products. We launched our first location on the corner of Grand St. and Rush St. in Chicago as Marbles Brain Fitness.
The reaction was night and day from our experience with the kiosk. We opened in October 2008 and rang up $1,500 worth of sales in the first day—an amount that took us one month to get to with the kiosk. A little while later, we changed the name to Marbles: The Brain Store.
Q: How did you make a go of a brick-and-mortar shop in the middle of a recession?
A: I think it helped that our products made people feel good about buying. The games we sell help adult brain function, so it is a little different than spending discretionarily.
Q: Do you make your own products?
A: We primarily buy from vendors, but in 2010 we started making a few of our own. This year we made a few more and began working with inventors.
Q: What are your secrets to success?
A: I really think it comes down to our customer service. Our brain coaches can show you every product because everything is open and accessible. Our model has changed the way people approach shopping. Marbles is an enjoyable store to be in.
Q: What advice can you offer to budding brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs?
A: Be prepared to work your butt off and do anything. Retail brick-and-mortars are labors of love. I also think it’s important to be willing to take risks and change when you make mistakes. Don’t overanalyze.
Q: What does the future hold for Marbles?
A: At this point, we are thinking about expansion. In two years, we would like to have around 30 to 50 stores across the United States. Then, we will begin talking about the possibility of expanding internationally.
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BRUCE SILVERMAN 4 months ago
Another great article, Ms. Morrell! I'm inspired to head on over to Grand and Rush and explore this new retail experience while reliving the Barnes and Noble experience from my youth. In a time when hype toward internet ventures like Amazon and Eric Lefkofsky's Groupon (another Chicago venture!) have changed the retail landscape, it's refreshing to see this brave new brick-and-mortal retail venture excellently executed and filling a niche no one else seems to have recognized or tapped. And that it has inspired the creators to even develop product of their own is that much more exciting. To think that America's youth is experiencing life more and more through video excitement, while Marble's very large target demographic still appreciates the tangible feel of a three-dimensional brick-and-mortar product, and Marbles is filling that need. Nice job on bringing this concept to life!