RadioShack Opens 'Concept Store' in Southampton Saturday

After closing for renovations back on July 8, the Southampton Village RadioShack will reopen on Saturday, debuting a new look and feel as the chain's third U.S. "concept store."

The store is designed to offer a more fun and interactive experience and be clean and easy to navigate, said Michael DeFazio, the senior vice president of store concepts for RadioShack Corporation.

"The look is very different than any RadioShack you've seen before," he said.

DeFazio showed off the new speaker wall, with a control console that lets customers choose the music in the store and test each speaker individually. There is a headphone display, with working headphones in various styles and price points.

A computer available to customers will allow them to type in the name of their phone or other device and have their technical questions answered.

A 65-inch television allows customers to control the size of what's displayed, all the way down to 19 inches, to get a sense of how televisions of various sizes will look in their home.

The opaque storefront was torn out and replaced with a big window to see everything in the store, and a control screen in the window will face the street. The screen responds to gestures from outside, so passersby can browse products. "Even when we're not open, you'll be able to access that," DeFazio said.

DeFazio, along with RadioShack CEO Joe Magnacca, was at the Main Street store Thursday previewing the space before it opens to the public this weekend with a ribbon cutting ceremony including village Mayor Mark Epley. However, RadioShack is not at all new to Southampton; it has been in the village since 1995.

Magnacca said new concept stores will feature fewer products, but will have a localized assortment — a first for RadioShack. For instance, he said Southampton, being a seaside town, will offer more waterproof phone cases than Manhattan stores.

"RadioShack is an iconic brand," DeFazio said. With its new strategy, it is trying to live up to that.

He said that a month ago RadioShack, at the corporate level, undid a decision made in recent years to brand itself as "The Shack." It will once again be known by its proper name.

The "technology playground" concept is how RadioShack plans to reassert itself in the marketplace, Magnacca said. It will have trendier, fashion forward products, where there is opportunity for real growth, he said.

The CEO noted that the store gives cellular carriers AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint a presence in the village, and will greatly emphasize prepaid and no-contract phones.

The store will still have a "do it yourself" component, according to DeFazio, with a counter dedicated to all the small electronics parts for real techies.

The ribbon cutting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at 68 Main Street.