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Square Inc. opened a store in New York City on Thursday to showcase its products and highlight products from some of its merchants, marking the digital-payments company’s first effort at running its own brick-and-mortar shop.
Dubbed the Square Showroom, the lower Manhattan location has displays of various Square point-of-sale products and features a monthly-rotating set of products from some of its existing merchants. The store is open by appointment only during the week for meeting with prospective clients and fielding inquiries from existing merchants, which Square calls sellers. It is open on Saturdays and Sundays to the public.
“We’re always looking for new ways to reach our sellers and expand our relations with them,” a Square spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News. In addition to its direct sales strategy and offering support via telephone and online, San Francisco-based Square said a lot of its merchants wanted a face-to-face experience.
The showroom has three main purposes. One is to provide a face-to-face support function. Another is to provide a sales function where Square’s New York City-based sales teams can demonstrate its products, something Square says larger merchants often ask for. The third is to showcase its merchants and some of their products.
The store is a shift in Square’s strategy. “Now, we have a brick-and-mortar store,” the spokesperson says. “We’re putting ourselves into the shoes of our sellers.”
Square chose New York City for its showroom because of the density of its merchants in the area and it’s within a 15-minute walk of its office there. Square says there no set plans to expand locations.
