Practice downloading music at the new Verizon store in Southlake

by Blair Lovern

Do people need to practice downloading music? New fancy pants store at the fancy pants Southlake Town Center lets you if you really need it.

From the New York Times Wednesday about a fancy new store at the fancy Southlake Town Square, where you can practice downloading music. The author wrote it twice at the start of the story. How the hell do you practice downloading music? Is it an acquired skill like golf? Do they have instructors? "Dammit, man, your thumbs are too close. Get your thumbs - geez, hold on, let me put out this cigarette and show you . . . ."

Verizon's newest store in North Texas lets consumers walk in, sit down, play the latest video game, practice downloading music, or if it’s the weekend, kick back and watch football in high definition.

With what it calls an experience store in Southlake, Tex., Verizon becomes the latest electronics retailer to open an outlet that feels more like an entertainment center or arcade then a phone store.

“The big proposition here is to experience the product and try it,” said Robert E. Ingalls Jr., executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon Communications. “Seeing it, touching it and feeling it gives them a better opportunity to make a decision.”

Located in an open-air mall near Lane Bryant and Ann Taylor shops, the 5,000-square-foot store, in an affluent suburb between Dallas and Fort Worth, features 24 giant high-definition plasma TVs, 20 flat-screen computers, a video gaming nook and dozens of phones. Shoppers can compare different speeds for broadband connections or watch television delivered over Verizon’s fiber optic system. Or they can practice downloading music or videos onto their cellphones.

Again with the practicing. Anyway, Verizon plans to open a similar store in a secret location soon, the NYT says. If the two trial stores are successful, Verizon will consider allowing the rest of America to practice downloading music.