What Was Your Best Sony Store Experience?

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In the past week, Sony has bowed out of the US market in a pretty big way. While the company was never able to have a major retail presence like Apple, it also never had the proper marketing and money to at least try and push its retail stores in the same way Microsoft is now doing. With a declining consumer electronic business, Sony has opted to close all but one of its retail stores in the US.

This comes on the heels of Sony planning to shut down their online retail portal later this month. After the jump, I want to hear from you.

For me, visiting a Sony store was always a treat. Bueatiful in design, their stores, be it the old ones which had a venetian premium feel to them or the newer, more modern/Apple-like designs were something to behold. Unlike Best Buy, there was an array of devices to play with, all neatly placed next to each other.

This was the one stop shop for you to compare all the NEX cameras or the latest XBR. In all other instances, you’d have to potentially jump between different Best Buy stores and perhaps Magnolia to even find what you wanted to look at.

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Even better is that Sony allowed you to play. Their stores let you bring your own Blu-rays to pop in and test out the TV that you wanted. After all, we all have movies that we know and love. What better way to purchase a TV than by experiencing your favorite movie in a new way? Camera shopping was also a joy, thanks to miniature sets that allowed you to snap colorful photos. No more having to shoot kiosks or random people walking by.

Ready to test out that camera?

Ready to test out that camera?

Perhaps even better than all the fun toys was always the staff. Sony retail employed some true Sony fans who not only knew their products, but were fun to just chat with. From purchasing different Bluetooth speakers and NEX camera to my PS Vita and PS4 during launch, I’ve been to dozens and dozens of Sony stores for all kinds of events.

The most disappointing part of seeing Sony retail disappear isn’t that I won’t get to play around and drool in the stores that I loved, but as to what it means for Sony and how far they’ve fallen as a company. Now, we simply have the Sony Experience stores within Best Buy or Amazon to fill our Sony needs.

Discuss:

What was your favorite Sony retail experience?