Korean Retailer Gentle Monster Displays a Giant Robot in its New Store in Houston

To catch the attention of customers, a giant robot is being displayed at the new Gentle Monster store in Galleria, Houston. It’s equally immersive and unnerving as the giant monster will not only greet customers, but its giant animatronic face will blink and follow people around so long as they stay in its field of vision.

One might wonder why a luxury eyewear company would display a giant robot in its store but this Korean retailer is known for their over-the-top, futuristic displays. In fact, the company employs ten times more people to work on the store’s visuals than they have eyewear designers.

Suffice it to say, the store’s visual employees certainly hit a bullseye in gaining the attention of both the media and potential customers. In a post on TikTok, a user comments how she drove over three hours just to visit this Galleria store where the giant robot is being displayed.

Just how big is the giant robot? This eye-catching piece is at least nine-foot tall. As if that was not enough to catch your attention, it also has a hyper-realistic kinetic human face that you cannot help but stare at. Not to mention this giant robot can make slight movements that are seen as responses to shoppers.

Although one might think that this giant robot is purely a marketing stint, the company wrote in a press release that “the Giant Head is a year-long project conducted by Gentle Monster’s Robotics Lab, which attempts to question viewers about the future of the human-robot relationship. Combined with the intense colors and metal structures, it exemplifies the dimensionality and avant-garde elements of the space, awakening the senses of its visitors, and inspiring the imagination of what the future of retail could be like.”.

That’s one great way of combining what robots can do in terms of marketing, foot traffic, and reflection on our society and future. Certainly a unique application of robots in the retail industry.

For those who want to check out the giant robot themselves, then the Gentle Monster store housing it is located in Suite B2880 in the Galleria, Houston, Texas.