Samsung to open stores in LA, Houston, and Long Island on February 20, the first US retail stores to be operated by the company
Samsung's coming to a mall near you — if you live in California, New York or Texas. — The company on Thursday said it plans to open three Samsung Experience Stores …
Context & Ripple Effects
Samsung's retail record has been mixed: it closed its flagship London store in late 2014 amid falling sales, stepping back from owned storefronts at a low point for the brand. The new move reverses course — on February 20 it will operate its own US stores for the first time, in Los Angeles, Houston, and Long Island.
The US launch also extends an international build-out: just months earlier Samsung opened its biggest store worldwide in Bengaluru, two months after inaugurating the world's largest smartphone plant nearby. Taken together, the company is rebuilding direct retail as a controlled showcase for its devices rather than relying solely on third-party channels.
First-order effects
- Starting February 20, Samsung controls its own US sales floor in three markets — Los Angeles, Houston, and Long Island — letting it present devices and services without a carrier or retailer intermediary for the first time stateside.
Second-order effects
- The stores give Samsung's broader retail strategy a Western anchor to match its Bengaluru flagship, turning owned storefronts into a global network that can stage launches and demos on Samsung's terms.
Third-order effects
- If the US stores hold where the London flagship failed, Samsung's retreat from owned retail in 2014 gets reframed as a timing problem rather than a strategic dead end — pushing device makers generally toward direct-to-consumer showrooms as a brand-control channel.
The trend: Device makers are cycling back into company-operated retail, using owned stores less as volume channels than as controlled showcases timed to their product cycles.