CT entrepreneur opening new ‘immersive experience’

Ellie Greenberg describes herself as an enormous geek.

The entrepreneur was someone who grew up watching anime and playing Dungeons & Dragons and now she is expanding her own empire.

Greenberg, 47, has opened multiple stores in Old Mistick Village, and nearby, including ones she started in 2016: Alice in the Village, Alice’s Haunted Bookshop, and The Cloak and Wand in Mystic. Now, a second Japanese themed store called Arisu location is scheduled to open in Fairfield this week.

Greenberg said that the store has an extensive selection of more than 200 anime categories. The manga collection includes more than 1,500 titles and 5,000 books.

“I want to take people and transfer them to the streets of Tokyo, and we had a two-hour line outside when we opened, and we are basing our Fairfield store off of our Mystic location,” Greenberg said.

“It will be very similar by look. Every store we are finding something new to focus on and in Fairfield we will have an enormous section of Gundam,” she said.

Gundam is a Japanese military science fiction media series.

The common denominator for each of Greenberg’s businesses is an immersive retail experience and it’s brought in many customers.

Alice in the Village was the first to open in 2016 and it immediately attracted crowds.

“The first thing you seen when you walk in is Alice’s legs coming down the rabbit hole,” Greenberg said. “Suddenly you stumbled into Wonderland. Going into the store and seeing people reacting was amazing. They told me they feel like they are in Wonderland. That was enough for me. It was like they are being transported to a different place.”

“It exploded and I didn’t expect it to be so successful and from there it continued,” she  said. “I had a dream to open a store about Alice in Wonderland and we did it. That store also specialized in bubble tea. We have 100 different types of teas and a beautiful set of Alice in Wonderland. People were thirsty for something like that. It was Disney outside of Disney and you can come to the store to experience it for yourself.”

A few years later, Alice’s Haunted Little Bookshop was unveiled.

“Alice’s Haunted Book Shop is like getting transported into gothic England,” Greenberg said. “You can (get) an ominous, interactive feeling with moving portraits. We pick a theme and a niche we want to focus on…You will find books you won’t see when you walk in the Barnes & Noble. Books that people forgot about – dark books. It’s a niche and people love it.”

Cloak and Wand launched a few years later; it is more themed on the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter genres. The store opened in May 2020 during the COVID pandemic and there were as many as three-hour lines waiting to get in.

“It’s based on folklore, and everyone calls it the Harry Potter store but it’s not just a Harry Potter store. There are different sections with different merchandise with witches and wizards,” Greenberg said.

Greenberg noted that there is a potion bar for customers to create their own potions, which could be a custom soda or hot chocolate, and later you find out what potion you made. Customers can also adopt a magical creature, such as like a dragon, black cat or monster. There are also wands.

“People are thirsty for that,” Greenberg said.

In 2021, Greenberg opened a second location in Pennsylvania.

“That whole experience is like going to a theme park and you enjoy your experience so much you want a souvenir. You want something to remind yourself of that experience. You go buy stuff at Disney. It doesn’t matter if you can buy the same thing on Amazon – you want something to remind you of that experience. That’s the difference between retail and immersive retail and I keep pushing it. The possibilities are limitless.”

Greenberg, 47, previously lived in New York. She moved to Fairfield 20 years ago and has lived in the Mystic area for the last 10 years with her husband and their two children.

Arisu opened in Mystic last July and will open in Fairfield this month.

“Everyone thinks anime is a new thing, but I grew up on Japanese anime,” Greenberg said. “I grew up watching, getting immersed in that genre. I always loved Lord of the Rings and played Dungeons & Dragons. I was really into it. I like the new age anime with Demon Slayer and Death Note. My daughter is into it, and I watch with her.”

Greenberg said that when she got serious about opening an anime store, she “went to Tokyo to do research to see how the Japanese display at their shop because it’s very different from here.”

Greenberg said she believes her anime store is one of, if not the only, anime exclusive store in the state. She said many are included in comic stores and are specifically focused on anime.

“We have about 5,000 square feet and we focus on everything that is Japanese culture,” Greenberg said. “We have that interactive, immersed experience with live statutes and characters.”

Greenberg added that she also plans to have anime voice actors making appearances at the store for meet and greet and signing events.

Greenberg said the expansion will only continue with two or three more stores opening this year and five to seven opening next year. She’s eyeing other locations in the state as well as Long Island and New Jersey.

“Our stores have a whimsical feel to them, and they have to be in the right environment,” Greenberg said. “You want it to feel like a magical place.”

All the Mystic stores are located within walking distance. Greenberg said she’s seen a lot of growth at the shopping center since she joined in 2016.

“Where we are now, people are coming to Mystic specially for the stores,” Greenberg said. “We’ve had people come from all over for the experience. It shows the power of immerse retail and how it can help revived a community. There’s a lot of potential and I’m very proud of what we have done.”

Chris Ragen, the Old Mistick Village property manager, said Greenberg brings a lot of passion and has been a success in Mystic.

“She has that entrepreneur spirit and has a great imagination and implements that imagination into her business,” Ragen said. “The first store was a success and said she said she wanted to open the Cloak and Wand store and she said we were going to have long lines and the first month she opened, (she) had lines to get in every single day.”

“Then she wanted to do the bookstore and Elle brought in set designers from Hollywood,” he said. “Then she came up with the anime and my children were 29 and 32 at the time and they loved the idea. The contractors were asking to take pictures next to the characters before we opened.”

Ragen said the customer base for Greenberg’s business is from 8 to 75 years old. He also said there was a 16.4 percent increase in foot traffic at the Village and a total of 1.9 million people visited in 2023.

“I attribute that to each individual store and their individual dream and passion,” Ragen said. “That’s what made this village so successful. Elle has a dream and passion and delivers beyond the customers’ expectations. She’s a visionary. I can see her becoming very, very big in the retail industry. It blows me away.”

Angeli Gianchandani, who teaches brand marketing at the University of New Haven, said immersive experiences and experiential retail shopping are on the rise as brands look to carve out a niche and capture loyal customers.

“It is the process of creating engaging and immersive shopping experiences using interactive elements, new technologies, and brand storytelling. It allows brands to engage holistically with consumers both online and offline enhancing the customer journey,” Gianchandani said.

“Experiential retail is a dynamic opportunity for brands to drive traffic and customer engagement with storytelling and new technologies that surprise and details their customers with memorable experiences. Experiential retail is an investment in building strong relationships with customers that go beyond transactions. It is not a transactional about selling products or services—It is a long-term marketing strategy.”

The opening at 226 Kings Highway East is scheduled for May 17 at 11 a.m.