Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sayonara Sony Style Store

Sony Style, the retail division of Japanese electronics manufacturer Sony, will close their store at Lenox Square in the coming weeks. If memory serves, the Lenox location opened in mid 2007. There was talk one would open at Perimeter Mall but that never materialized: the Lenox location was the only Sony Style store to ever open in Atlanta. The store is one of twelve to be shuttered nationwide. Apparently a mandate from corporate in Tokyo, other closures include a store in Chicago, Annapolis Maryland, and Palm Beach Florida.

Selling all sorts of Sony products from flat panel Wega TV's to VAIO computers and plenty in between, the store often seemed busy but it was rare to see their bags in the mall. Some might say it was all those big purchases, but I think the store was not performing. It had interest, knowledgeable sales people and a great variety but perhaps that was not enough to turn lookers into buyers.

Later this fall Microsoft will open their 7th retail outpost, a nearly 8,000 sq. foot store in the middle of Lenox Square. Between Microsoft and Sony, I see Sony as having more unique and desirable product offerings but clearly Microsoft thinks differently. Apple, with one its largest southern stores at Lenox Square, boasts some of the highest sales per square foot and an always changing but ever popular product line that few are able to compete with.

The Lenox Square Sony Style began its liquidation sale yesterday and will close for good March 20th. For now, much of everything in the store is at least 30% off except for VAIO computers and Playstations that are reduced 15%.

This is the second closure I've reported in the last 24 hours at Lenox Square. The question now is, what should / will take Sony's space?

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sony Style was a stupid concept. No matter how much you love Sony products, why would anyone purchase a product from Sony Style when you could buy the exact same product from Best Buy, Amazon, etc., for less?

Anonymous said...

How about a Free People store? I'm surprised Atlanta doesn't have one and it would be a good fit demographically.

Atlantan99 said...

@ Anon RE: Sony,

I totally agree and that is precisely the reason I question the viability of the soon to open Microsoft store. With so much of their business coming from the corporate sector, why would they open such a large retail outpost? I see it being a colossal failure.

Atlantan99 said...

@ Anon RE: Free People,

I've mentioned them in the past and continue to see Lenox as a perfect mall for them to open. Perhaps Perimeter, being geared so much toward female consumers would be an option as well. Given both malls already have Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie stores(all in the UO family), maybe both would get Free People?

Thanks for reading and for the comment!

Anonymous said...

I will really miss their store. They offered some products that I didn't see at Best Buy or other stores. Plus they got the "latest greatest" Sony products before the other stores did.

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