Huawei opens Experience Store at Centro – first store in a shopping center in Germany

At the end of May, the global technology provider Huawei opened its first store in a German shopping center at Centro in Oberhausen. Nationwide it is Huawei‘s second store with direct sales besides the one in Berlin. Huawei offers visitors a shopping and experience world with a wide range of technical solutions and products from the characteristic areas of mobile phones, computers, and tablets, as well as from the audio, photography, gaming, and fitness & health segments. In addition, extensive technology systems for smart offices and smart homes are presented. The store is the first direct cooperation between Huawei and Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) in the real estate company’s continental European portfolio.*

Visitors of the new Huawei Experience Store at Centro will find the right solutions for a wide range of everyday scenarios: Connections in the home office, analysis of sports and fitness data, technological equipment for travel enthusiasts, or fully networked devices in the smart home. In addition, self-employed people and small businesses have the opportunity to get advice on topics such as smart office on site. The establishment of multichannel solutions is also planned for the near future. In addition to the experience-oriented sales floor, the store also has a repair and service area where users of Huawei products can easily have their devices checked and repaired.

“We put a lot of effort into continuously inspiring visitors in our assets with exciting and unique store concepts, thus increasing the experience factor of the destinations. At Centro, we combine flagship stores, innovative brands, and retail concepts into a unique mix that we are further differentiating with the Huawei Experience Store. We are very pleased about the partnership with Huawei and thus continue to sharpen the profile of Centro as a flagship destination with supra-regional appeal. Especially in the current challenging phase, this is a great signal,” explains Constantin Wiesmann, Director of Leasing at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield Germany.

Special brand and shopping experiences
In recent years, URW has increasingly presented new rental and cooperation partners that provide new impulses in retail with extraordinary brand and shopping experiences. In addition to flagship or experience stores, such as the new Huawei store, URW has increasingly presented partners that were previously predominantly operating in the digital world. For example, URW has now enabled a number of initially online brands (digital native brands) to establish new physical representations in URW’s portfolio, including the fashion and lifestyle label BALR., the optician Mister Spex, the watch brand Daniel Wellington, and the spice manufacturer Ankerkraut. An additional extension of the experience and services in the shopping centers operated by URW are the significantly expanded omnichannel solutions via click-and-collect and ship-from-store offerings. A special example here is the cooperation with Zalando launched in spring 2020 via its Connected Retail omnichannel platform. URW is the first shopping center operator to cooperate with Zalando as part of Connected Retail.

Flagship Destination in the Ruhr area: Centro in Oberhausen
With a total area of 230,000 square meters, Centro in Oberhausen is Germany’s largest shopping and leisure destination. Around 240 stores, including more than 40 gastronomy concepts, a multifunctional hall with 12,500 seats, Legoland® Discovery Centre and a cinema are located on the site. The direct surroundings of the “Neue Mitte” district also offer a trampoline park, an aquarium, an adventure water park and the well-known exhibition center Gasometer. With direct highway connections as well as tram and bus stops directly in front of the entrance, Centro is optimally connected to the regional and national infrastructure.

*Through franchisees, there are already Huawei stores in URW shopping centers, including in France and the Czech Republic, among others.

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