Interesting marketing stories?

A story I heard a while ago is about how Nike has a store front that is multi storied, has thousands of items and staff, yet month after month, never turn a profit. Each month no matter how much they sold they wouldn't come close to the amount owed for rent and the cost of operating the store. It was explained that the store was to act only as a showroom for people to try clothing, interact with the sales people and its main purpose was to be a billboard in high traffic areas.



I'm always interested in learning about marketing, have you heard of any other companies or tactics that are similar?