Samsung shuts flagship, Apple Store-like London shop as sales plunge

Westfield Stratford had housed one of the Samsung Experience Stores, but it’s now been shut

The store had TVs, tablets and home appliances (Samsung)

Samsung has shut one of its biggest shops in Stratford’s Westfield, as sales plunge and shoppers said that the store never matched the Apple experience that it was apparently trying to copy.

Samsung has nine of the Samsung Experience Stores across the UK, including one on Oxford Street, but described the one in Westfield as its ‘flagship’. The shops sold a range of Samsung products, including TVs and domestic appliances, in airy and light shops reminiscent of Apple’s shops.

But Samsung’s performance in Europe seems to be slipping — it no longer sells laptops in the continent, and mobile sales are dropping. The stores were busy as they opened, but have apparently petered out.

Najeeb Khan, the Twitter user that noted the closure, said that the store “never came close to” the ambience of Apple’s shops with respect to “buying experience, staff knowledge” and so on.

The company bought 60 Carphone Warehouse shops in Europe at the beginning of the year, with the intention of opening them as standalone stores. But it’s unclear what will happen to those shops or its Europe push as the flagship store closes.