November 16, 2006

Wired pop-up store: PS3, Wii, free calls anywhere

When the Wired pop-up store opens in SoHo on Friday, you won't be able to actually buy anything but you can get your hands on some of the coolest new games and gadgets of the season - and make free international calls.

Nintendo's Wii is already up and running at the store, a couple days before its official release date. Sony Playstation 3, which goes on sale tomorrow, is also sitting there for anyone who wants to give it a try.

The Wired Store is in the same place as last year -- at Houston and Wooster, map -- and is set up in the same way, in that you can't actually walk out the doors with any of the products. Editors of Wired magazine have independently selected the products for the shop, but the magazine doesn't actually sell the goods. If you see something you want, you can walk over to the laptop station, and log onto the WiredStore website, which will then send you to different online locations to order each product from the manufacturer or another source.

This is Wired's second foray into bricks and mortar, and it will become an annual event for New York, Jay Lauf, Wired publisher said in an interview with NewYorkology at the store this afternoon. Last year, 14,000 people visited the SoHo store, 46,000 unique visitors hit the website and $9 million of product was sold, including a lot of Sony products and at least one Volkswagen GTI, Lauf said.

This year's auto entry is the Infiniti G35 sport sedan with voice-activated controls. On weekends, six will be parked outside and Wired drivers will offer free rides anywhere below 34th Street to anyone who makes a purchase in the WiredStore.

Earthlink's TrueVoice will also be turned on, allowing anyone to make free over-the-Internet calls anywhere in the world and talk for as long as they want. DJs and live music is scheduled for every Wednesday night from 6 to 9 p.m. (21 and over;) kids from 5 to 10 can build their own robots on Nov. 26 and Dec. 10; and free massages, coffee and piano lessons are also on the schedule. Also free, 25 songs for free download at Wired's eMusic store. Wired's selections include "Last Nite" from The Strokes, "A Boy Named Sue" from Johnny Cash and "Lips Like Sugar" by Echo and the Bunnymen.

The price range for store items start low, such as $40 for the Delicious Library and aim high, including the Zero G weightless flight for $3,750. Lauf, who cautioned that he didn't want to sound like he was giving product endorsements, named a few personal favorites, including the Motorola Moto Q, the BlackBerry Pearl, the Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies H-Racer & Hydrogen Station, which runs on water and solar power, and of course the Nintendo Wii. The console, which sells for $250, plugs into a TV and allows a player to play tennis, golf, boxing, baseball or bowling by actually swinging the remote through the air. "I'm not an avid gamer, but I could see being hooked on that," he said.

The store will be open through December 31 only. Security has been enhanced this year, ("a couple things walked away" in 2005, Lauf said,) and Wired will try to replace any broken showroom gadgets, but that wil largely be up to the manufacturer, he said.

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays, the Wired Store will be open from noon to 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.

Earlier: Wired to open another pop-up store in SoHo

November 16, 2006 05:01 PM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, Shopology, Techology

®Copyright 2006, All Rights Reserved