Dell to Open Two Full-Sized Stores
In what is surely a response to Apple's success with its retail stores, Dell announced that they would be opening two full-sized stores later this year. One will be located in Dallas, and the other in New York.According to the Austin-Statesman, Dell will not be changing its tried-and-trusted policy of building every machine to order. Customers at the Dell stores will be able to touch and use the computers on display but not buy and carry them away.
Hey, stop laughing. C'mon, who wants to actually carry home the computer they just purchased? I know I like waiting a week for my purchases, don't you?
Not to be left out, eMachines has announced that they will be opening an island sales kiosk in the Cherryland Mall in Traverse City, MI. There won't actually be any computers on display, but there will be lots of glossy pictures.
[Via Digg]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
univac said 12:16PM on 5-23-2006
Can you say "Gateway"?
Same model. Failed. People like to be able to walk out of a store with their machine in hand. Apple knows this.
Yet more money wasted in the retail sector...
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Derrick Goodfriend said 12:26PM on 5-23-2006
If they really insist on building every computer to order, they should hire people to put computers together on the spot and keep parts on hand. If I take the time to waste my gas by going to one of their stores (not that I'd be buying a Dell), I want to go home with a computer, not a register receipt and a promise to have it to me soon. Dell customers should just stick to calling in or ordering online.
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Bruce Conklin said 12:44PM on 5-23-2006
Half of apple's success in retail is the iPod, the iPod gets people into the store, and it gets them to look at macs while there at it. So unless Dell plans to sell iPods I don't see how they plan to succeed.
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Daniel said 12:49PM on 5-23-2006
Damn, definately queing up overnight to get into the Dell store when it opens...
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Kasumi-Astra said 1:09PM on 5-23-2006
That can't be right... The nice man on the Dell ad said that Dells aren't available in the shops...
Imposters!
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Thierry F said 1:25PM on 5-23-2006
That's a strange idea, just a show-room.
Maybe it would be quite fun if Dell applied its built to order business model in its physical shops.
Imagine all the computer parts on shelves and the client picking them in order to build "right away" his very personal PC.
Do it yourself and make a big bargain
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Liquidmark said 2:12PM on 5-23-2006
What the?
When I spend money on a machine, I want to leave the store with it.
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jbelkin said 2:15PM on 5-23-2006
I'm surprised it's not just automatically called the Apple-Retail-Store Killer ... isn't that how tech journalism is these days? Maybe if the Dell kiosk gets up to ramming speed, it can crack one of those glass panels ... that is if Mickey Dell can get up to ramming speed ... or maybe they could expand it into a Dell-hot dog cart - of course, you get your hot dog in a few days ...
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Wheels said 2:32PM on 5-23-2006
Are they going to have Computer Nazis announcing "No computer for you" when costumers pony up the dough for a new computer and find out that they're going home empty handed? That would be charming.
No worries, they'll make a killing with these stores selling the ever-popular Dell MP3 players. *Rolls eyes*
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Mojo said 3:22PM on 5-23-2006
A brick-and-mortar store that doesn't actually sell things. What genius.
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