Brands turning things up a notch! Tokyo is pioneering the BEAUTY CAFE trend tremendously with stores like L’OCCITANE offering customers delicious healthy food, and  fresh juice bars to not only promote health, but expose them to skin care and makeup items. Technology continues to slay in terms of retail shopping. Anything that can be done online WILL be done online part-time or exclusively. One thing you can’t do though is EAT. Yes, I am aware that you can order food via web, but people still enjoy eating out. I felt this was a clever way for L’OCCITANE to increase if not maintain their customers traffic in their brick and mortar stores. I’ve said this before in an article…(this one and this one), that fashion and even beauty brands, will have to start giving people a good REASON to go out of  their way and shop in their stores. Looks like the best way now to drive sales, is with convenience.