Brookstone Opens First Overseas Stores in China

First Step Includes One Walk-In Retail and Three Store-in-Store Location. The company’s strategy is “to bring premium American lifestyle products to shoppers in China while providing China-based makers access to American and international retail markets.” (Image: sargarch.com)

Innovative product developer and specialty retailer Brookstone has taken its first step into the global arena with the opening of one walk-in retail and three store-in-store locations in China.

The retail store is located in one of China’s largest retail shopping centers in Nanjing with the three store-in-stores in Funtalk Telecommunication’s stores in Beijing and Shanghai.

“We’re thrilled with how enthusiastically customers are embracing their first Brookstone China store experience,” said Brookstone CEO Tom Via. “They love being able to try out our massagers, wear the Cat Ear Headphones and see the drones in action.”

Brookstone, founded in Massachusetts in 1965, was acquired in 2014 by the China-based Sanpower Group, a multi-national conglomerate, and “is fulfilling its corporate mission to bring premium American lifestyle products to shoppers in China while providing China-based makers access to American and international retail markets,” the company said in a statement.

Known in the U.S. for its memory foam pillows, sleep sound machines, massagers and checkpoint-friendly luggage, the company’s goal in China is to offer shoppers “Easy Surprises…premium, unique and innovative products” and position it “as a destination for people to find surprising innovations that make life easier,” said Brookstone China CEO Xin Kexia.

In time, Brookstone China “will adopt a sales model that features a hands-on interactive shopping experience with stores transitioning from being simply sales channels to platforms for hands-on and interactive experiences,” the company said.

“Store associates will be not so much salespersons as friendly guides that let customers experience products on their own. Associates will show the customers how to operate the wildly successful Brookstone cat ear headphones, massagers, and sleep machines,” it said.

According to the Sanpower Group, plans call for Brookstone to open independent shops in airports and high-speed railway stations, and continue to launch store-in-stores in its offline retail brands, including Hisap and Smart Funtalk Telecommunications, “so as to synergize with the business resources of the Group.”