Sprint stores get retail overhaul

Sprint is sporting a new look in its retail stores, and if that look resembles the new open-spaced retail model of the Gap and Pottery Barn, there's a reason. Sprint has hired Los Angeles Architect Richard Altuna — who designed the interiors for the Gap and Pottery Barn — to supervise its new face lift.

Altuna's approach was to unclutter Sprint stores. Instead of a row of phones, a rack of accessories and focal point sales counter, Altuna's new store footprint emphasizes the services Sprint offers rather than the devices themselves. It has a more welcoming open layout complete with multimedia and a fancy “take a number” system that allows customers to browse and shop while waiting for a sales associate.

“We started from scratch,” said Jeff Fisher, director of retailing for Sprint. “In a lot of respects, our stores were focused on the most utilitarian way of presenting handsets and accessories. Store size and space were always afterthoughts.”

Some of the changes are basic, like pairing the phones with the accessories that accompany them. Others, however, are much more ambitious. Sprint has created digital kiosks where customers can virtually access the data functions of any handset — even preview every last ringtone in Sprint's library — so they get a much better feel of their phone and service before purchasing or leaving the store. Sprint also has moved its service center from the back room to the front of the store, so customers not only can deal directly with the technicians fixing their phones but watch them making repairs.

Sprint is also adding a host to the entrance of every store — to immediately guide customers to the area or employee they seek as well as put customers' names in a digital waiting cue for a sales associate. But most important, Fisher thinks the new stores now have a more welcome and opening feeling, which from a customer service perspective, is immeasurable.