New Leap stores get brighter, less cluttered

Say goodbye to the lily-pad carpet.
Leap Wireless International Inc. is redesigning its new retail stores, hoping to appeal to an audience beyond its budget-conscious core demographic. The existing stores will stay as is, according to Leap officials, but going forward new stores will get the redesign treatment, which includes demo spots for customers to try out live handsets (a new addition for the carrier), modular messaging with easy-to-swap inserts, additional lighting and low-key, modern gray carpeting instead of the lily-pad pattern. The lily pads were true to Leap’s branding, noted director of channel sales Tom Senters, but the swap goes for a “modern, more upscale, cleaner look.”
The new stores also will emphasize Cricket’s distinctive “K” on floor-to-ceiling front windows, which “gives you a big, clear branding message and utilizes the space” without cluttering the windows, according to Senters.
The first Cricket store to receive the treatment is located in Greenwood Village, Colo. Leap recently began its launch in Charleston, S.C., and its Web site indicates that a launch in Rochester, N.Y., is coming in early June.
Senters said that for him, the most important element of the redesign was eliminating barriers between customers and employees and providing a more intimate sales experience. He noted that the company wanted to “create an opportunity for browsing” instead of having customers plop down in a chair-filled waiting area-so it removed the chairs to encourage people to look around. Mackey described the redesign as an update, but one that wasn’t a major shift away from Leap’s image.
“It’s modern, it’s contemporary, but it’s not reinterpreting the brand,” he said.
A large flat-screen monitor in the Greenwood Village store showcases mobile games above the half-dozen demo handsets, which represent half of the store’s device lineup and allows customers to test out Cricket’s service as well as phone attributes such as speakers. The store lighting was tripled, which drew customers’ attention, Senters said.
“That was one of the things that they’ve noticed,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like a cave anymore, it feels bright.”