Fast Company, from an article back in February:
Instead of endless product shelves, the space, which is named for its address, 837, features a three-story digital screen composed of 96 of Samsung’s 55-inch visual displays; a 90-seat theater; a portable demo kitchen; an art gallery; a multimedia studio; and a café. In it, Samsung will host events like film screenings, book launches, DJ sets, and, already on the schedule, an Oscars viewing party for Galaxy owners. “We didn’t want it to be a store,” Overton says. “We didn’t want it to be about pushing products in people’s faces.” Instead, he calls the building an “immersive cultural center.”
Given the location (across from the High Line and a block away from the Whitney Museum), they are surely paying a pretty penny for this massive space and all that foot traffic.
What I struggle with is their business model here. Seems like such vague plans for such premium space. And, as Loop reader Robert Davey notes, it’s certainly interesting that back in September, Apple showed off a prototype store with a giant screen and then Samsung rolls out their own version of the same, though Samsung’s version is codged together with 96 smaller screens.
Will this turn into a huge win for Samsung? Will it be shuttered by this time next year? Place your bets!
It’s awesome. I went to check it out, spent about 2hrs there, and left questioning my allegiance to Apple products.
Samsung used to have a huge lifestyle showroom in the Time Warner center called the Samsung Experience that is essentially the same thing. The most interesting thing there was all the Samsung phones that weren’t released in the US (this was 2005 so all the good ones were Korea only). http://nymag.com/listings/stores/samsung-experience/
Have you seen the new Apple Store design? Samsung is just copying Apple again.
The Samsung store in Oxford St London, is generally deserted and they do stock products
I predict that Samsung will lease out the space to hold support-group meetings for Microsoft-store employees. These meetings will, of course, be run by former Gateway store managers.
Why not stock product? Trying to avoid NYC sales tax? Theft concerns?
If one is going to go to the trouble of going to a store, one of the advantages is being able to make a purchase and walk away with the product.
Are people interested in Samsung technology enough to bother to go there? I don’t think so. They aren’t an innovator per se, more like a copier so why should we interested in their “vision”?
I would be surprised if it’s still there 2 years from now.
This is quite a big thing that I noticed starting in the late 90s early 2000s in Korea. Back then, mobile carriers would put lifestyle showroom/lounges with drinks and entertainment in prime retail areas to promote their brand similar to airline VIP lounges. I’m guessing this is just an extension of the tried/true strategy in Korea now in the US.