Most retailers enhance the "IRL experience" with engaging store design, CX and occasional events. Gem Studio puts solder and a blowtorch in your hands. Created by Matt James in order to finance a Ugandan schoolhouse he had founded, this high concept retailer sells silver and turquoise jewelry, but only after the customer makes it herself. Matt and his co-founder (and wife) Lauren explored the lessons learned - about marketing, staffing and scaling - extreme experiential retail.

Why is a high-intensity workout gym chain partnering with a tequila brand, let alone Dyson, Netflix, lululemon or Christina Aguilera? Barry's has gone all in on the art of strange brand bedfellows. It is a deliberate effort to weave the company identity into customers' everyday lives. And to that end, the 90 Barry's locations have also become social centers, even party zones. Vicky Land, SVP of Brand & Comms explains how global brand initiatives and local activations reinforce one another.