Chelsea Store Gets Wired For The Holidays
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
If you're looking to get your hands on some of the coolest tech gear out this holiday season but want to avoid the pressure of having a salesperson follow you around, a gadget-friendly store in Chelsea has just the answer. NY1's Adam Balkin filed the following report.It’s becoming something of a high tech holiday tradition. For a fifth year, Wired Magazine has constructed a so-called pop-up store in Manhattan, a temporary space for hardcore gadget heads or those doing holiday shopping for hardcore gadget heads, to get their hands on some of the techiest tech stuff that may seem futuristic but for the most part, is available on store shelves today.
"Definitively the biggest store yet, over 270 products so whereas last year we had 160 this year it’s over 270 really exciting, bigger space than ever," said Wired Store employee Noah Norman.
More products and bigger space also equal more sections than ever before, helping perusers browse by category.
"There’s an area called 'Startup' which is essentially a home office where business people can check out new stuff from IBM or this new software called Kapitall which can track investments and visualize investments in the stock market," Norman said. "We have an area called 'Hands On' that’s featuring a lot of touch driven stuff items including the fret light which is a guitar that lights up on the neck that kind of lights up like Guitar Hero only it’ll teach you how to play guitar."
The "Hands On" section also features one of the few T-shirts that if you give someone as a holiday gift, they won't accuse you of being an unimaginative cheapskate.
You can play the guitar on the shirt with a magnetic pick and hear it through the mini amp that comes with it.
Other sections include "Base Camp" for outdoorsy gadgetry, a "Go Green" area with recycled and upcycled products including a service that might actually pay you to recycle some of your old tech items. There's also a "Geek Dad" area with, among other things, a Star Wars ton-ton sleeping bag that allows you to climb in for warmth just as Luke and Han Solo did in the Empire Strikes Back. And this year, scattered throughout the sections, are lots and lots of bikes.
"We have a custom bike by Trek where you can design your own line and they’ll ship it to you in a few days a super high end group that make Lance Armstrong bikes," Norman said. "We have an electric motorcycle, we have the Yike bike with Segway-esque electric sitting vehicle, and a whole bunch of folding bikes some of which are electric assist as well."
As always, if you can’t make it to the actual store, there’s also a virtual one online which you can be found at www.WiredStore.net