Time Warner Cable on Wednesday cut the ribbon on a new retail outlet on Manhattan's Upper West Side -- with a "contemporary" layout and design featuring digital signage across 11 television monitors -- that will serve as the model for the MSO's stores across the New York/New Jersey area.
The cable operator said its existing local retail locations across the New York metro area will be redesigned throughout 2010 and 2011 to match the new store's look and feel. With the new design, TWC can customize messaging to display various promotions, shows, news and programs.
"This fresh approach to design allows for an open and engaging experience for consumers," Howard Szarfarc, executive vice president of Time Warner Cable's NYC region. "Having immediate access to this digital and video platform provides us the ability to connect consumers with clear, meaningful and up-to-the-moment information."
In New York City, TWC faces increasing competition from Verizon's FiOS services; the telco first began offering TV in the city in July 2008. Time Warner Cable has responded by introducing 50-Mbps Internet service with DOCSIS 3.0 and Wi-Fi access for broadband subscribers in various city locations.
The new store, at 2554 Broadway on the corner 96th Street, lets consumers conduct in-person transactions to upgrade equipment, speak with customer-service agents and test-drive the company's products and services.
In Manhattan, TWC also has retail locations at 23rd Street between Park and Madison avenues and 5120 Broadway (between Broadway and 219th Street). The MSO operates more than a dozen stores in New York/New Jersey including stores in Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Mt. Vernon and Hudson Valley, N.Y., and Bergen County, N.J.
