Nokia Takes On Manhattan pt.1 - The Store

On Saturday 9/9/06 Nokia made New York history with the Grand Opening of its Flagship Store on E. 57th Street in Manhattan.  Accompanied by Dave Harper of WINKsite I made it my duty to be there.

From the moment you walk through those glass doors you can sense that the atomosphere was energetic, as well it should be... this is New York City baby!!!

I'm going to cover this in 2 posts because I know people are anxious to see the phones.... but you have to tune in tomorrow for that.    

And now lets take a look at whats in-store!

WELCOME!

One of the reasons that I chose to go on opening day is not just to get the feel of the store, but the feel and the reactions of the people inside.  It felt like the grand opening of a nite club.  To the people that wandered in it was a Nokia Playland.  I heard several different comments... Nokia Heaven, Nokia Playland but my favorite... the Mecca for all Nokia Fanatics! 

Now its common that men complain when they have to go shopping with their wives, girlfriend or any female for that matter.  There was a woman that was standing outside the store for about 20 minutes waiting for her husband who was somewhere in the store.  Lol talk about the tables being turned!

One thing that I learned is that each Product Specialist and Sales Associate went through 6 weeks of extensive training... and trust me, it paid off.  The sales reps were definitely on point and knew their stuff. 

In honor of the arrival of the Flagship Store in NYC, customers were given a card to fill out for the chance to win a free Nokia 770 Internet tablet.  (Hi Chris!)

ENTER

As soon as you walk into the store you are in front of the displays of the Nokia 8801 Silver and Special Edition Black.  And then of course you are stuck there because the shininess just won't let you move away!

DESIGN

The walls of the 1st and 2nd floors are donned with LCD screens with more than just what appear to be random images.  This particular area (top image) has 2 keyboards which allow you to browse the Nokia website and a host of other links such as the S60 Site and Nokia Discussion Forums.

The screens changed constantly throughout the day while the larger panels rotated different colors.  The images and text that appear on the screen isn't just for this store but appear in all of the Nokia Flagship stores.  Pretty cool huh. 

There are 2 really fun interactive menus that prompt you to send a text message or display preferences such as "pink confetti" (my fav).  The random messages were awesome, but I went back to my graffiti days and simple sent a message that said "Darla was here". 

Another great feature of the screens is that whenever you pick up a device it opens up an information box on the screen in front of it to tell you more about the phone.  This is much better than just picking up a brochure or flyer.  Definitely more hands on.

1st FLOOR / COLLECTIONS, SOLUTIONS, COMMUNITY

The first floor houses Accessories, S40 and S60 devices along with a mixture of Eseries and Nseries as well.  One of the display tables had both the Nokia 6822 and E70 which I think was done for comparison reasons because they are both quite similar in function.  Smart move, I would have done the same thing!

THE MEZZANINE LEVEL - NSERIES

The Nseries floor also incorporates interactivity for its users.  Laptops loaded with PC Suite and tutorials, printers for testing and learning about the print function.  I have to say that there was a lot of photo printing going on.  Lol and users kindly left images behind. 

3rd FLOOR - VERTU LOUNGE

The Vertu Lounge located on the 3rd floor, is the smallest section in the store.  But there is a good reason for that.  Think of it as a more luxurious, personalized experience.  The space is large enought for about 10 peope, but when you are discussing the purchase of a $40,000 phone would you really want anyone else around? 

AND WHAT IS A GRAND OPENING IN NYC WITHOUT A CELEBRITY SITING!

Spike Lee happened to show up with his son and from what I could gather his interest was of the E62, which wasn't on display nor available for sale in the store as of yet.  But the Sr. Marketing Manager happened to have one and I'm sure he and Spike will be in touch.  He purchased 2 Nokia 770 Internet tablets and rumor has it that he came back Sunday and purchased 2 more.

Conclusion:

Nokia definitely stayed true to form in the words of its slogan.  They have created an interactive environment that does just what the slogan says... Connects People.  Upon entering you are connected to visual aids, product support, device solutions, device connectivity whether its utilizing PC Suite with a laptop, connecting a device to a printer or just a personal product recommendation.  The end result upon leaving the store is the rewarding satisfaction that you have now been connected with the perfect device!

Thanks to Chris, Maria, Bil , Donna, Winston, Keith and the rest of the staff for letting me hang out all day.  Special thanks to Dave Harper/WINKsite for spending time with me and sponsoring my trip!

*All images were taken with the Nokia N93, courtesy of Zedcentral, and is on sale now!

*Video can be seen at Blip.tv.

Comments

[R'Copeh]

That looks like one awesome toyshop!

Thanks for the post!

[Anthony]

hey thanks for the comment, you know i have shot nearly everything on my website with nokia phones... using lifeblog..
have you come across any other phones that work well? samsung or sony maybe? i would be interested to know if there are any other options...

[Darla]

To be honest Anthony, I haven't used anything other than Nokia's. Lol I'm a bit proud of that. The images that I took with the N93 are the best quality images that I've taken with a Nokia. I think second to that would be the N90 but I've heard that the N73 compares quite nicely.