When Solana sets up a blockchain store
By Clotilde Chenevoy | the
| In-store marketing
Discover the first Solana store opening in Hudson Yards mall in New York. His role? Discover all the uses of this technology with a very fun course. Report.
Solana opened its first blockchain store 6 months ago in the very chic Hudson Yards mall in New York, above the Louis Vuitton store and not far from Neiman Marcus. A surprising investment, but with a very specific purpose: to make people discover this technology and its different aspects.
Glass walls allow the entire store to be visible from the outside, with Solana’s name emblazoned above the cash register. On the left side we can see different frames on the walls with different Ape Bored Yacht type designs. Ahead, a giant screen wall displays other graphics that recall the Web3 world and give some clues to mall visitors. But to encourage them to come back, Solana promises them upwards of $10 after discovering the store.
10 parking spaces for 10 different uses of Solana
Every guest who enters the hundred-square-meter store is greeted by an employee, or rather, an ambassador. Thus, it measures the degree of knowledge about blockchain while explaining the concept.
The space is organized around 10 zones, and each stop allows you to discover the 10 uses of Solana in a very fun way. But before starting this exploration, the visitor must have a Phantom wallet on their smartphone. QRCode must be enabled to facilitate download. During this operation, Ambassador Solan points out the importance of the password – the string of words automatically attributed must not be lost. “If you lose it, you won’t be able to access your wallet anymore, you’ll have to create another one,” he insists. Solana has provided a small booth so that visitors can perform this operation in complete privacy, and small cardboard sheets are available to write down their passwords.
After this step is completed, it is possible to move between different areas from the Phantom wallet. Each has a tablet displaying the topic being discussed and it will display a QR code that needs to be scanned with the Phantom wallet. This manipulation then triggers the animation, how to discover Solana Pay, Solana Mobile, or transact or even get your salary in cryptocurrency… Video, short text, sometimes images with MCQ test, formats to push content are various. Each stop lasts about 3 minutes and a reward is awarded at the end of each scenario.
$10 in cryptocurrency offered as reward
After completing at least 4 steps, the visitor is invited to show their token to the ambassador to get back the promised $10 in Solana cryptocurrency purchased window. This step demonstrates the speed of crypto transactions. The visitor then has the option to use this money immediately to buy goodies in Solana colors (socks, key rings or even stickers) or to save their cryptocurrency. Of course it’s also possible to buy NFTs to prove you went to the store…
New York was the first destination for Solana, who opened a similar boutique in Miami two months ago. You may wonder about the sustainability of the concept and especially the profitability, but the bet to make the topic of blockchain accessible has been fulfilled.
