Variations on a Theme (that You Can Sleep In)

Experiencing alternate worlds isn’t just for theme parks anymore—it’s become a leisure style choice.

Have you ever heard of Children’s Fairyland in Oakland, California? Built in 1950—and still going strong today—it’s a forerunner of bigger and more ambitious theme parks to come.

The story of the theme park doesn’t stop there, though. Over the next 75 years, the industry evolved in a big way. Universal Studios over the past half century illustrates these developments as well as any park: it started out as a tram ride through movie back lots, and now it’s a place that incorporates ten different self-contained milieus, from Jurassic World to Hogwarts.

Here’s the thing though: even if theme parks are more plentiful and inventive than ever, there’s a huge demand for themed concepts on a smaller, more intimate scale. Here are a few examples.

Sleeping with the Sodas. For a limited time, Olipop sodas partnered with Bunkhouse Hotels to create three soda-themed rooms in Austin, Texas, with a cream soda room (blue), bubblegum room (pink), and cherry cola room (red). It was a temporary re-imagining, though, in fact, it ended yesterday! Maybe stop by Austin’s nearby Sunrise Mini Mart as an alternative.

Oh, that Kind of V8. The V8 Hotel MotorWorld in Stuttgart, Germany, is, if not quite a world, than a small city situated inside a former industrial building. There’s museums, showrooms, and galleries that celebrate the automotive industry, not to mention hotel rooms adorned with vintage car memorabilia. The area has plenty of shops and restaurants, but as an alternative, you can walk a few blocks and get some offsite food at Germany’s popular REWE Market.

Spud-and-Spa. The Big Idaho Potato Hotel is more like an resort than an inn or hotel, a private experience for two where you can spend all day looking at a 28-foot long potato, while getting to know Dolly the Jersey Cow, the resort mascot. A customized grain silo contains a state-of-the-art-bathroom, and a giant whirlpool beneath an expansive skylight. The whole thing sits on a 400-acre ranch, but you don’t have to travel all that far to reach the upscale Boise Stage (Truck) Stop and Store.

Wade into a Cup of Noodles. Our last stop for today takes us to the Shinjuku Washington Hotel, and its promotional concept, the Donbei Room. A collaboration between the hotel and Nissin Foods, the room in this district of Tokyo is decorated with green wallpaper featuring all 10 types of packaging from the “Donbei” food series[1]. The bed is designed to look like udon noodles, topped off with cushions shaped like deep-fried tofu and kamaboko fish cakes. If amidst all the sobas and udons you get a craving for something different, there’s a Ministop one block away!

At SSCS, we may not embrace a variety of themes, but we do like the one to which we’ve been subscribing for 45 years: providing the finest software and support possible to our c-store customers. It’s our singular focus, and will remain our singular focus. Learn more about what we offer to the c-store industry by giving us a call at (800) 972-7727.

[1] The Donbei line is distinguished by, in Nissin’s words, an “emphasis on authenticity and quality in instant noodles, particularly in the realm of traditional Japanese cuisine.”