Global Retail Alliance
info@gra.world
  • Login
  • Register
  • Newsletter
  • Virtual Library
  • Choose your country
    • Australia
    • Brazil
    • China
    • Poland
    • Latin America
    • Middle East
GRAGRA
  • Home
  • Membership
    • Silver
    • Gold
    • Platinum
  • Event
  • News
  • Retail Tour
    • Our Tours
    • Europe Retail Tour
    • Retail Tour – New York
    • Retail Tour – Düsseldorf
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Membership
    • Silver
    • Gold
    • Platinum
  • Event
  • News
  • Retail Tour
    • Our Tours
    • Europe Retail Tour
    • Retail Tour – New York
    • Retail Tour – Düsseldorf
  • Contact

Innovation & Technology

  • Home
  • Innovation & Technology
  • Crypto project Solana is opening a store in NYC. Take a look inside

Crypto project Solana is opening a store in NYC. Take a look inside

  • Categories Innovation & Technology, Retail Design & New Openings, Top News
  • Date July 27, 2022
  • Comments 0 comment

In the expansive world of Web3, there isn’t much use for anything IRL, right? Wrong. Just ask the team behind Solana, which is opening a permanent physical retail space dedicated to all things tied to its cryptocurrency.

Located at The Shops, a fancier-than-average mall at Hudson Yards in Manhattan, the store opens to the public on Thursday, but I was able to get a tour a day early.

If you’re not familiar, Solana touts itself as a faster alternative to the Ethereum blockchain, while likewise offering smart contracts that power NFTs and various decentralized applications. In the last year, Solana’s currency SOL rose to be among the top 10 by market value.

As for the store—which might seem like a far-fetched idea—I honestly found it to be a pretty cool spot (and let me be clear upfront, I don’t own any SOL!)

It feels like any other upscale retail store, but it accepts cryptocurrency—with “Solana Pay Accepted Here” casually posted on the storefront glass—and has an NFT gallery highlighting the Degenerate Ape Academy collection across its walls.

Degenerate Ape Academy NFT gallery at the Solana Spaces store in New York.
Solana Spaces

Upon entering, I immediately noticed an interactive installation visualizing what’s happening on the Solana blockchain in real time, including transactions done and NFTs minted.

Across the store, there are various stations aimed at onboarding people to the crypto space, including a private booth for people to set up a Phantom wallet (the most popular Solana wallet) and write down their seed phrase (a secret chain of words that acts as a pin) on a tiny card for safe keeping.

Other stations gave tutorials on platforms like STEPN, a play-to-earn app, and Magic Eden, an NFT marketplace. There, people can also check out Solana Saga, Solana’s Web3 mobile phone (yes, you read that correctly).

The Phantom wallet station at the Solana Spaces store in New York.
Solana Spaces

Of course, there was branded merch everywhere in the store, with shirts, sweats and hats galore, labeled with phrases commonly used in the crypto community like the rallying cry “WAGMI,” as well as “degen,” “not financial advice,” and “probably nothing.” It’s every crypto bro’s dream.

Though there’s a lot happening inside, the Solana team’s main goal is to onboard onlookers and educate anyone new to the crypto space, Vibhu Norby, the Solana Spaces CEO, told me while showing me around. Ultimately, he said, the store is “an experiment that we think a lot of people will love.”

Solana Spaces

But it’s not just any kind of experiment: It’s a very expensive one. Rent is no joke in Manhattan—and retail space in Hudson Yards is likely very costly. Only time will tell as to whether this will be a good long-term investment for the Solana Foundation, a non-profit that works to build the broader Solana ecosystem and paid for the store.

That said, the short-term pay-off for Solana feels like a good one. People passing by in the mall during my tour were already trying to get into the store—some of which didn’t even know what Solana is and wanted to enter just because they thought the NFT monkeys were cool.

Source: Fortune

  • Share:
gsiino

Previous post

Co-op extends robot deliveries to Bedford
July 27, 2022

Next post

Mango Teen opens new store in Barcelona
July 27, 2022

You may also like

mcdonald’s-autonomous-store
McDonald’s unveiled an automated store. Some consumers aren’t loving it
25 January, 2023
wayfair
Wayfair, once a growth engine of the city, makes deep cuts as tech sector reels
20 January, 2023
Senza-titolo-1
Super Seed has opened a new store in Hangzhou’s Kerry Center
16 January, 2023

Leave A Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search News:

News category:

News Archive:

Last News:

McDonald’s unveiled an automated store. Some consumers aren’t loving it
25Jan2023
Wayfair, once a growth engine of the city, makes deep cuts as tech sector reels
20Jan2023
Super Seed has opened a new store in Hangzhou’s Kerry Center
16Jan2023
Amazon starts drone delivery trials in California and Texas
26Dec2022
Jordan’s new retail concept brings it closer to luxury brand status
19Dec2022

© 2022 Global Retail Alliance | info@gra.world | Privacy Policy