• The Solana Space physical store will guide people through establishing their wallets and NFTs.
• It will also guide enthusiasts through the world of Web 3.0 providing immersive rich experiences.

Ethereum’s Layer-1 competitor Solana is setting up its first IRL retail store dubbed Solana Space in the heart of New York City. Solana’s first physical store will be at The Shops mall at Hudson Yards in Manhattan.

Solana has emerged as a faster alternative to the Ethereum blockchain network. Similarly, it also offers smart contracts powering decentralized applications (DApps) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Last year, Solana (SOL) rose to the ranks of becoming the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap.

With Solana Space, the company is willing to create a complete ecosystem with respect to NFTs, tokens, DAO memberships, and much more. Talking about the same, Solana Spaces noted:

Spaces is everyone’s first crypto friend. Inside, you’ll learn how Solana works, what Web3 is. We’ll set you up with a wallet and your first NFTs, and guide you through your first on chain transactions. There’s more. We also designed Spaces to be cultural centers, embassies for Solana.

We’ll be an event host, a launchpad, and a purveyor of Solana culture – including a whole new set of merch, and frequent limited edition collaborations with brands in and outside of crypto.

In addition to Phantom wallet and NFT tutorials, Solana Spaces will feature interactive art installations. It will also feature Soalana-branded merchandise for sale.

Building an ecosystem with Solana Spaces

Before its official announcement on Wednesday, Solana opened its doors to a group of 30 visitors to preview the store. The Solana Spaces physical store is yet to open to the public but it has already created a major buzz in the market.

Genie founder and Uniswap VP of Product Scott Lewis recently shared one of the photos on the Solana physical stores on Twitter.

Solana is not the first to venture into IRL products and businesses. In fact, brands like Bored Ape Yacht Club, and the Ethereum-based NFT collection announced a Bored Ape-themed restaurant in Los Angeles.

With the recent Solana Space, Solana is planning to build an entire ecosystem of its services. Last month in June, Solana debuted its own Android smartphone Solana Saga to be released in early 2023.

With the Solana Saga handset, the platform aims to improve Web3 access and functionality. Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana and CEO of Solana Labs said that they decided to step into the smartphone industry as existing players are not bringing in the new innovation.

Along with introducing seamless Web3 experiences, the Solana Saga handset will function as a hardware wallet. The launch of Solana Space physical stores can also provide enthusiasts with a hands-on experience on the Solana Saga handsets.