Creating An Experience: HiFi House's Latest Store in Wilmington, DE Aims to "Wow" its Customers

January 1, 2007

Walking into the HiFi House in Wilmington, Del., is like stepping into a futuristic sensory pad. The store opened its doors last April and “foot traffic has been phenomenal,” said Jon Robbins, COO of HiFi House Group.

There are high-definition and plasma televisions everywhere you look, but only the ones on sale have a price tag. The reason is Robbins wants his salespeople to find out each customer’s individual needs.

One of the first things you see is a kitchen counter with unusual blue-hued cabinetry above it. A small countertop television shows you how little space a TV takes away from your culinary endeavors. There’s even a kitchen island, which doubles as a conference table. As you walk around a fireplace, you head into a bedroom. There’s a platform bed, covered in a blanket with a contemporary motif. On either side, there are night tables, complete with a radio. And of course at the foot of the bed is a television that spans the entire width.

There are two complete home theater rooms to get comfortable in, both with rows of platform seats, but that’s where the commonality ends. One is designed in a more traditional marquee theater style, with sconces mounted on regal columns and a ceiling to simulate a starry night as if you’re at a retro drive-in theater. The other home theater room looks as if you’re sitting in a spaceship. The orange acoustic panels are set in ceiling grids.

Even the bathroom is a showroom. There’s a small television set into the mirror so you can watch Oprah while rinsing your hands. It’s no magic trick. The mirror is customized to allow a small opening for the television screen to show through a clear panel—another little touch to show off the latest innovation in bringing the home into the 21st century.

“We want the store to look fresh and modern,” said Robbins. The store is set up in delineated units so there are defined spaces for the living room, office space, bedroom and music room for listening to your favorite tunes on a $160,000 stereo system. “It’s a showcase to make a statement,” added Robbins.

HiFi House used the Philadelphia architectural firm Michael Ryan Architects to come up with the store’s design, though Robbins says he’s still “doing the finishing touches to make the showroom feel more homey.” Robbins wanted his store to “look like the advertising,” he said. The print ads have sleek lettering and abstract squares against a sea-foam green background.

“A flat-screen TV is not just a flat-screen TV. People need to know the difference and see the difference,” explained Robbins. He also wants this new store to do a combination of custom and retail sales, though he confesses “custom work is what we do best.”

E.J. Feulner, HiFi’s chief custom designer in Wilmington, is quick to point out, “You can’t just go out and buy a TV anymore. Those days are almost gone.” With electronic equipment, customers need to make decisions about HDTV and cable service also, Fuelner explained.

HiFi House has had a presence in Wilmington for the last 30 years but its current store is the third location in Wilmington. The first store sold only retail and sat in the same place for 18 years. The company then moved its location to an office building, with the intention of focusing on the custom business. Nevertheless, retail customers sought the store out and continued purchasing for their audio-video needs from the store next to a doctor’s office.

Then, Robbins saw that Kentucky Fried Chicken was selling its spot on a busy Delaware highway corridor. Robbins had been looking for real estate for five years but available land was hard to come by. He wanted a location that could accommodate a storefront, which would let HiFi House deal more with both custom and retail sales. His workmen stripped the former fast-food joint so that all that remained was its four exterior walls and concrete floor. Hence, there’s no poultry aroma lingering in the air. And HiFi House has not looked back.

In fact, Sharp Electronics has chosen the Wilmington store for the national launch of their new high-end 1080p LCD TVs in January. Doing special events like these is one way Robbins is promoting his latest HiFi House store opening. He has two other locations in Pennsylvania and he advertises with private mailings and print ads in regional lifestyle magazines, which target readers who are most likely interested in luxury electronic goods. While the concept of high-end electronics in everyday functions like turning off the house lights may look like Hollywood on TV, walking into the Wilmington HiFi House store lets you test the reality with your fingertips.