Sony opens idyllic new retail store in Nagoya, Japan
By Darren Murph 
posted March 14th 2010 9:42AM
posted March 14th 2010 9:42AM
posted March 14th 2010 9:42AM
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Sony store > Apple store. :P
1 store > over 200 stores?
any good enough store is a good enough store. why the need to overrate the apple store.
@Billy SERIOUSLY WHY SHOULD WE COMPARE ANYTHING TO APPLE!
@mikmik111 Because they both deal in electronics and technology from one specific company, both have the same premise and idea: sell only OUR products. Take a chill pill.
@Billy
Because the Apple store was the only electronics I've seen that actually lets you use their devices without needing a store rep to come over and demo it to you, or you feeling like you weren't supposed to be using the one computer that hadn't gone back to the screen saver and locked the user out.
This may be different in other countries but there's barely anywhere I know of that has a similar ethos, and this is a big deal for customers.
@Ed T Microsoft would win gold.
@Dood
Maybe you don't have them in the States but in the UK we have had Sony Style stores since long before iPods pushed Apple back into all our High Streets.
They are overpriced but sell only Sony products in a relaxed high-end setting much like Apple and every other high-end retailer.
@Dood
I get it. You hate Apple's success.
...
Btw, MS still has a store?
@fourthletter
Dude Sonystyle stores are all over the US. In fact we have more Sonystyle stores than apple stores where I live.
But, while apple stores are packed with people, the Sonystyle stores used to be deserted. They seem to have improved their product layout recently and interest also seems to be increasing especially since thy feature their vaios and readers more.
Apple earns more per sq ft than Tiffany. Hence why others are trying to emulate their model. The only MSFT store I've seen looks almost identical to an Apple store. Except that the employees there were not well trained . In that sense Sony and MSFT are similar - poor in store help. Apple has outstanding in store help.
For those interested I live around a mile East off of Tysons Corner in the Washington DC area. Almost all premium brand retailers are represented within walking distance of my home and workplace.
Like most other things Apple's retail stores were game changing and benchmarks for the industry to emulate.
@25i
Well the only Sony stores I've been in have all the computers locked behind glass where you can't use them. If anyone is familiar with the Sony store in the Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield then they'll know what I mean.
@Dood
What the hell is wrong with some of you?
It's a GD store! Go there if you want DONT IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO!
Why on Earth are adults frigging fighting over whether company A's store is "cooler" than company B's?
Ooooh X's store has lots of people! Ooooooh their store is full of pretentious emos!
Ooooh their store is full of junk. Ooooh their store is too bright!
In the end, if you buy anything from either, you didn't accomplish much more than fattening THEIR pockets for some cheap Chinese plastic doodad that will be at a garage sale in 5 years.
@martynmcfarquhar: Don't know about the States, but here in downtown Toronto, both Best Buy and Futureshop have the majority of their computers (more laptops than desktops though) plugged in, with internet access, and many of the cameras are powered as well.
When looking at cameras, I've been able to pop my own SD card in and snap a couple of pics. Most of the phone carriers have live demo models you can just walk up to and play with - with internet connections as well.
@Dood YOu know what funny? that Sony Stores have tend to be more expensive than Apple store. Don't expect discounts on ANYTHING unlike any other store selling Sony stuff.
@martynmcfarquhar
Any of the stores I've been in (Belfast, Edinburgh X2) they have been more than willing to let me play with cameras or laptops even if they were behind the glass, I've been in the Apple Store in Glasgow and when you can actually get near a Macbook or iPhone you have a queue of angry fanbois tutting behind you to get their turn, not a great shopping experience for me.
Mind I have yet to buy anything from a Sony Store, I'll play there then source it cheaper online, which is still a sale for Sony regardless.
@Dood
Being a fanboy about stores? Oh come on. Are we going to fight over who had wooden floors first?
"Sure, maybe Apple didn't have wooden floors first, but they popularized them and brought them to the masses".
@25i really? emos with questionable sexual orientation? why should that matter to you? first of all, most haters of having any sense of fashion usually call Apple Store workers "smug hipsters", which is still misleading because most people call that "dressing normally". and about the questionable sexual orientation thing, is that going to make a difference in your experience at the store? it shouldn't.
@LAY
Thank you, those were my thoughts exactly
@jaffreywali : "since thy feature their vaios and readers more."
I just completely read that in Shakespearean-like prose, it worked perfectly and amused me.
"What possible musing canst befall a man to drive him thus to such places?"
"Thou dost wonder I fear in vain, since thy feature their vaios and readers more."
@25i Do you really care about someones sexual orientation. Your getting a laptop not a spouse, chill.
I hope they actually let you use the computers, at our local Sony store you can look at TVs and peer at computers behind an inch of locked glass...
@martynmcfarquhar Yeah same. Although the Sony store near me lets you use a few Vaios. Nothing special though. I'd love an Acer store -cheap yet reliable.
@Ignition1 OMG YES, an Acer store would be bomb!
Let's hope they're taking the Microsofts shops as an example of what not to do.
Kinda disturbing when the Scientology-like atmosphere in an Apple store is the lesser evil thanks to the creepy MS counterpart.
@MikeZ I've never seen a MS store...what is wrong with it?
@kspraydad It's basically MS imitating Apple.
Think of a sixty-something politician wearing a hoodie and listening to gangsta rap in order to appeal to young voters.
@MikeZ
Lets face it they are both creepy, Apple stores remind me of THX 1138.
I love going into the SonyStyle stores...what I don't like is the sales staff. They don't seem all that well versed (maybe due to the amount of product they need to know about?)
If I'm buying into the Sony 'lifestyle'...can we have sales people that support and exude that style instead of Best Buy sales people with a different shirt on.
@kspraydad I went into a SonyStyle last week, change their All-in-one PC theme from Aero to High contrast Black. Immediately after I left 2 salesmen went up to change it back. I watched from the nearby elevator for 15 minutes waiting for people, and they both couldn't change it back. It was the funniest thing I'd seen in a while.
@kspraydad
Sony 'lifestyle' ? Yeah, there's a memory stick for that...
@p0p0 I'll cut you some slack about how sad that is because that is pretty hilarious.
@p0p0
You know I've read these types of comments about how stupid sales people are in retail stores, and I'd really love to believe it...but I have to call BS. Just because it makes you feel better about yourself that you out smarted a person working retail doesn't make it true. I have never ever seen anything close to what I've read of most people's expectations of sales people.
And yet they still sell garbage in such a beautiful building...3 sony laptops I owned...3....all died within 2 years....just garbage...Asus now forever!
@EzB Wow...bad luck...as you can see here SONY, Asus and Toshiba are the top three when it comes to reliability. http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/17/laptop-reliability-survey-asus-and-toshiba-win-hp-fails/
@kspraydad I bought a sony VAIO once. It cost a good $1000. Within a year, the side fell off and the guts started falling out. That is NOT good reliability.
@StanMe We all have bad/poor experiences with individual electronic items...but broad survey's zero that out and both the linked survey and PC Worlds annual survey both point to SONY, Asus and Toshiba being the top three brands. I'm not apologizing for SONY, I'm on my third PS3 now...but shit happens...you just want to pick the firm that offers what you want and has less shit happen overall.
This is looking promising. Very nice clear display of the products they are selling. I cant see myself go in there and not buy something!
how many people lined up ?
Apple will sue them for the "space with glass/walls/white/roof used to demonstrate and sell goods" patent.
@kitsune: Apple would win. Just another feeble attempt to emulate Apple by a company that can't get out of its own way.
@Ariel Bender
I hope you realize the Sony Style stores came way before the Apple Stores.
It looks really nice. Sony makes a LOT of stuff and this thing looks like a better display of them than the current SonyStyle stores.
That said, they really do have to do something about the sales staff. They seem nice enough, and I'm glad they don't hire super young people, like Best Buy. The bad suits should go, though; the employees seem a bit like cell phone sales people and that's not a good thing. I imagine SonyStyle employees dating the girl who works at the mall shoe store, getting into their Civics after work and pump rap music on their dual oversized XPLOD subwoofer's in the trunk. Not a good look. It's a weird, greasy, dad's suit look. (And I like rap music).
Apple store is cool because it's a uniform, but it's also casual t-shirt and easy to approach. I also think the Apple store is good because it hits the middle of their target markets (designers, hipsters, elderly, education, and those who like minimalistic design).It's pretty much everyone except for young gamers (the kind who like the look of Alienware computers). I'd like if they used darker wood and made it feel warmer, but then it might not hit right in the middle, the way it does.
@MisterK
Don't forget, this specific store is in Japan. They have much different standards and expectations.
mmm... anyone else remember "Qualia"? Sony's previous attempt at addressing it's image problem.
@bebop Qualia 010
I think SonyStyle is older than Apple Store.
@Sogeking I think the first SonyStyle stores opened in 1994...First Apple Store was 2001
@kspraydad
And the whole point of this post is that....
duh duh duh!... Sony is revamping their stores to... imitate Apple.
*facepalm
@Wesscoast And I was simply answering a question...what's with the facepalm?
@Wesscoast Actually...I just looked at your comment history and you're an Apple sycophant so rational conversation is out the door.
There there...we weren't attacking Apple...better now?