GPS maker Garmin will open a retail store to showcase its products.
The 15,000-square-foot store will be located on the renowned Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago. It is expected to open in time for the holiday season. Garmin would not comment on plans to open additional stores, but noted that a long-term lease was signed on the Chicago location.
Garmin owns close to 50 percent of the skyrocketing consumer portable GPS market in the United States, according to The NPD Group, in unit sales to dealers from March though May. Overall U.S. sales in portable GPS are expected to triple this year.
The store aims to provide the world’s most comprehensive GPS experience through hands-on product demonstrations and interactive kiosks, training, seminars, sales and product support. Garmin is the only GPS manufacturer with a dedicated retail store, it said.
(For Garmin’s most recent quarterly report, see www.TWICE.com.)
