"Everyone and his uncle would like to be a tour guide, and we have a lot of people doing it illegally, " says Harvey Davidson, spokesman for the Guides Association of NYC.

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"Retailers are still trying to figure out what the heck it all means, but they know their customers are engrossed in digital commerce so they need to be there, " says Tom Furphy, a venture capitalist and former Amazon executive who played tour guide for a handful of executives from supermarkets and consumer-goods companies at a recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

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The tour guide will instruct you to maintain a safe distance from the birds, but be prepared for them to approach you as penguins can be extremely curious.

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