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Comment by hapless | Hacker News Reader

This hypothetical business model exists already: It's called Brookstone.

They go out and find unique gadgets to sell at high markups in malls. It would be interesting to see that format adapted to Best Buy's "big box" real estate and store format. (In other words it is hard for me to imagine how it would work.)

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Yep! You beat me to it. I wonder if it would be possible for some big brands like Dyson, Samsung, etc. to band together and maintain the retail show rooms. Perhaps a new holding company could be formed to manage the real estate on a more "Walmart" like 2-3% margin with the HW companies bearing most of the cost of retail, but also gaining a much larger chunk of margin.

I think retail is going to become a very interesting space over the next 10 years as the Big Box model gives way to an Amazon same day solution on one side and a high touch, high service model on the other.

I read somewhere that JCPenney is shifting to a strategy like this for clothing brands. The stores will start to shift to a cluster of mini-showrooms that each showcase a different brand. My first thought when I heard this is that the brands that are strong enough to be successful in this format would have already have their own store in malls.

I think such a strategy would only work for marquee brands. Apple can get away with a store with nothing but Apple products, but I wouldn't want to buy a TV from a store that only sold LGs. I would want to compare across brands since there is little to differentiate an LG from a Sharp or Samsung.

And also all the brands in SkyMall

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