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Electronics gadget maker Dyson is opening a demo store in Dallas
U.K.-based Dyson, with annual sales of about $7 billion, has been critical of retail and what its founder calls a ‘cluttered environment with stacked boxes.’

By Maria Halkias

Add Dyson to the list of brands that believes it needs its own stores.

The U.K.-based tech gadget maker known for vacuums, air purifiers and hair styling tools opened a store at The Shops at Park Lane in Dallas on Thursday.

It’s Dyson’s sixth store in the U.S., and is set up to encourage people to handle and experience the brand’s products.

Dyson founder Sir James Dyson has been critical of how his machines have been sold “in a cluttered environment with stacked boxes or in the online equivalent, where endless pages of irrelevant and sometimes non-genuine product vie for attention.” He opened the first Dyson store in Paris in 2000 and now has more than 200 worldwide. The first U.S. store opened in 2017.

Shoppers can experiment with vacuums on various floor types and learn to use hair styling tools on displays of hair tresses, said Stefanie Kushida, Dyson regional head of demo stores. It’s a demo store, but customers can purchase Dyson’s pricey products.

The popular Dyson Supersonic hairdryer costs more than $430, while most competing hand-held hair dryers sell for well under $100. The Dyson Airwrap multi-styling tool costs $600 and comes with several attachments that can create curls and waves and straighten hair, all without extreme heat.

Dyson, which first introduced its proprietary bagless vacuum cleaners to U.S. shoppers in 2002, touts its technology and engineering. Especially for the hair care tools, “it’s important to grasp the handle and feel the weight,” said Kate Craft, Dyson reliability engineer.

Dyson’s Dallas location is the first in the U.S. with virtual and in-person assistance for on-site repairs, product cleaning and free checkups, Kushida said. The company’s almost 200 machines and accessories are sold directly online and through major retailers. Best Buy and Costco are major sellers of its vacuums. Sephora, Ulta Beauty and Nordstrom are among the largest sellers of its hair care appliances.

Kushida said there are plans for more Dyson stores, but declined to say how many the brand believes it can open in the U.S. Its other U.S. stores are located in New York, California and Virginia.

The 3,000-square-foot store at the Shops at Park Lane is located in the former Eddie Bauer space in the same building as the J. Crew Factory store and DXL.

Dyson is the latest electronics brand to open its own stores. Samsung’s “Experience” store opened in February in Frisco’s Stonebriar Centre. Google has two stores in New York that sell its products, including Pixel earbuds, Chromebook, Nest home products and other brands that use its operating system such as Fitbit smartwatches.

But no technology brand has opened as many stores in the U.S. as Apple.

Dyson, one of Britain’s largest privately held companies, was profitable last year even with challenges of the pandemic that included semiconductor shortages. Dyson’s 2021 sales of about $7 billion increased by 5%, according to The Times of London.