Last night I had the chance to check out the newly renovated Future Shop at Park Royal in West Van with Darren Barefoot and other groovy Vancouver techie people (props to Raul for getting a post off so early–A bunch of geeks at the Future Shop Park Royal opening « Random Thoughts of a Student of the Environment).
The store was open to friend, family, and media only so we could nosh on wine and appies and cruise through the new store and drool over cool new techie toys we dream of having.
So, is it dramatically different? No, not really. It’s still a Future Shop.
Yes, it has Canada’s first in-store Apple Store in a Future Shop, but as far as the nuts and bolts go, it’s a Future Shop.
Except for “The Hub”.
The Hub is at the centre of the store and is supposed to be the place for customers to see the potential technology and the connected home has for them.
Here is how it looks:
The goal FS has is for people to walk to the specially trained (and not on commission) sales people and start of with the question: “How do I…” and go from there.
It could be picking the right TV or choosing a laptop or setting up their home network. These folks have been given enough info to pull all the pieces together into the big picture.
When the time comes for a sale, they hand you off to a specialist in that area.
Will this make shopping at FS an easier, less intimidating experience?
Yeah not sure about that.
All the tech is cool, but they are also showing off the higher end stuff (as expected). So what are people going to then want to buy?
Yeah, of course.
Regardless I was a fun time and I enjoyed chatting with Derek, who I haven’t seen in person for about a year.
Schwag?
Uh, yeah. There were gift bags for everyone (media included) with a spiffy Jabra Bluetooth headset. Yes, I’m going to be putting it to good use.
Tris Hussey is a writer, teacher, blogger, and speaker on all facets of Internet life, WordPress, and social media. If you are interested in having Tris speak, teach, lead a workshop or consult for you, feel free to email tris [at] trishussey [dot] com.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Ahhh free swag is always nice!
I think it’s a cool concept. Now I wonder if they will eventually change all their stores to have this model.
Gus I think they might. The concepts shown do give you a great vision of the possible.
I think something that shows that tech doesn’t live in a vacuum anymore is a good thing.
Thanks for the write-up. In light of your new location, you might have to change the name of your blog, eh?
I think we should just think of it as the Isle of Tris from now on.