Rent The Runway's Flagship Store Is Stunning

Rent the Runway just got in-personal. While the rental brand has allowed shoppers to rent in person since 2014, their new flagship is something else. Where is Rent the Runway's flagship store? The rental business is opening its doors to New York's Flatiron district on Dec. 6, with a "Dream Closet" concept that brings every Princess Diaries 2 fantasy to life.

To cram in every Disney reference, the store is basically Smart House gone shopping. Check-in kiosks use online data to "guide" your trip, with your designer preferences, favorite styles, and upcoming event dates available to store associates on your style profile (this is the dream world we've been waiting for. No more small talk — they already know). The Flatiron flagship's inventory will rotate daily, with RTR Now, a feature on the store's app, available to browse clothes on tap for same-day rental.

Which is all very cool. An in/out locale where everybody knows your name, like a retail Cheers from the future? Down for it. But the icing on the cake are the small, high-tech features that elevate the store to Jetsons level. Sign up for a fitting room at check-in, to get a text when your room is ready. In the room, a Samsung 55" Mirror Display will flash "a captivating assortment of fun and empowering messages as customers check themselves out in their Rent the Runway looks," like a Pinterest board come to life.

Integrated Samsung screens​ throughout the store preview Rent the Runway-carried styles, using content created by Anyways, Here’s the Thing, a group of developers from The New School.

And for shoppers trapped last minute in the office, the app lets you real-time chat with in-store concierge, covering rentals, fitting room reservations, and other requests. For a more thorough experience, venture into the Style Studio to have a personal stylist pick out looks for you to try on. Predicted via your digital style profile, it's like Minority Report, in a good way.

Shopping gone technologic. Analog's not dead yet, though: Have a second of old-school reminiscing with RTR Post, a drop-off receptacle for return orders designed to look like an outgoing mail slot.

Not quite the blue mailbox of yore, but a lot more stylish for it.

Images: Courtesy of Rent The Runway