Hasta La Gadget!

I completely understand that it’s difficult for small retail store owners out there to make a buck today. After all, we have Walmart offering incredibly low prices that most smaller retailers can’t compete with in the retail market and then you have mega-stores like Amazon dominating when it comes to online shopping. The big problem that many retail stores have is that consumers are increasingly “showrooming” at their stores rather than buying. Showrooming is the phenomenon of shoppers coming into a retail store to see and touch a particular item and then going online or to a Big Box retailer to actually purchase.

While Big Box retailers such as Target turn lookers into buyers by selling at low margins and high volume, one store owner in Brisbane, Australia is taking completely different tact. The store owner has decided that the answer to showrooming is to charge everyone who steps in the door five dollars to look around. The owner has graciously offered to remove that five dollar fee from the price of any goods purchased.

The image you see above is the sign that the storeowner attached to the window, which claims that the policy is in line with other electronic stores, clothing stores, and other retailers. This is the first I’ve ever heard of such a policy, so I have no idea what he’s talking about.

What this guy fails to realize is that if people come into your store, at least you have the chance to make a sale. If you want to charge me five dollars just walked through the door even if I don’t find anything I like, I simply won’t come to your store.

[via Reddit via Consumerist]

Looking for an “upscale fashion shopping experience” in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Belarus? Solidoodle’s got your back. The company is set to launch 3D printing stores in those areas, featuring its low cost 3D printers and “lifestyle” items created on said devices. The Russian store is set to be the first to open this summer. The company also used its press conference today to announce plans to sell printers in Brazil, Canada, Korea and Japan, as well as a join initiative with Georgia Institute of Technology’s Mars Society to test the devices in “harsh environments like Mars” (places like Utah, apparently). More info on the announcements can be found in an exceedingly enthusiastic press release after the break.

Filed under: Peripherals

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OUYA CEO Julie Uhrman’s promising a quick, simple approval process for games on her company’s upcoming Android-powered game console, the OUYA. She told us in an interview this week:

“It’s similar to mobile: they’ll submit their games, and we’ll review for intellectual property infringement, and malware, and excessive pornography. But ultimately it’s a quick review and you’re in the storefront in one capacity or another.”

That’s not the only mobile model OUYA’s following; Urhman already said the OUYA hardware will iterate on an annual basis, similar to the mobile market.

Despite the console’s impending March launch to Kickstarter supporters, OUYA’s yet to begin reviewing games for its storefront. “We literally just opened the ability for developers to upload their games into the store,” Uhrman explained. The review process isn’t too far off, however — she’s predicting a “middle-to-end of this month” timeframe. “We’re building that right now,” she said, when asked who’s staffing that approvals process. “We are a start-up like any other start-up, it’s just-in-time business.”

The first consumer-ready OUYA consoles are planned for a March launch, with availability at retail to follow in June. The $99 console made a big splash on Kickstarter, eventually raising over $8.5 million when the original goal was a meager $950K.

Filed under: Gaming, HD

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Merging two carriers’ efforts invariably creates at least some kind of redundancy, no matter how much the two sides try to avoid it. In EE’s case, it led to stores that were suddenly too close to each other — so close that some were very literally next door. Rather than perpetuate the inadvertent comedy, EE says it’s shuttering 78 stores that it believes are just wasting space. The provider doesn’t want to put added strain on the remaining shops, however. It plans to move all affected staff to existing locations, and it’s hoping to repurpose managers rather than oust them. The scaled-back retail operations theoretically “maintain momentum” while keeping customers and workers happy, EE tells us. When we see genuinely absurd situations like the photo above, we’re inclined to agree.

[Image credit: Lazygamer, Flickr]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: ZDNet

Today was the official grand opening of the MakerBot Store in New York. Head over to 298 Mulberry Street and you can buy MakerBot printers, filament, and pre-made items, such as bracelets, watches and toys. And that’s not all.

MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis unveiled a new 3D photo booth powered by ShapeShot. The photo takes a couple of minutes and costs $5 for three reusable shots. Then you can order prints of your head. In 3D. Depending on the size, they run $20, $40 or $60. The most important part remains the fact that there is now a physical address to experience 3D printing.

“Ever since we started, people kept saying that this is science fiction — it’s not real. So we had to make a MakerBot Store,” Pettis said. Understanding 3D printing takes time, and a store is a good way to reach a new audience. But MakerBot also hopes to sell Replicator printers, filament and little printed objects manufactured in New York.

Most of the objects in the store have been designed within the previous week and printed over the previous two days. Such a short product cycle is something new in manufacturing. With the store, it’s all about making 3D printing mainstream.

“My hope is that the next lemonade stand for kids will be a MakerBot stand,” Pettis said. For now, NASA and GE are the two most important clients, and four of the top ten architectural companies use a Replicator. MakerBot has sold 15,000 printers so far.

When asked whether it’s possible to select a 3D design at home, print it in the store and pick it up later, Pettis answered “not yet.”

Click to view slideshow.