Up Close: Inside Samsung’s high-tech, immersive ‘Experience Store’ (BY BY DEENA M. AMATO-MCCOY, sourced from Chain Store Age)
Samsung has opened its first mall-based stores, locations that allow customers to get up close and personal with its newest products.
The giant cell phone and TV maker has opened a permanent store in Roosevelt Field, in Garden City. Billed as the “Samsung Experience Store,” the 2,500-sq.-ft. space is a tech playground that immerses customers in the Samsung brand and enables customers to interact with new Samsung products in innovative ways. And all the goods on display are for sale.
The focal point of stores is a set of three gondolas positioned down the center of the store. Each displays Samsung Galaxy smartphones, tablets (including the new Samsung Fold smartphone-tablet hybrid) and wearables.
Surrounding the displays are immersive experiences, including two 4D virtual reality (VR) departments. Here, customers buckle into an interactive motorized VR chair and snap on an Oculus VR headset to explore one of six 4D experiences fueled by Galaxy devices.
Next to the 4D experience is a 3D VR lounge. Sitting on blue ottomans, shoppers can put on Oculus headsets that are connected to Galaxy smart devices to watch popular apps, including Netflix and YouTube, in VR.
The store also has a gaming lounge equipped with 4K digital screens that enable customers to play video games, such as “Fortnite,” head-to-head. The lounge is positioned alongside the home theatre department, which boasts a TV wall that features four 65-inch screens surrounding a 75-inch 8K screen. Samsung sound bars provide stadium-like audio.
In another feature, customers can use Samsung devices to create augmented reality (AR) emojis, and a personalization desk enables customers to engrave their device case while they shop. A customer service department offers tech support and repair services, and a training lounge hosts in-store demos and workshops. Wireless charging stations are also available throughout the store.
“From trying out a new Galaxy smartphone to seeing it support a 4D VR experience, the store is designed to let customers play and get comfortable with all of Samsung’s newest products,” said store manager, Steve Poveromo.
In addition to Roosevelt Field, Samsung has opened “experience” outposts at The Americana at Brand in Los Angeles, and The Galleria in Houston. (Samsung also plans to open smaller pop-ups in various U.S. locations.). The three stores are Samsung’s only freestanding retail spaces that sell product. In 2016, the company opened Samsung 837 in downtown Manhattan. The location immerses customers in the brand and showcases demonstrations of Samsung’s various products, but it does not sell merchandise.
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