Vann's Turns It ON

Seeking to expand beyond its CE/appliance legacy, Vann’s is partnering with Apple, Sony and other vendors to launch a new retail brand and format this fall: ON, a mall-based store focused on convergence and content-driven products.

The store will practice what it preaches by using the latest business processes and ecommerce tools, such as cloud-based computing, custom POS solutions and proprietary networking applications, which will allow customers to share their thoughts about the store and its products with others.

“The growth in CE is in these emerging categories where we don’t do business today,” said George Manlove, Vann’s CEO. “It’s time to pursue those categories in a non-traditional model.”

ON is slated for a soft open early November in a 4,500 square-foot space in the Southgate Mall, a lifestyle mall in Missoula, Mont. The one-level, enclosed shopping center attracts about eight million shoppers annually. ON’s hard opening is set for late November. The store will remain a wholly owned subsidiary of Vann’s and will operate seven days a week, from 10am to 9pm.

The goal of the store – staffed and serviced by passionate enthusiasts – is to showcase state-of-the-art consumer technology solutions. Think of it as a multi-branded Apple Store.

Apple will be ON’s anchor brand, but the store will also sell traditional consumer electronics products, including flat-panel TVs, digital cameras and camcorders, as well as high-growth emerging CE products and technologies, such as smart phones, tablet computers, netbooks, gaming (especially 3D gaming), and content delivery. In partnership with Sony, ON will feature a 3D interactive theater.

ON also will merchandise streaming media throughout the store, including Internet TV, Pandora, Rhapsody and LaLa Internet radio, Netflix and Vudu movie content. Sonos music systems, and smartphones from the likes of Blackberry and Motorola are also slated for the mix.