SAMSUNG: NOTHING MUST GO; VISITORS TO THE TIME WARNER SHOWROOM CAN SEE, TOUCH AND TRY THE LATEST GADGETS; BUT THEY CAN'T BUY A THING.(Samsung/North America)

HFN: The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network, October, 2004 by Beatty, Gerry; Rudnick, Michael

Byline: Michael Rudnick, Gerry Beatty contributed to this report.

NEW YORK-Samsung opened its new high-tech New York City showroom last month and initiated an expensive game of show-and-no-sell at what the company called its new "unstore."

Dong Jin Oh, chief executive officer of Samsung Electronics North America, emphasized at the Sept. 22 pre-opening of the Samsung Experience in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle that nothing is for sale at the 10,000-square-foot symposium in "one of the most sought-after pieces of real estate in the country."

"I want to make it clear that we are not in the sales avoidance business," said Peter Weedfald, Samsung's senior vice president of marketing. "We did not want to open a store in the middle of...