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HTC opens store-within-a-store in Germany, hopes it's your One-stop shop
Electronics giants who want to compete for retail attention but can't always justify a full presence have a common trick: open a mini store. Apple did it, Microsoft did it, and Samsung virtually based the Galaxy S III launch on it. HTC is next at bat. While it has its own stores in Asia and parts of Europe, the smartphone designer is trying out a store-within-a-store at the giant Saturn-Markt shop in Hamburg, Germany. Swing by and you can buy or test a device like the One X+ or Windows Phone 8X alongside accessories -- including Beats headphones, naturally -- with dedicated staff to help. HTC didn't immediately have details of larger plans when we reached out, but there's talk at MyDrivers of further such stores as well as seminars that would help make sense out of Sense. There's no guarantee that HTC will benefit from carving out its own retail space in what's often considered hostile territory; even so, the move can't hurt when the company is fighting for relevancy.
Photos of Apple's store-within-a-store at Walmart
ifoAppleStore has pictures from a Lowell, Arkansas Walmart that shows an Apple store-within-a-store like those seen in Best Buy. The display at the Walmart location focuses on mobile devices like the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. With its large backlit-signs, wood tables and live demo units, the new in-store display improves Walmart's previous efforts which were drab and not very well maintained. ifoAppleStore says these displays may be a prototype of a rumored expansion of the store-within-a-store concept to Sam's Club, a retail warehouse chain owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
