EE is opening its biggest store to date in Westfield White City to showcase its latest broadband services and smartphone offers.
Inside the 4,230-square-foot shop, customers will be able to go hands-on with gaming rigs and racing simulators, try out new devices with help from staff, and browse smart-home appliances in a connected kitchen.
EE even wants to help you practise digital detoxing in a meditation area, where shoppers will be encouraged to put away their phones and just chill. It’s a quaint idea, but parents will still have their work cut out tearing the kids away from TikTok.
Taking a page out of Apple’s book, the store will also offer workshops and events for the latest gadgets. This year has already been packed with exciting tech announcements, with headliners including Apple’s Vision Pro goggles, a PS5 handheld gaming device, and Google’s first folding phone.
The EE Studio will open at noon on Friday, June 16. EE says the new flagship location in West London is bigger than anything offered by its rivals.
Its launch comes just days after giants Vodafone and Three agreed a deal to merge their UK businesses. The two companies said the tie-up would help them compete with their rivals in the roll-out of 5G.
If approved by regulators, the combined business will overtake Virgin Media O2 and BT-owned EE, with about 27 million customers and more than 11,500 staff.
Consolidation is viewed by mobile networks as a means of providing multiple services under one roof, from mobile contracts through internet to pay TV.
EE’s store opening coincides with the unveiling of its fastest full-fibre broadband service, with speeds of 1.6Gbps. The top-of-the-range offering is aimed at households that stream, download, and game on multiple devices at once.
EE says the service will arrive later this summer, alongside a new set of internet hardware, including an improved router, and a Hybrid Connect box that switches you to mobile internet when your wi-fi is down.
Managing director of Commercial at EE Bridget Lea said: “Our EE Studio store has been designed to create standout experiences that reflect the changing needs of our customers and the increasingly connected lives they lead.”
