October 24th, 2012



The Electronics Store of the Future and Grand St.

photo credit: Dustin Kerstein

I spent about a month last spring working on a hardware concept with a few friends. There was this energy around hardware that was becoming so palpable – pg called it “The Hardware Renaissance” in a recent essay.

After talking to many friends going through the same process we realized that for all the opportunity and excitement around hardware, there’s a lot of pain too. But when you work in startups, you begin to see pain as real opportunity.

For all the excitement around new connected devices that remind us all that we live in the future, why are we still buying this stuff at Best Buy (slowly imploding), and Amazon (the best, but too much of a general store)?

Surely our generation, filled with tinkerers and device-makers and digital natives, could do better.

And so we changed things up. Got back to work. This time on a store, built from scratch, that would sell these devices in a way that was just as awesome as the devices themselves. Something that was constructed to be digital first, screen-agnostic, and mobile, that would tell the stories of these devices in a way that the existing retailers aren’t doing.

What we realized as we started talking to hardware producers is that the incentive structure around retail agreements isn’t great — it’s a brick wall on both sides. Customers get almost no information about how, where and who made this product they are buying and why it’s great. And producers get hardly any data on who is buying their products, where they live, who they are, etc. Coming from the data-obsessed world of software, this made very little sense.

In an attempt to crowdsource some feedback: I’d like to know, internet peeps, what you would like to see in a new kind of electronics store? Is it really still about price and specs? I feel like we’ve moved on from that.

We are doing a pretty small closed beta and we’d love some rando testers who aren’t our moms (who we <3) to tell us what they love and hate. Be way harsh, we can handle it. Sign up at GrandSt Dot Com, please enjoy our snake game, and we’ll email you.

If there really is a hardware/connected devices/electronics renaissance that’s coming, there has to be a place to tell its story and, you know, sell THE THINGS. Excited.

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  • Allaun Silverfox

    Well, First off, I'd like to point out there is a reason for this wall. Customers find stores tracking them, very, VERY, creepy. One example is Target mailing out a coupon for a pregnant teenager before anyone knew. You would have to be willing to incentivize the loss of information and perceived loss of privacy. Although, anyone that believes that anything is private in this day and age is mildly delusional.

  • Dr Foo Fung

    The supply chain from manufacturer to retailer goes through far too many steps and is like the “Telephone Game”.  It destroys information flow and distorts what little does get through.  

    Taking LCD TVs as an example, they all look about the same – a black bezel with a picture within it.  So of course it is all about specs and price.  Apple was able to transcend that stumbling block by telling stories about their products.  And look at how they've disintermediated the supply chain.  Apple designs, sub-contractors build and do logistics and Apples sells them in their stores.  Samsung have started copying that approach too.

    As great as web shopping is, there always will be a need to “kick the tyres” before buying – at least for some people.

  • Allaun Silverfox

    Well, First off, I'd like to point out there is a reason for this wall. Customers find stores tracking them, very, VERY, creepy. One example is Target mailing out a coupon for a pregnant teenager before anyone knew. You would have to be willing to incentivize the loss of information and perceived loss of privacy. Although, anyone that believes that anything is private in this day and age is mildly delusional.

  • Dr Foo Fung

    The supply chain from manufacturer to retailer goes through far too many steps and is like the “Telephone Game”.  It destroys information flow and distorts what little does get through.  

    Taking LCD TVs as an example, they all look about the same – a black bezel with a picture within it.  So of course it is all about specs and price.  Apple was able to transcend that stumbling block by telling stories about their products.  And look at how they've disintermediated the supply chain.  Apple designs, sub-contractors build and do logistics and Apples sells them in their stores.  Samsung have started copying that approach too.

    As great as web shopping is, there always will be a need to “kick the tyres” before buying – at least for some people.