Solana Spaces to Shut Down Two of Its Solana Spaces - Neighborhood-themed retail stores in New York City and Miami at the end of the month, as brick-and-mortar stores didn't attract as many users as initially expected.
Solana Spaces tweeted the news on Feb. 21, sharing a note from founder Vibhu Norby explaining the reasons behind the store closures. Norby — who founded Solana Spaces in early 2022 — explained that the company reached an “inflection point” in terms of stores, prompting them to shift their investment focus to “DRiP,” the company’s new non-fungible token artwork Airdrop platform.
“While our stores get 500 to 1,000 people a week, DRiP gets the same number of people every day,” Norby said, explaining the decision to shift investment focus.
Norby said the decision to close stores in Manhattan's Hudson Yards and Miami's Wynwood district was made "a few weeks ago" and that they will "sunset" at the end of February. The ambitious move was relatively short-lived, with the stores officially opening in New York in late July and Miami in August.
Norby said the "experiment" is part of a broader plan to get more people on board with Solana and the Web3 ecosystem: "As I always tell people, while the store is great, if we find a more efficient way to bring people into Solana, we're all for it," he added.
But as he later realized, the company's efforts may have better results in the digital realm through DRiP.
The Solana-themed store offers customers the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities, including face-to-face wallet onboarding tutorials, earn rewards, shop for items and attend events. Sponsored by the Solana Foundation, Solana-based wallet provider Phantom, and local cryptocurrency exchange Orca, the startup didn’t pan out, but it does seem to have gained a lot of fans. Some Solana native industry players such as video game projects Star Atlas and Aurory thanked Solana Spaces for their contribution to the ecosystem.
The shutdown comes as a lengthy crypto winter saw many industry-leading companies lay off staff and close offices around the world.
