On the floor of Garmin's Chicago flagship

Did you get the memo? Navigation systems aren't just for pilots and geeks anymore. And it's not like they're content staying put in your car, either; they've migrated to your wrist, your bike, and your phone. They've gone so mainstream, in fact, that Garmin decided earlier this year that they could justify springing for a brick-and-mortar store in the heart of one of North America's trendiest shopping districts, Chicago's Magnificent Mile. For the record, yes -- this is the same Magnificent Mile fellow tech companies Motorola and Nokia have also decided to call home in 2006 (in fact, you can see Motorola's joint across the street). Spending big bucks on the glitz and glamor of a Michigan Avenue address is all well and good, but realistically, what sets the world's first Garmin Store apart from, say, your local Best Buy or Circuit City when it comes time to mess around with Garmin's latest navigational wizardry? Read on for our sneak peek!

This is what a would-be Garmin customer sees the moment they step through the glass double doors of the entrance. The store is laid out logically: consumer products (StreetPilot, nüvi, Forerunner, and so on) on the main level, specialty products (aviation, marine, outdoor) on the second level, and conference rooms on the third.

Jay Leno's personal zumo-equipped Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 sits near the entrance as a stark reminder that nav systems are used and enjoyed by cool people, too. Note the miscellaneous scraps in the lower right -- the store has really come together in record time, and workers were putting the finishing touches on the facility even today for Saturday's grand opening.

Repeaters mounted in the ceilings of the first and second levels provide GPS reception to all the units on the show floor. We thought it'd be cool if they were computer-controlled and could be programmed to make the units think they were elsewhere (or perhaps following a route) but it turns out they just pull in the actual GPS signal through an antenna mounted on the building's roof.

From the trail to the cockpit, every (and we do mean every) Garmin product a consumer could possibly care about is on display. With the exception of the aviation line, everything is also on sale here -- so to answer the obvious question, no, you can't buy this G1000 glass cockpit system here and mount it in the headrests of your BMW.

The "Wall of Accessories" (our clever name, not theirs) should bail out folks desperately searching for that hard-to-find mount or case.

The store had a nifty organic / tech feel going on that we were really digging. The walls are composed of wavy wood panels with white, rounded rocks at their base, while most everything else is sharp metal and glass. These video panels were kind of going crazy when we were watching them, but they can be set up to show fragments of the same image as well.

Hmm... looks a little iffy. And we forgot our umbrella.

Garmin's own people summed up our experience best: if people walk in off the street and buy their navigation system here, great. But if they just fiddle around here then go back from whence they came and buy the equipment from their local shop, that's great too. The point is, we came away with the impression that the Garmin Store is a great place to lower the barrier of entry and get everyday folks exposed to what exactly it is that GPS can do for them. If you're not in Chicago, readers can live vicariously through Garmin's own blog of the opening; meanwhile, Midwesterners and passers-by can get their first taste of the Garmin Store tomorrow, November 10, with a number of special events progressing throughout the day.

[Pat @ Nov 10th 2006 8:36PM]

ya the store is pretty sick...by the way niketown is right nextdoor and the applestore is right behind whoever took the picture...hint...i live a block away

[Tom @ Nov 10th 2006 8:50PM]

And recall that this location use to be the sony store.

[Marc @ Nov 10th 2006 8:37PM]

lol thats me in the sixth picture down

[Ed @ Nov 10th 2006 8:43PM]

I'd like to note that it started pouring this afternoon, so you have to give them credit for the radar's accuracy.

[Badtz Maru� @ Nov 11th 2006 3:40AM]

Yeah, the Sony store *was* there, but who wants to pay retail when there's PriceGrabber?

[VedicHymn @ Nov 10th 2006 9:18PM]

Oh wow, walked right past this today from work to the apple store, didn't realize it had just opened.

Mapquest sucks in the city, anyone know how Garmin compares?

[LittleJoe @ Nov 10th 2006 10:09PM]

what a waste of space.

[Bob @ Nov 10th 2006 10:59PM]

I was offered a job to work with Garmin at this store, and I had to turn them down because I got a better offer to teach just a few days earlier for CPS.

I have to say though that the people who work at Garmin are some of the nicest people I've met since coming to Chicago. Even after they knew I could not work for them, they were still genuinely interested in how my life and career was going.

So... to sum up... these folks are great, and I hope their flagship store is a real success. When I do buy a GPS unit, I will not hesitate to buy Garmin, because the people who work for Garmin are some gosh darn decent folk.

[Jarrod @ Nov 10th 2006 11:33PM]

pft, CPS! You're better off working with Garmin, better job security for sure.

[Josh @ Nov 11th 2006 12:58AM]

Is it just me or does this store look and feel like a store located on the same block at 679 North Michigan? With a theater in the back, the brushed metal and the general layout of the store. It just reminds me of of an Apple store.

[Brandon @ Nov 11th 2006 1:17AM]

"if people walk in off the street and buy their navigation system here, great. But if they just fiddle around here then go back from whence they came and buy the equipment from their local shop, that's great too."

I'm not sure how long the above statement will hold true with what has to be an unfathomable amount of rent they are surely paying for the space. I walked by a week or so ago and saw what the place was going to be. Maybe I'll drop in and say hello tomorrow... I'm sure that will be alright with them.

[matt @ Nov 11th 2006 1:44AM]

that used to be the sony store...

[Lester @ Nov 11th 2006 2:25AM]

They were smart in copying Apple's retail concept. The store doesn't look to be quite up to Apple's design standards, but looks really cool nonetheless.

[Badtz Maru� @ Nov 11th 2006 3:43AM]

I think its less of a store and more of a tourist concept, exposing consumers to GPS equipment who may never have seen one in action. I think its great, hope it expands consumer interest in GPS, and glad something is taking over Sony's old space after over a year.

[Will W @ Nov 11th 2006 4:31AM]

the store is great for the garmin brand..even if the store doesn't make any sales.. it gives garmin a physical presence where ppl can interact directly with the whole product line.. i would certainly go for a well known brand such as garmin than the cheap chinese knock offs.. that might be here today gone tomorrow...
just like there are a bazillion mp3 players but apple is the clear leader..
with this store garmin can become like apple.... in the gps sector

[Josh Z @ Nov 11th 2006 8:38AM]

waste of space ... at least the sony store (which did not sell much either) had other things to look at. Geek wise the only store on that strip that makes the tourists bearable is the Apple store.

[andrew @ Nov 11th 2006 10:02AM]

the g1000 is TOTALLY AMAZING!!! like, for real, it changes flying.

[CaptCaveman @ Nov 12th 2006 4:26PM]

I do have to say that I like the Garmin GPS systems better then the others. I had Palm Pilot / GPS unit for about a year when I was traveling a lot. I never got lost. And the voice instructions were always dead on and timely. I "upgraded" to a Pocket PC with VGA display and tried a couple of other software programs and was not happy. Though I don't travel as much now. I do plan on picking up another Palm / GPS made by Garmin and keeping it around until I need it.

[David @ Nov 13th 2006 2:52AM]

Did Engadget get the memo that when you report on things you include who, what, when, WHERE, etc. Where is this damn store on Michigan Ave? From the pic I assume it's somewhere near 645 since this is showing in the right side of the frame.

[Kevin @ Nov 13th 2006 10:28AM]

You missed that part of the reason Garmin chose Chicago for another major store location is that Navteq, the supplier of all of the map data for their navigation systems is based there.

Chicago may have grown to a large tech arena in the past decade, but for some reason, it still feels a little weird thinking about Chicago as tech.

[Nick @ Nov 13th 2006 4:01PM]

I miss the Sony Store. The prices were just silly and there was no way I'd buy something there, but it was fun going into it and seeing all the new gear, especially the ES stuff that couldn't be found everywhere else.

I understand the rationale behind the Garmen store, but it's not something I'm even remotely interested in ever going to.