Samsung Shuts Down Its Flagship Experience Store in London

The South Korean giant has decided to shut down one of its 10 exclusive 'Samsung Experience Stores' in the UK.

First reported by The Verge on Wednesday, the Samsung Experience Store at the Westfield Stratford City shopping center in London has now been "permanently closed". The store is said to be its biggest in London, along with the one on Oxford Street. The images of the store with a circular, stating, "This store is now closed", were posted by a Twitter user Najeeb Khan on Wednesday.

"We remain fully committed to the operation of the remaining nine Samsung Experience Stores across the UK, and wish to reassure our customers that those stores will not be affected by this decision," said company in a statement to Verge.

While the company didn't detail any reason behind shutting down the store, a possible reason could be linked to a recent report that claimed Samsung's current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5, has underperformed globally leading to thousands of the devices 'piling up' in warehouses. The company overall sold nearly "40 percent fewer than projected", noted the report.

In September, Samsung had confirmed its exit from the laptop and Chromebook market in Europe. The company had said that it took this step as fallout of changing market needs and demands in Europe. However, the statement given by the company's spokesperson left enough room for the firm to resume the service in future.

"We quickly adapt to market needs and demands. In Europe, we will be discontinuing sales of laptops including Chromebooks for now. This is specific to the region - and is not necessarily reflective of conditions in other markets," stated the spokesperson.