After months of preparation, it was finally, April 12th, 2019, the “grand opening” of the very first Samsung Experience Store in the Netherlands. A moment of celebration and indeed, relief, for everyone involved. It was an occasion which was festively ushered in by StukTV and attended by a stream of curious and enthusiastic visitors to this beautiful shopping concept.

This means that on the 19th April 2020 the Samsung Experience Store, in Hoog Catharijne in Utrecht, The Netherlands, had been in existence for 1 year.  PSfm, as one of the main players in establishing the experience store, would have loved nothing more than to have suitably celebrated this event. However, the Covid 19 lockdown procedures put an end to any large-scale plans of this nature.

During lockdown the Samsung Experience Store was closed for a few weeks, and during those weeks we worked hard on preparing for the re-opening of the store.  We wanted to be sure to take all the necessary safety measures according to the RIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public 

Health and the Environment) guidelines so that staff and customers could return to the store safely when it re-opened.

The measures taken had to be extremely thorough, and it was not a case of only having disinfectant dispensers at the entrance to the store, and of regulating the influx of shoppers, although these were also necessary measures that needed to be taken.

Below is an overview of our extensive plan that we worked hard on until April 30, 2020 so as to be able to open again on May 1.

Provisions to comply with the RIVM measures:

-  Disinfectant dispensers

- Information Card with house rules + stand

- Plexiglas hanging + marking of waiting zones and or walking routes due to 1.5 m rule

- Passage Entrance and exit marked out with ribbon 

- Max 2 people in the shop 

- Disinfection products for cleaning the equipment and tables 

- Cleaning products for the floor 

- Latex gloves for store staff 

- Face masks for store staff deployment:

4 employees present daily, including at least 1 Store Manager daily

Layout Team

1 greeter:

- At the entrance who welcomes the Customers

- Introduces customers to the in-house rules

- Ensures respect for the queues

- Ensures the customers clean their hands before entering the store and checks that they are wearing a face mask.o Screens waiting customers for possible coughing and sneezing (kindly requests those customers to leave the queue and not enter the store)

Passes on waiting customers, who have complied with these regulations, to colleague for assistance in-store. 

- Supplementing the Dispensers to ensure that the disinfectants are always readily available.

2 Sales employees:

- Receive the customer after signal from the greeter

- Guide the customer through the entire info / sales process (never leave the customer alone)

- Provide a Face 2 Face call and not a Side 2 Side call (1.5m guarantees)

- Smart Switches will not be executed (1.5m cannot be guaranteed)

- Close the sale and guide the customer to the Exit.

- Employee disinfects the used space before a new customer arrives

1 Store Manager / backup person

- Analyzes the ongoing processes and directs where necessary

- Administrative + back office tasks

- Stands-in during lunch breaks

- Stands -in if someone is unwell.

By adopting these measures in line with RIVM guidelines we protect clients and staff during these challenging times. 

Of course, when this pandemic is over, we hope to re-open our store(s) to their full experiential potential as usual, but, for now, this is the new normal and we choose the health and well-being of our staff and customers above all else.