HERSHEY, Pa. – What would you build in place of a traditional grocery store? That’s what The Hershey Lab set out to discover. The team continually looks to the future to improve the retail experience, and recently envisioned a reinvented shopping experience, Hershey’s blog reports.

The result is Medley, a fictitious grocery chain and concept stores. “Medley is an example of what the future might be if there were no rules, if there was nothing holding us back,” said Brian Kavanagh, senior director of retail evolution at The Hershey Company.

Medley has an interactive, multitech display in Hershey’s Global Customer Innovation Center that allows visiting retailers to visualize how their own store might use Medley ideas. “Our goal is to get our partners to think about what the experiential store of the future will look like,” Kavanagh said. “We’re not just working with retailers on developing the confection category. We want to help them leverage this technology for better stores.”

Medley’s first iteration has a staff that includes a butcher to assist in meal planning, an alcohol expert to offer advice on pairing, and chefs in a demonstration kitchen. An app allows shoppers to add products to their list for delivery or checkout. “What we see in the future is there isn’t really a one-size-fits-all category,” said Lina Yang, director of The Hershey Lab. “So Medley is called Medley because we realized that there had to be a portfolio reaching different kinds of shoppers.”