Samsung’s Unusual Run At Retail Stores

Most brands just talk the talk when it comes to committing to the future of experiential retail. However, Samsung is showing that it’s ready to walk the walk, right down 5th Ave if it has to.

That’s the message coming out of Samsung’s brand-new Manhattan Meatpacking district location, The Verge reported. The term “location” is an appropriately vague one, especially because Samsung isn’t planning on selling a single device at the trendy new 55,000-foot space at 837 Washington St. Instead, the electronics manufacturer has decked the place out with everything from a three-story high definition display, art installations featuring a tech-slanted theme and virtual reality activities with seats that move along with users’ digital motions.

In short, Samsung’s new 837 location is the embodiment of experiential retail — offering all of the entertainment and brand association with none of the messy commerce to get in the way.

The Verge noted that Samsung isn’t using 837 just to create a kind of “Eyes Wide Shut” funhouse for New York’s tech crowd. Samsung device experts will be on hand to help people a la Apple’s Geniuses. Customers of Samsung’s ever-growing mobile user base will finally have a brand location to take their repair and service business to, though whether this translates into any actual savings remains to be seen.

At least at first, Samsung is focusing on drawing attention to the thought of entertainment with their brand rather than the actual thing with their devices. 837’s website lists a number of events scheduled for Oscar screening parties, movie nights and even group runs along Manhattan’s elevated skybridge — sanctioned by Samsung of course, so no FitBits allowed.

Will Samsung’s bread-and-circus approach to experiential retail be able to break through the white noise of modern retail, especially in a city like NYC that seems perennially used to whatever new volume advertisers crank their messaging up to next?