How can you take better pictures with your smartphone? How can your smartwatch help you control your health? What are the options for storing photos and music? The Samsung Experience Stores are interactive spaces where you can discover all the possibilities of smartphones, tablets and wearable devices from the South-Korean mega-brand. You can try and also buy all devices on-site as well as having them repaired. Agency Cheil Benelux partnered with Tchai to build the first SES in the Netherlands at shopping centre Hoog Catharijne in Utrecht.
With the latest renovations finished Hoog Catharijne is a hive of activity every day of the week. It’s adjacent to the Netherlands’ busiest commuter hub Utrecht Centraal and houses more than 150 shops and restaurants as well as many offices. At this location, Samsung has had three successful pop-up experiences and the company was keen to open its first Experience Stores in the Netherlands here. In 2018, Samsung launched its design standard. This store is one of the first that is completely built according to global design guidelines.
A striking feature of the design is the LED-wall above the entrance, a screen 18 metres long and 2 metres high. This shows changing content, such as footage of the city. The store also makes use of an ‘old-fashioned’ pneumatic tube system. The transparent pipeline shows the capsules that transport mobile phones from the shop to the service department upstairs. Most repairs can be done on-site.
Hoog Catharijnepassage 5, 3511 WP, Utrecht