palmOne Opens Flagship Retail Store in Philadelphia

Posted By: Ryan Friday, May 7, 2004 12:13:53 PM

palmOne today announced the opening of a flagship store in Philadelphia to showcase and sell the company's line of handheld computers, smartphones, and accessories. The palmOne retail store at Philadelphia International Airport (Terminal B) is the 11th hybrid store.

palmOne has been opening a number of small kiosks and mini retail stores as pilot program that began in October 2002. The new Philadelphia flagship store is located in a post security airport terminal. Others stores are in shopping malls and airports kiosks.

palmOne's goal with the retail stores is to reach new customers and demographics and build out brand awareness. The stores offer an attractive and comfortable environment staffed by expert consultants enabling potential customers to interact with and buy palmOne handhelds, smartphones and a wide range of software and accessories; and illustrate the company's vision that handheld computers and communications solutions can and will be used by people in all walks of life to improve productivity, access and share valuable information and enhance the enjoyment of life.

"The surprise of seeing and interacting with our products in open-air mall settings or attractive airport locations is working," said John Hartnett, vice president, palmOne Stores Worldwide. "Half of our palmOne Store customers tell us they bought on impulse, and we're attracting an excellent mix of new clientele and loyalists."

palmOne retail stores represent a new type of distribution channel whereby the manufacturer and contract operators cooperate. palmOne provides the award-winning design concept, special furniture, images and fixtures. Contract operators hire and manage their staffs to be experts on palmOne products. palmOne stores also have been proven to benefit sales in other retail outlets, whether traditional brick-and-mortar or online.

"palmOne retail stores are measured beyond their sales volume," said Kanwal Sharma, director of palmOne retail stores. "They deliver a high-quality brand experience, feature a full portfolio of palmOne products, and help educate customers broadly about what our solutions can do for consumers, media-savvy, mobile professionals, and the always-connected executive."

palmOne retail stores are distinguished by their high-design styling. The company's first "in-line" store, located in Century City (Los Angeles), Calif., has won four design awards alone, including the 2002 International Store Interior Design Competition and the 2003 Award of Excellence in Interiors from the American Institute of Architects, Memphis Chapter.

The current palmOne store locations include:

California

  • Century City - West Los Angeles
  • Stoneridge - Pleasanton
  • San Francisco - Westfield Shoppingtown
  • Valley Fair - Santa Clara

Maryland

  • Montgomery - Bethesda
  • Towson - Towson

Massachussets

  • Prudential Center - Boston
  • Boston Logan International Airport

New Jersey

  • Newark Liberty International Airport
  • Garden State Plaza - Paramus, NJ

Pennsylvania

  • Philadelphia International Airport

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Why The Airport?!

Sid_Sid @ 5/7/2004 1:30:15 PM #
It's great that PalmOne has a "flagship" store in the Philly area, but why the airport? I hate the Philly airport, it's inhospitable, and I don't plan to make a special trip there just for this store.
The King of Prussia mall would have been a much better Philly area location.

RE: Why The Airport?!
abosco @ 5/7/2004 2:45:58 PM #
Agreed - the King of Prussia Mall would have been a much better spot. I only go to the airport when I need to fly somewhere - not when I want to buy stuff. I go to the mall for that. Dell, Apple, and countless other stores have all decided the King of Prussia Mall was good enough for their stores, and it's become the second largest mall in America. Come on PalmOne - the retail idea might be worth it, but only if it's got a good location!

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616
RE: Why The Airport?!
markgm @ 5/7/2004 2:51:09 PM #
KoP would have been a better location (they sell them in the Mac store there), but I guess they are trying to cash in on you forgetting a charger or needing a game to get you through your trip.

RE: Why The Airport?!
palmhiker @ 5/7/2004 3:58:00 PM #
I think the airport is a great place to put these. Keep in mind that P1 is going after business travelers with these airport locations - Travelers who have an hour or two to kill between flights and have been pocketing their per diem for a week while living on McDonalds food.

I wish they would put one in Atlanta, where I spend too much of my between flight time...

RE: Why The Airport?!
hkklife @ 5/7/2004 4:18:14 PM #
I have to confess that I am guilty of being far more eager to spring for a nifty PDA gadget while on a trip. Since I don't carry a GBA or a laptop, the pickings are slim for mobile entertainment. I own about 8 pre-loaded MMC Palm software titles and all but one or two were purchased when on the road at an ODepo, Staples, CUSA or somewhere similar when I was looking for something "new" to kill time with. That's also how I ended up with an official Palm branded travel charger. :-)

RE: Why The Airport?!
HiWire @ 5/7/2004 7:21:08 PM #
Also, Palm should consider their possible international clientele - warranties aren't much good if they only cover the US. Ditto with carrying English-only units.

Palm m505 User
RE: Why The Airport?!
Gekko @ 5/7/2004 9:25:12 PM #
Traffic. Lots of Traffic. Ironically, I stopped in this store last week and had no idea it was a PalmOne store. I thought it was just a generic PDA/Cell Phone accessories store. I guess I thought the Palm sign was not the name of the store. The two nincompoops in there running the place were running around like chickens with their heads cut off and there were only 3 customers in the store (including me).

RE: Why The Airport?!
Gekko @ 5/7/2004 9:29:59 PM #
Cheap rent maybe?

RE: Why The Airport?!
acaltabiano @ 5/8/2004 12:50:50 AM #
Malls do not garner the attention of the clientel Palmone is after. While I frequent malls t window shop/clothes shop, and do see other adults there, mostly malls are hang outs for teenagers. Teenagers are not buying palmone products like crazy. Moms, older students, business people are. That crowd is generally not going to frequent a PDA store at the mall - especially when they can find the same products (used to, anyway) at staples, BB, CUSA, etc w/o the little kiddies.

You youngin's don't go getting offended, now. While I am perfectly aware some of the readership here is of that age, you must be mature enough to realize that you are quite atypical of your age group. Palm is not trying to please niche markets, they are trying to sell mass quantities.

but, they cannot run a stand-alone store. Not enough traffic would come through. what to do, what to do.... How about an airport? Business people frequent those darn things...

It may not make the most sense in the world, and I won't say that there are not other places that would do well/better/as good, but there is *some* logic to it.

RE: Why The Airport?!
abosco @ 5/8/2004 12:58:27 AM #
>>You youngin's don't go getting offended, now. While I am perfectly aware some of the readership here is of that age, you must be mature enough to realize that you are quite atypical of your age group. Palm is not trying to please niche markets, they are trying to sell mass quantities.

Mall traffic - 100% go to purchase items
Airport traffic - 100% use it to travel, not purchase expensive electronic gadgets

$20 bets they pull out of there within a year. The King of Prussia Mall is not your ordinary mall. You need to walk around to truly understand its significance. I live about 20 minutes away from it, and it's an absolute joy to buy things from. The entire place is like a palace. Around Christmas time, I would imagine God looking down with envious eyes on how much better the place appears than heaven! Yes, you have plenty of kiddies walking around. But evidently, Dell and Apple don't seem to think it's a problem. Apple is doing amazingly successful, too.

Bottom line - the decision to place this in an airport is questionable, especially since the second largest mall in the US is half an hour away.

-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616

RE: Why The Airport?!
Strider_mt2k @ 5/8/2004 7:26:21 AM #
"Mall traffic - 100% go to purchase items
Airport traffic - 100% use it to travel, not purchase expensive electronic gadgets."

Actually, alot of folks hang out at the mall.

Alot of folks buy stuff like this in airports too.

I agree that PalmOne is going for their target audience at the airport.

It's a cool looking store too.



RE: Why The Airport?!
Gekko @ 5/8/2004 8:33:54 AM #
Too much White Trash at the mall. White Trash typically don't buy Palms.

RE: Why The Airport?!
acaltabiano @ 5/8/2004 10:19:29 AM #
abosco: first, i don't agree that 100% of the people at the mall are there to purhcase. I see your point, but it's not that high.

Secondly, what good is it to a company to put a store where 100% of the traffic is there to purchase, if that same traffic is not there to purchase your goods? Crude example: A porno store allows a baby food company to sell at a kiosk located inside the store. 100% of the traffic is there to buy something. but, they are not there for baby food! That kiosk does not last long. I know that is far off base, but I am just trying to make that point; Yes, some of the traffic at the mall would be interested and there might be a few purchases. But by and large, their target audience is not there.

This is what I was asking of you to accept in the first post: just because you would, you must realize that YOU and those LIKE YOU are atypical. You have to look at this from a perspective of "adults" trying to sell products to their target market. They are not trying to cater to your niche.

RE: Why The Airport?!
elo @ 5/10/2004 12:55:14 AM #
Personally, I think an airport is the *perfect* place for Palm stores. Palm devices are still largely targeted at business customers and that group ends up having to spend some time at airports. I often am looking for something to occupy my time at airports and would certainly wander in to see new handheld devices. I avoid traditional malls like the plague but I have dropped some money in airport stores before. At the very least, a business traveller might see a Palm device at the store, decide he wants it and then order it after the trip.

elo

RE: Why The Airport?!
elo @ 5/10/2004 1:01:07 AM #
Actually, now that I think about it, this is exactly how I bought my first PDA. I stepped off the plane in Amsterdam and one of the first things I saw was a small booth where Sony Clies were being displayed. I didn't buy one right then, but as soon as I returned to America, I placed an order for a T-615. I think Palm's approach can work.

RE: Why The Airport?!
bigfoot @ 5/12/2004 5:04:35 PM #
You probably need a ticket to get past security to get to the mall.

Some other mall - KoP - would reallt have been a easier place to get to.

Cheers,

When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.

Great idea... but why not in the big malls?

statik @ 5/7/2004 1:20:05 PM #
This is a great idea. There have been way too many times that I've walked into an electronics store and seen PDAs strewn about with dead batteries, or worse yet, overheard a clerk that doesn’t have a clue giving people bad advice on what PDA to buy.

I would definitely love to see a PalmOne store at West Edmonton Mall or Mall of America. If they were really on the ball, they would even have the batteries pre-charged and pre-load a map of the mall for all the tourists.

I know that West Ed has a palm pilot map available, [http://www.westedmontonmall.ca/mallmap/palmos.asp] I imagine that Mall of America would have one as well.


RE: Great idea... but why not in the big malls?
Altema @ 5/7/2004 1:59:20 PM #
>or worse yet, overheard a clerk that doesn’t have a
>clue giving people bad advice on what PDA to buy.

Like at Circuit City? ;)

"No, you should buy this model because Palms can't access the web or do email or play music..."

RE: Great idea... but why not in the big malls?
Fammy @ 5/7/2004 3:03:32 PM #
It's like that at all major national chains.

At my local Eletronics Boutique, you shouldn't buy a GameCube because Microsoft is going to buy Nintendo soon. Mario will be on the XBox, so there is now no reason not to buy the XBox, uninformed parent.

Isn't that helpful. I love it.

-- Fammy

RE: Great idea... but why not in the big malls?
hkklife @ 5/7/2004 4:13:54 PM #
Can you even, post Sept-11th, even get to any of the terminals from the main concourse of the airport without possessing a boarding pass and going through security?

If I recall the layout of the Philly airport lately, a person not heading actually in the process of traveling cannot enter the airport and go shopping at the Palm store out of curiosity. Not a wise move there. Now, those little mini Staples I've seen in airports--that's a wise move! Sell the road warrior a portable charger, a Mont Blanc pen, and some laptop stuff all in a single retail shop!

Anyway, if this retail expansion continues to go well, POne should look to stick a store in the Mall of Georgia or Mall of America in Minn. or one of those Mills Corp. monstrosities...

RE: Great idea... but why not in the big malls?
hkklife @ 5/7/2004 4:41:08 PM #
Oh, yeah, one more thing just sprang to mind----Philadelphia? Flagship store? It can only mean one thing..........................


Comcast is going to buy POne!! "Veld" will be a new Palm OS-based set-top box!

;-)

RE: Great idea... but why not in the big malls?
Hooligan @ 5/9/2004 6:46:58 PM #
In Maryland, at least, these are also the malls with Apple stores. I'm inclined to think this is a good thing. The folks that work in the chain stores haven't a clue what makes the Palm OS special and are constantly refering people to Toshibas and HPs.

RE: Great idea... but why not in the big malls?
elo @ 5/10/2004 1:04:11 AM #
I'm constantly amazed at some of the mythology that spews from chain-store employees. I was once told that a Windows machine has "the complete internet inside it, while the Mac I was looking at just has part of the internet inside it." Pretty much all of these employees seem to assume that the Palm can't read or edit Microsoft Word documents or play music. That's why I'm very glad to see PalmOne trying the retail approach. Let's hope they have some success.

San Francisco - San Francisco???

bobes @ 5/7/2004 3:24:02 PM #
where is that?

RE: San Francisco - San Francisco???
kezza @ 5/7/2004 4:27:42 PM #
why, it's in san francisco, of course!

;)

RE: San Francisco - San Francisco???
Admin @ 5/7/2004 4:44:08 PM #
whoops, that type was on palmOne's site, the address is on the palmone website:

http://www.palmOne.com/retail

RE: San Francisco - San Francisco???
aaronchow @ 5/8/2004 3:47:47 AM #
It's in the San Francisco Shopping Center - Not as big as the Apple Store, but very nice and organized.

Is that guy for real?

Ben S @ 5/7/2004 11:39:52 PM #
I just have one comment... is that guy with the sweater over his shoulders in the picture for real? I mean, c'mon, is the Philadelphia airport stuck in an 80's timewarp?

Must be a PPC user.

RE: Is that guy for real?
RhinoSteve @ 5/10/2004 10:54:23 AM #
The guy is probably from either south Jersey or Shamokin, PA. Both places have a lot of insularism and don't change much.

(... please please flame if you are from there, I got out of there and I guess you didn't.)

I've seen the proof

tfftruoa @ 5/8/2004 3:33:11 AM #
I live in San Jose, CA, the heart of silicon valley, and home to one P1 kiosk store (Valley Faire Mall). It used to be home to two, but there was a problem. I frequent the mall where the second store was located, and in the brief time the store existed, I don't think I ever saw a single purchase being rung up. At the time I was in the market for a new PDA, so I would play with the TT3 and Zire 71 to see which one I liked better. There were other people who were playing around with the palms, but none of them bought anything.

I dont know how the other San Jose P1 store is fairing, but the one I went to vanished in around a montha nd was replaced by a "win this car" raffle thing. Obviously not good enough to financial help P1 and apparently not even enough of an advertising boon to keep running at a loss.

(In case you're not up on San Jo, there is more than enough demand to support two identical stores. It's the 11th largest city in the country with 950,000ish people. A huge portion of the local economy is made up by high-tech companies such as eBay, Adobe, etc.)

The Federation for the Responsible Use of Acronyms

IMO, this is the bad idea to beat all bad ideas

mikemusick @ 5/8/2004 2:16:30 PM #
It's money down the toity.

P1 is not Apple. Apple needed boutique outlets because the big-boxes were very poorly representing and supporting Apple products. Palm already has wide and supportive distribution in Office Depot and Staples, plus a passable presence from Office Max, CompUSA, CircuitCity, etc. ... not to mention low-end product distribution in places like Target.

Gateway Computers couldn't make it work, and they had a lot more markup built in. What in the world makes P1 think they're going to turn over enough product to... heck... even pay just the light bill?

RE: IMO, this is the bad idea to beat all bad ideas
LiveFaith @ 5/8/2004 7:40:21 PM #
Relax, real humans in b&m stores are needed to explain why universal connector is not universal, and such.

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

T2-vs-T3 question

Galaxyhunter1 @ 5/8/2004 3:16:08 PM #
What do you guys think about the comparison of the T2 vs the T3? Does the T2 not have the problems that the T3 has? Is it better? What are "it's" problems?

RE: T2-vs-T3 question
Gekko @ 5/8/2004 3:21:29 PM #
I think you're off topic, but the T3 is much, much better.

RE: T2-vs-T3 question
Winter_ @ 5/8/2004 7:03:59 PM #
Indeed this is off-topic (I guess the forums should be better for this)... however, you should have at least mentioned what problems you are talking about.
RE: T2-vs-T3 question
LiveFaith @ 5/8/2004 7:42:51 PM #
T3 benefits:
50% larger screen real estate
"250% faster" processor
Double the RAM
Newer OS(status bar) & PIM apps
Landscape capability

T2 benefits:
Le$$ money
Smaller size
Better battery life

Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com

NOT a palmOne Store!

Gekko @ 6/8/2004 4:12:57 PM #
I visited this airport store a few weeks ago and asked them if it was a palmOne store since I saw a BIG BIG majority of non-Palm junk in there being sold (lots and lots of wireless phone crap). The salesman confirmed that is NOT owned by palmOne but it's an "Airport Wireless, Inc." store (Can't remember exact name) but this same company has little retail areas in addition to the big store all over the airport. So, I think someone here at PIC got some bad info.

RE: NOT a palmOne Store!
Admin @ 6/9/2004 3:04:36 PM #
I visited the store myself for this article and met with the person in charge of the palmOne retail unit. It is a joint operation between palmOne and the Airport wireless company. palmOne is experimenting with different formats with their initial retail locations. This one also carries a number of electronics/phone stuff and other gadgety items, palmOne contracts the store operator to staff and run the store.

-Ryan

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