Eager Brookstone Rep

[Sunday]

So, I was in the Brookstone store today at The Gateway,(An outdoor shopping mall in SLC) and ran into a salesperson who knew who Dean is and loves the Segway. Wow! But he still has never sold one from their store. And their unit was broken by someone the other day who tried to turn the Segway by twisitng the handlebars. Too bad:(


Mark

Segway-more fun than you can stand!

[gotseg]

So wait, he pushed and pulled hard enough to BREAK it!? Id think he may have accidently turned the grip in doing so... man, bummer.

http://www.giguphosting.com/gotseg/gotseg.gif
segless and looking

[segwayowner]

Thats great!!
Who accually owns the demo units? The individual stores, Brookstone corp, or LLC?



DES: Segway owner....
it has a nice ring to it

A human has 60,000 miles of blood vessels in their body.
Alaska was bought from Russia for about 2 cents an acre
A quarter has 119 grooves on its edge; a dime has one less groove
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open

[vanclute]

For whatever it's worth, the Brookstone here in Valley Fair mall in San Jose is selling Segs, and has at least one guy (and probably just him) who really knows the machine and gives lots and lots of demos out in the parking lot. But then, this is Silicon Valley, so if ever there was a place where gadget freaks are gonna fork over large sums of money, this would be it.

Then again, as pleased as I was with the two demo rides I did there, they did not get my sale. That went to Segway of Texas because they just plain offered me a FAR superior deal, and that is always going to win out.

J

[Sleepy]

Hey Broo-- late night?

I spoke to the Valley Fair manager a little while ago. She said that after the winter holiday, Seg sales picked up at their Bay Area stores! I would have thought that Christmas time would have had higher sales. But of the 3 local stores that she managed, they had only sold 1 or 2 units over Christmas and New Years.

-Alex

[luckie]

Regarding Brookstone:
The Brookstone Store at Michigan's fanciest mall, "The Somerset Collection" in Troy, MI a northern suburb of Detroit, does frequent demos with their Segway HT, but the customer must at least ask "Can I ride it?"

I also heard that a second Segway HT is now being shared between two other Brookstone stores at mid-level malls in Livonia and Novi, MI.

I rode the Segway at Somerset on three occassions prior to purhasing mine. It was very helpful to me to be able to actually ride one to help move me toward making my purchase. Hence I believe having them at Brookestone is an excellent idea, in particular at stores in the very high-end shopping malls where customers may have a greater chunk of disposable income.



----
Douglas B. Luckie, Ph.D.
Cystic Fibrosis Research Lab
Department of Physiology and Lyman Briggs School of Science
Michigan State University
http://surf.to/msucf

[Cube128]

It still surprises me that LLC has done no marketing at all, but understandable. To create advertising, Dean would have to aquire more capital, and that would mean less control over LLC, which is somthing he can't accept. On a semi-positive light, a Brookstone is moving into a new mall several miles away from me, the first Brookstone in the state, and I intend to be first in line for a part-time job, both for my interest in the Segway and the employee discounts :)

[Sal]

Hey Broo! Small world, I was in Shaumburg, IL yesterday too! In IKEA.

I wonder if that is anywhere near the mall you were at.

-Sal

Think Different
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http://home.earthlink.net/~sal1k/images/si2f.jpg

[SegwayUtah]

quote:Originally posted by Cube128

It still surprises me that LLC has done no marketing at all, but understandable. To create advertising, Dean would have to aquire more capital, and that would mean less control over LLC, which is somthing he can't accept. On a semi-positive light, a Brookstone is moving into a new mall several miles away from me, the first Brookstone in the state, and I intend to be first in line for a part-time job, both for my interest in the Segway and the employee discounts :)


Didn't we see an ad in the Nashville newspaper a week or so ago? I seem to remember people getting excited to see an ad coming from Segway headquarters.

Albeit, that's one ad, but I don't know the business strategy of Segway LLC. I know they're working on improving the product and getting the word out, but I don't know their timeline. I do know that they have some very capable marketing people there.

I'm sure we'd be talking about how Segway LLC has done "no marketing" months after seeing ads. After all, I still hear people talking about how "6,000 machines have been sold," a statistic they picked up over a half year ago. :)

BTW, it sounds like you'd make a great Brookstone employee, and would help them sell some Segway HTs :) -- best wishes on the application; let us know if/when you get hired. It would be cool to have an official Brookstone employee SegwayChatter!

Chris

[pam]

I just spent 4 hours yesterday doing demos right outside the local Brookstone using my 'p'. This is the second time I've spent an afternoon doing demos, and I checked in before I brought my unit into the mall area (outdoor mall) to be sure there had been no negative feedback from my previous trip... there was none, and the Brookstone employees/management were/was happy to see me.

I was joined occasionally (as they could, given the store traffic) by either the manager or one of the sales people on the store Segway. Their policy is to do arranged demos on Tuesday and Thursdays preceeded by a training period. The manager and employee sounded fairly knowledgeable about the Segway as I listened to people who asked questions. I do think they're hit by liability issues (or their own perception of liability issues).

They've been to training (by Brookstone employees) in Atlanta. Right now there's a contest on for employees for selling Segways. It may sound sorta slow for us, but I do think they're doing it in a very responsible way. And, as a store, remember, they have other items to sell, too, and need to serve those customers who are interested in the other items.

The Segway is such a specialized unit that they can't just let people get on to ride, like they can let people sit in the massage chairs and push a few buttons. I think the Segway HT is literally the highest priced item in the store - Much higher (I think, I admit that I haven't done the research) than any Sharper Image item.

Pam

[vanclute]

Sharper Image has occasionally sold things like real submarines and such for many many tens of thousands of dollars, but not routinely. I'm actually surprised SI hasn't wanted to sell the Seg, or maybe they aren't for some reason other than not wanting to. It seems like if ANYONE would jump on it, it would be the SI folks. Or maybe they just only sell their own branded items... <shrug>

Good to hear about your demos Pam. I've been sorely tempted to do something similar myself, but I really don't want to become an unpaid employee of Segway... I want to enjoy my life and my Seg to its fullest. =)

J

[Brooster]

quote:Originally posted by salkulkarni

Hey Broo! Small world, I was in Shaumburg, IL yesterday too! In IKEA.

I wonder if that is anywhere near the mall you were at.


Just across the road, Sal. Wish I'd known you were there! The IKEA store is great.

Brooster

[SegwayUtah]

quote:Originally posted by Brooster
Just across the road, Sal. Wish I'd known you were there! The IKEA store is great.


Broo, that's really sad. :(

Sal could have been on his HT, and you would have totally missed him. I know that would have been like Christmas for you. Oh well; hopefully there will be more HTs in your area soon, and you can smile at them and say "hey man, how do you keep from falling off that thing?!?" as they pass :)

Chris

[pam]

quote:Originally posted by vanclute

Good to hear about your demos Pam. I've been sorely tempted to do something similar myself, but I really don't want to become an unpaid employee of Segway... I want to enjoy my life and my Seg to its fullest. =)

J


I guess it's all in your perspective. I don't consider myself an unpaid employee of Segway at all. I was just having fun. I love seeing those Segway Smiles - so to me, that was enjoying life and my Seg to it's fullest.

Maybe if I thought I had to do it, or if I did it more than once a month or so, I'd have other feelings about it, but I loved it. I think I'd enjoy doing something like Tom is doing down in Sarasota. No market here, but I can think of places where it might work well...

Pam