Updated! Encouraged by strong results from its recently opened interactive digital flagship store, L.A.’s Video & Audio Center (VAC) is planning to bring the new format to a second location, raising its store count to five.
Co-principal Joseph Akhtarzad told TWICE that its latest tech superstore will be built from the ground up in Orange County, and will be open for business by Q4.
The center of the store will focus on home automation, he said, with integration services provided by the company’s JustOneTouch design and installation arm. The division was recently ranked 8th in the U.S. by dollar volume, and has been No. 1 in California for the past eight years, Akhtarzad said.
“The future is in wireless systems and streaming,” he noted.
Akhtarzad added that he is well aware of the pitfalls of retail over-expansion, which has led to the demise of past CE chains, and described a fifth new store in 35 years as “controlled growth.”
Like the new Woodland Hills flagship, the fifth VAC location will feature interactive touchscreens to help explain and demonstrate the latest digital technologies.
“VAC has become a digital destination,” added corporate director and spokesman Tom Campbell. “The future is technology, not electronics,” as reflected in the Consumer Technology Association’s recent name change.
“Retail is not dead,” he stressed, “it’s evolving.”