Nokia Shuts Down its Flagship Store in Both New York & Chicago
Nokia is planning to shut down its stores both in Chicago and in the city of New York in 2010. Alternatively, Nokia plans to get its mobile phones to the American market via phone retailers and mobile services providers.
A peep into an article found in Engadget, makes the picture much clearer as to reasons behind Nokia’s action. The article stated that, “in North America, over 90 percent of consumer purchases are made through carriers. Nokia continues to support our relationship with carriers in this market, as well as the continued expansion of our retail partner network with the likes of Amazon and Best Buy (for example), in line with our strategy. As we continue to expand our services and solutions offerings across these various channels, we have decided to close the NY and Chicago stores to allow more concentration on our other channels.
The flagship stores were originally conceived to inspire and educate consumers to the benefits of mobility through an innovative retail experience, and to broaden the appeal of the Nokia brand. Since opening the stores at NY and Chicago (2006), consumer awareness in the U.S has grown substantially. Weighing those dynamics with Nokia’s clear strategy in North America, and our well-established retail channel with third parties, we will close these two stores (New York and Chicago) in early 2010.”
This closure is coming on the heels of recent closure of its store in the United Kingdom. The message Nokia appears to be telling the whole world is that, these stores have achieved the aims that they were set upfor in the first place and hence the need for them to move with the ever changing and dynamic way of reaching out to consumers. Though Nokia has not given a clear date when the closure will be carried out, what is however very certain is that we shall continue to follow developments as they unfold in the next few days or may be weeks.
