Verizon Wireless welcomed excited visitors to its new Destination Store on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade, bringing the company's supersized, hands-on lifestyle shopping approach to the West Coast for the first time.

Visitors explored fun, interactive "lifestyle zones," ranging from fitness to music to sports and the home, trying out the latest personal and business wireless solutions.

"For our customers, there's simply no other retail shopping experience like this in any industry," said Luis Cruz, Verizon Southern California president.  "From the innovative use of technology to create memorable, hands-on experiences, to the aesthetically pleasing design choices and artwork, our Santa Monica flagship store offers an engaging experience that's sure to remind locals of the unique character of the community we share."

Every lifestyle zone offers an immersive, hands-on experience, designed with creativity, fun or an artful approach at its core.  For example:

• The "Customize It" Zone with a Hollywood- themed selfie booth. Take a selfie next to the Hollywood sign and use it to create acustom phone case on the fly — choose the colors and pictures you want for your case and Verizon will make it on site and deliver it to you through a curved, two-story pneumatic tube.
• The "Get Fit" Zone with interactive soccer experience. Practice soccer shots with a ball that syncs to your smartphone and provides instant feedback on speed, spin, estimated distance and skill tips. Or, test out one of our fitness accessories that measure your endurance on a stationary bike and get a readout of the calories you burned, distance you traveled and other stats.
• An NFL virtual reality experience. Exclusive to the Santa Monica location, enter a virtual reality simulator as a football helmet lowers over your head and experience what it's like to run back a kickoff in the NFL, including the effect of getting "tackled" as the floor underneath you rumbles!
• The "Home Immersion" Zone. Get your hands on the latest Smart Home technology, using a smartphone or tablet to open and close garage doors, door locks, setting a thermostat and more!

The store also includes zones proven popular at the company's four other Destination Stores across the country:

• An Interactive Wall where visitors can play one of three pre-set digital games for free
• The "Amplify It" Zone for music lovers, or anyone who wants to mix their own tracks
• The "Have Fun" Zone, featuring a variety of digital toys for kids (and adults) to try
• The "Anywhere Business" Zone where entrepreneurs work with Verizon's business solutions experts in a space designed to look like a Santa Monica skate shop
• The Wireless Workshop zone where visitors learn how to get the most from their devices and smart accessories to enhance their mobile lifestyle.

Calling Santa Monica Home

The Verizon Destination Store in Santa Monica is the company's first on the West Coast and occupies the same retail space as F. W. Woolworth Company's first store on the West Coast, built in 1949.  At its peak, Woolworth operated more than 3,000 retail stores worldwide.  Verizon constructed the nearly 8,000 sq. ft. retail space using a variety of sustainable building materials.

Store Location and Hours

Just minutes from the world-famous Santa Monica Pier, the store, located at 1322 3^rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays.

Background on Verizon Destination Stores

Verizon opened its first Destination Store in November, 2013 at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.  Since then, the company has opened additional Destination Stores in Chicago, Houston and Boston. The company has received a variety of accolades for the innovative designs of these stores, including an Award of Merit from the Retail Design Institute for the Mall of America store and a Gold Award from the Association of Retail Environments for the Chicago retail space.