Omaha, Neb. — Nebraska Furniture Mart (NFM) marked the official opening of a new Sony shop here yesterday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Sony Electronics executives and the retailer’s management team.
The Sony Shop is one element of a two-year, a multimillion-dollar expansion of NFM’s Appliance and Electronics store at the company’s flagship location, which formally debuted last month.
Sony’s 1,525-square-foot shop features interactive stations that give customers hands-on experience with the products and is staffed by specially trained employees to assist customers. Showcased products include BRAVIA LCD TVs and front projectors, Cyber-shot digital cameras, Handycam camcorders, Vaio notebooks, DVD and Blu-ray Disc players, Walkman MP3 players, audio components and a fully interactive PlayStation3 display.
Sony maintains five other in-store shops at Abt Electronics, Bjorn’s, Electronics Expo, Toys “R” Us and Ultimate Electronics, and plans to open up to six additional stores next year.
NFM heralded the occasion by donating six PlayStation3 consoles to local children’s organizations.
The 100,000-square-foot Appliance and Electronics store was completely renovated and updated with such state-of-the art systems as a 200-foot overhead warehouse connector that links the showroom directly to the 651,000-square-foot distribution center.
The store also features more than 200 demo TVs, 600 active video displays and 800 majap SKUs, including 12 fully operational kitchen vignettes. Besides Sony, there are three other dedicated in-store shops showcasing products by Apple, Bose and Harmon, plus fully-staffed customer areas for service providers Cox and Qwest; and additional check-out stations.
“Since my grandmother Mrs. B founded the store 70 years ago, we have always tried to make our customer’s shopping experience special and unique,” said CEO Irv Blumkin. “This new Sony shop and our new Appliance and Electronics store will help us exceed our customer’s expectations and provide a one-of-a-kind shopping experience.”
