OnSite Media Partners with Bose and Uniqlo

OnSite Media Partners with Bose and Uniqlo

Published :
Bose Professional Components Chosen for New Uniqlo® Flagship Retail Location in Chicago.
New Uniqlo® Chicago store features a variety of loudspeakers, power amplifiers and processing from Bose® Professional; other locations also feature Bose components, installed by A/V provider OnSite Media.

InfoComm, Las Vegas, NV, June 8, 2016 (Booth C9530) – Japan-based fashion retailer brand Uniqlo® has been penetrating the North American market in recent years, bringing their stores to more and more cities across the continent. A recent opening in Chicago welcomed what was not just a standard store, but a brand new flagship Uniqlo store, the second largest in the nation. A/V provider OnSite Media has been an ongoing vendor of choice of Uniqlo in the U.S. (42 locations and counting, plus several pop-up stores and a remodel of the NYC 5th Avenue location), and once again they were charged with installing an extensive infrastructure for this Chicago location. They sourced a large number of components, including loudspeakers, power amplifiers and processing solutions from Bose Professional. Due to another set of positive experiences, along with quality of sound and service/support from both Bose and OnSite, Uniqlo USA is now planning on implementing Bose components in all new U.S. locations moving forward.

“In a positive way, Uniqlo, as a company, is very precise and exact,” stated Brian Van Hecke, OnSite Media President. “They have very specific requests, and everything must be done exactly how they want it, in the time frame given. They’re notorious for this level of precision, and it’s one of the things that makes the brand as successful as it is worldwide. And basically, as they were looking for an A/V partner for these new U.S. stores, they were looking for someone who could work well with that meticulous detail and demanding work schedule. OnSite has an on-time guarantee, and we’ve never missed an installation deadline for Uniqlo since day one. We work closely with the construction managers and project managers, who are under a lot of stress, and walk with them every step of the way, and we end up succeeding at each of these challenging projects.”

Together, Uniqlo and OnSite decided on Bose speakers as a cornerstone of the audio infrastructure at these stores. “When Uniqlo started to roll out stores here in the United States, and they already had a large presence in Asia and started to build on in Europe, they knew they needed a quality system to compete in the retail marketplace here in the states,” notes Van Hecke. John Nowak, Uniqlo USA Director of Construction, was also already quite amenable to Bose solutions, due to a previous project. Van Hecke continues, “So I guess you could say they looked to OnSite Media and Bose to deliver that experience. Because we work with so many other retailers, we understand the market, and we understand what it takes to be competitive, and what it takes to create the right atmosphere in their stores, so that customers don’t just hear the music but they can actually feel it. We can effectively do that with the Bose system.”

Nowak recalls, “At a previous gig, we had a number of Bose components installed. I was impressed by the sound quality, the ease of installation and the professionalism of the Bose Professional organization, and it left a very positive impression on me. I recommended Bose for the Uniqlo installations, but I was willing to look at other options – however, when we started testing products from other manufacturers against each other, Bose won the shootout, and it was clear that we would proceed with a set of Bose solutions.”

In the early days of the Uniqlo/OnSite relationship, OnSite was tasked with setting up the A/V solutions in a mock store built in a warehouse by one of Uniqlo’s architects. “We had to put in a little mini Bose system, as well as the visual ticker system,” states Nowak. “We had a full meeting with all of their designers. Their management team from Japan came in, reviewed everything, and that was a trial run for us as a supplier, and for Bose speakers as a main component. It went great, and the pieces really started to come together.”

For the recently opened Chicago store, OnSite installed the following Bose Professional components: 83 DS 100F recessed loudspeakers in white; 14 DS 40F loudspeakers; six Panaray® MA12EX Modular Line Array loudspeakers; three Panaray MB4 bass modules; a ControlSpace® CC-64 controller; a PowerMatch® PM8500N networked configurable amplifier; a PowerMatch PM8250N networked configurable amplifier; and a ControlSpace ESP-880 Engineered Sound Processor.

Van Hecke praises the Bose systems: “All the Bose equipment, from the controllers to the amplification – everything ties in so well together to give the customer a really great sound experience. Specifically we use a lot of the Bose DS 100F loudspeakers for these stores. We love that speaker. For somebody who wants good sound there’s no better speaker to really choose from in terms of its overall value, its coverage, its quality, so it’s kind of our go-to speaker for that type of an environment.  A client who’s demanding a quality sound experience in their stores, wants customers not just to hear this music but also to feel it. We need to be competitive in the systems we use, we love to include Bose DS 100F loudspeakers in our designs; we’re going to end up using fewer speakers because it’s a high-quality wide coverage speaker.  So it reduces not only the number of speakers but also the labor, and we’re able to deliver a better-sounding system for less by using the DS 100F loudspeakers.”

Interested in learning how OnSite Media can help you with your technology rollouts and national/global expansion plans? Contact us today at 435-214-0801, ext. 1 or via email at sales@onsitemedia.com.