Harman International Opens First EU Experience Store

Harman International has set up its first Experience Store in Europe. The store is located in the central retail shopping district of Munich, Germany. Harman expects to use the store to showcase Harman’s audio solutions across all consumer and automotive categories. The company will use both the store design and the products that are displayed at the store to highlight the unique combination of its heritage of craftsmanship, innovation and cutting-edge technology.

Commenting on the new store, Michael Mauser, president of lifestyle audio at Harman said that the company’s first Harman store in Europe will not be a mere retail store but will serve as a memorable visual and auditory experience center. It will showcase all of the company’s brands including JBL, Harman Kardon and AKG, and will also feature select models from the company’s automotive partners that use in-dash technologies and sound systems from these brands. The store is billed as one where speed will meet sound, and will combine Harman’s automotive audio and consumer audio heritage in one place.

Ralph Santana, chief marketing officer at Harman said that Harman is a house of globally renowned audio brands. He expects this flagship store to allow Harman to tell its story and help Harman to connect directly with its consumers. The opening of this new store is expected to play a key role in the development and growth of Harman’s brands across Europe

The space can be thoroughly transformed for events including lectures, small concerts and parties by moving fixtures, use of digital displays and color-changing LEDs in the ceiling.

Products that will be featured in the store include headphones, portable speakers, soundbars, voice controlled speakers and many more. Harman’s automotive audio business will also feature in the store with a rotating selection of vehicles equipped with state-of-the-art sound systems from its portfolio of automotive audio brands including Harman Kardon, JBL, Bang & Olufsen, Bowers & Wilkins.

Customers at the Munich Experience Store can not only interact with Harman’s products, but can also attend regular musical events, celebrity appearances and car launches which will be held in collaboration with automakers. Harman also plans to open an additional Luxury Audio Studio in an adjacent space later this year. In the Luxury Audio Studio, audiophiles will be able to enjoy and explore products from Harman’s luxury brands like Lexicon, Mark Levinson, and Revel. The store will also accommodate an upscale cinema featuring Dolby Atmos.

The store in Munich was designed by Gensler Architects, who has designed several renowned buildings like Facebook’s headquarters in California, Cadillac House in New York, and the Shanghai Tower. The design is in the form of a sound wave that guides consumers from the front to the back of the store.

Harman opened its first flagship store in Shanghai in 2010, and has added stores in locations like Tokyo and New York City. Munich has a strong connection to the automotive industry and was therefore a natural choice for the company’s first European Experience Store.

Harman has also committed to donating a portion of the store’s proceeds every holiday season to a Munich-based youth athletic organizations. This year, the company kicked off the campaign by donating 25,000 euros to the International Hockey Federation.