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IT Dell Opens Store in Dallas, TX
Tim Thorpe (Blog) - July 26, 2006 11:19 AM
Print 19 comment(s) - last by DallasTexas.. on Jul 27 at 10:29 AM
First Dell Direct store opens in Dallas, TX, another is planned for West Nyack, N.Y. later this year.

Dell opened its first Dell Direct store yesterday in Dallas, TX and another is planned to open in West Nyack, NY later this year. The stores are focused on increasing the company’s direct to home sales and the stores will carry no inventory.

Since no inventory is held at the facility, customers will order their machines in the Dell Direct store and the order will be shipped to their home once it has been processed by Dell. The stores objective is to give customers an opportunity to evaluate and gauge a specific system performance before making a purchase.

Dell has opened around 160 kiosks in recent years and will be studying the affect the Dell Direct store has on the kiosks in the surrounding areas of Dallas and West Nyack. This will allow the company to gauge if it will open additional store in the future, although none are currently planned.  

Unlike Apple’s stores, it doesn’t sound like customers will be able to get support, training, service or repairs at Dell's retail locations and will still have to rely on phoning Dell support for those tasks.

Update 08/02/2006: Dell's new centers will, in fact, have capacity for support.


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Pointless store
By AppaYipYip on 7/26/2006 2:05:02 PM , Rating: 2
I still fail to see the point of these stores. No support, service, or sales can take place at these locations. Dell is simply using them as a kiosk/showcase for run of the mill PC's. nothing unique about them at all.




RE: Pointless store
By MrBeanz on 7/26/2006 2:09:10 PM , Rating: 2
I'm surprised they are trying this, especially after seeing the complete failure of the "Gateway Country" stores which provided the same services as Dell is proposing with these new stores.


RE: Pointless store
By xKelemvor on 7/26/2006 2:09:43 PM , Rating: 2
Same here. I know we said that the first time this story was mentioned.

Why have a whole storefront if you don't have any inventory.

They should at least have some of each base model that they could sell on the spot or could even *gasp* put more memory or a larger hard drive in if the user wanted a simple upgrade...

Having a store with no inventory isn't going to spark the drive to make that great purchase since you leave the store empty handed.


RE: Pointless store
By Brainonska511 on 7/26/2006 2:35:12 PM , Rating: 2
I think the whole purpose of the store is so you can try out some of the systems and see them in person before you actually place an order. It is kind of stupid though that they won't be offering any other services through the stores.


RE: Pointless store
By rushfan2006 on 7/26/2006 2:58:36 PM , Rating: 2
Add me to the list of people who don't see the point of this idea...AT ALL.

I have to say - I'm actually eager to see these stores fail. ;)

Not to mention is it really accurate to even call them "stores" -- doesn't a "store" mean it "stores" inventory/merchandise? LOL.

Ahh...Mike is worth over $5 billion now...so I guess I doesn't know what to do with his money anymore...lol



RE: Pointless store
By rushfan2006 on 7/26/2006 2:59:47 PM , Rating: 2
*so I guess HE doesn't know....


Anyone remember Gateway's stores?
By powderific on 7/26/2006 3:39:05 PM , Rating: 2
They tried to do exactly the same thing. Then they cleverly tried to sell computers at the stores without any infrastructure in place. That didn't work very well.




RE: Anyone remember Gateway's stores?
By jskirwin on 7/26/2006 3:53:15 PM , Rating: 2
Wow... Great minds think alike and all that.
When I saw this headline I thought 2 things:

1. WTF?
2. Gateway tried that & failed. Goto #1.


RE: Anyone remember Gateway's stores?
By TomZ on 7/27/2006 8:47:54 AM , Rating: 2
Does Dell = Gateway in all things? Maybe Dell would be successful where Gateway failed? It wouldn't be the first time.


West Nyack?
By abakshi on 7/26/2006 1:25:26 PM , Rating: 2
Why West Nyack, of all places?




RE: West Nyack?
By nfin1ty on 7/26/2006 2:04:05 PM , Rating: 1
the real question: why dell?


RE: West Nyack?
By retrospooty on 7/27/2006 9:32:59 AM , Rating: 2
The real profits inthe PC industry are laptops, desktops are dwindling fast. As far as laptops go, Dell is up there at or very near the top of the heap for affordable, stable, fro factor and performance.


Its a billboard!
By rpierce on 7/26/2006 5:19:00 PM , Rating: 2
It sounds like the “store” is really just a very expensive billboard. Sort of an interactive billboard. It is a waste of company money and they should be more responsible.




RE: Its a billboard!
By TomZ on 7/27/2006 8:47:07 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
It is a waste of company money and they should be more responsible.

No, they are not being irresponsible. They only opened 2 stores, so this is just an experiment to determine whether to further invest in the idea.

Just because Gateway may have failed with their stores doesn't mean that Dell would have the same outcome. Remember, a business venture can fail for any one of a large number of reasons, not just because it was fundamentally a bad idea. In addition, look at Apple which seems to have success with their stores, although with a slightly different model.


Wow
By feelingshorter on 7/26/2006 8:01:01 PM , Rating: 2
I work at the NorthPark Mall where they are opening the Dell store. Despite all of yall thinking that this is a bad idea, i think its a good idea. Most of us here would rather buy computers via newegg and then build it ourselves but then again, there are people who would rather see and feel the computer themselves first. Although there isnt any support, i would suspect people can come in and still ask questions. Northpark mall really is a upper class mall so its not like they wont make money. Not everyone is a nerd that likes to build their own computers just to save a few bucks. Rich mall = more people willing to buy premade computers WITH legit copies of windows XP mind you.




RE: Wow - Completely agree
By DallasTexas on 7/27/2006 10:29:07 AM , Rating: 2
Well said.

In addition, Dell is trying to become more of a consumer electronics company , now seling flat panel displays, cameras and what not. Having a place for people see and touch this is important for them to establish an image and presence from a mail order PC firm.


um..whats the point?
By kattanna on 7/26/2006 2:07:56 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
it doesn’t sound like customers will be able to get support, training, service or repairs at Dell's retail locations and will still have to rely on phoning Dell support for those tasks.


ok..so you cant do anything there but place an order online

OH BOY....whats the point?

when i go to a store i expect to be able to buy what the store has to sell. then i expect to be able to bring it back there for repair/serivce..etc

i give it a thumbs down and doubt this will work.





Idiots
By Nik00117 on 7/26/2006 2:31:35 PM , Rating: 2
Ok so a major computer chain like Dell is going open a store.

You buy a dell PC, but you can't bring it home with you taht date because you have to order it online. Just like people have been doing for years.

If your PC is broken they can't repair it since they don't got inventory.

Good god maybe a repair station would be a better idea but if all its going to be is a store that can't seel anything its just a waste of company resources.




By R Nilla on 7/26/2006 2:59:46 PM , Rating: 2
So this is basically like the "We'll Sell Your Stuff on eBay!" store...




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