Submitted by Alexandra Lima, Author at Lumsden
Lumsden has completed the design of the retail environments for the first Netflix House locations, supporting the launch of Netflix’s first permanent, year-round entertainment venues in the United States. The two initial sites, in Dallas and Philadelphia, opened in late 2025 and mark a significant step in the evolution of content-led visitor destinations.
Netflix House brings together immersive experiences, games, food and beverage, and merchandise within large-scale venues spanning more than 100,000 square feet. Within this context, retail has been conceived not as a standalone offer, but as a fully integrated part of the wider experience. Lumsden worked in close collaboration with Netflix over a two-year period to develop a retail concept that supports storytelling, repeat visits and long-term flexibility.
Retail As Part Of The Experience
At Netflix House, retail operates as an extension of Netflix’s on-screen worlds. Rather than functioning as a conventional shop, the environments translate globally recognised titles into spatial, tactile experiences that sit alongside the immersive attractions.
Exclusive product ranges are inspired by a broad mix of Netflix properties, including Stranger Things, Bridgerton, ONE PIECE, Demon Hunters and Frankenstein, with the system designed to respond to changing programming and audience demand. This approach allows retail to remain current while reinforcing the emotional connection between audiences and content.
Two Locations, One Adaptable System
While sharing a consistent design language, the Dallas and Philadelphia locations respond to different architectural and operational contexts.
The Philadelphia site, located at King of Prussia, includes a 2,250 square foot internal retail space positioned between the immersive experiences and the Netflix BITES restaurant. In contrast, the Dallas location at Galleria Dallas is around 3,790 square feet. Its storefront faces the concourse of the mall, and it’s fully glazed, acting as a prominent visual entry point into Netflix House.
To support this variation, Lumsden developed a modular kit-of-parts retail system. This enables a consistent brand expression across sites while allowing layouts, circulation and visibility to be adapted to different footprints and future rollouts.
Designed To Evolve With Content
Central to the concept is the idea of an ever-evolving retail environment. Fixtures, layouts and storytelling elements are designed to be refreshed regularly, ensuring returning visitors encounter new narratives and moments over time.
Materials and finishes draw on Netflix’s visual identity, using bold colour, playful references and robust detailing. The system supports rapid content updates without requiring full redesigns, a critical consideration for destinations driven by frequently changing intellectual property.
Dedicated retail anchor zones spotlight key shows and films, evolving alongside programming cycles and adjacent experiences. These anchors help drive repeat visits while maintaining clear links between retail and the wider attraction offer.
Retail Within A Broader Ecosystem
Netflix House combines immersive attractions, interactive games, food and beverage, activations and merchandise under one roof. Lumsden’s retail design acts as a connective element between these components, providing moments where engagement with content can be translated into tangible outcomes.
For the experience sector, the project demonstrates how retail can operate as a strategic component of visitor destinations rather than an add-on. By aligning retail closely with storytelling, circulation and content cycles, Netflix House positions merchandise as part of the overall experience journey.
The Dallas and Philadelphia openings establish a scalable retail model that can adapt to future locations, formats and content pipelines. As content owners continue to explore permanent, experience-led venues, the Netflix House project highlights the role of flexible, narrative-driven retail in supporting long-term relevance and commercial performance.
