WILMINGTON, DEL. —
Sixth Avenue Electronics has
opened its first Sony store-within-a-store.
The in-store shop formally debuted earlier this month
at the CE and appliance chain’s 45,000-square-foot
Concord Pike location here, a former Circuit City
storefront that was reportedly its top-performing site.
The dedicated space features a full array of Sony
products, including cameras and camcorders, laptops
and netbooks, e-book readers and 3DTVs, said Tom
Galanis, Sixth Avenue’s operations VP.
Sony began placing the departments, dubbed
“shop-in-shops,” four years ago at dealers ranging
from fellow Progressive Retailers Organization (PRO
Group) members Bjorn’s and Abt Electronics, to Nebraska
Furniture Mart and Toys “R” Us’ flagship store
in Times Square.
This month’s grand opening included product demonstrations
of 3DTV and other technologies by Sony
and Sixth Avenue staff, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony
attended by Sixth Avenue CEO Mike Temiz, chairman
Billy Temiz and Sony consumer sales director Tom
Mykietyn.
Galanis said the 19-store chain, which now stretches
from Long Island to Delaware, plans to expand the
shops to additional locations.
Sixth Avenue itself has been in expansion mode following
the implementation of a management software
system from Germany’s SAP AG, which has streamlined
and standardized virtually every element of the
chain’s operations from order entry, sales compensation
and warranty commission, to rebate-tracking, vendor
invoicing and demand-planning.
Building on that platform, Sixth Avenue added the
Delaware store, opened three locations within the Philadelphia
market, and acquired a 500,000-square-foot
distribution and office facility in nearby Somerset, N.J.,
to support the expansion.
On the merchandising front, the privately-held
retailer is rolling out dedicated PC and gaming
sections to its showrooms, and is developing
vignette-based majap departments after entering the
white-goods category last year. The chain hired former
Best Buy appliance merchant Tom Cook to lead the
effort, which began with the Crowley kitchen line and
more recently expanded to include LG Electronics’
complete majap assortment.
