Wednesday, April 04, 2001

The Olde New Shoppe

Not to be outdone by Sony, Panasonic or other brands on Madison Avenue, E*TRADE Group, Inc. opened its first E*TRADE Center at 540 Madison Avenue on Wednesday, April 4. Their "financial services super-store" is meant to help consumers maximize their brokerage, banking, insurance and wealth management needs. This new strategy is part of the company's physical expansion. This four-level, 30,000 square-foot, high-tech, high-touch experience has over 200 Presario 1400, Armada M300 and iPAQ desktop computers provided by Compaq. Each PC features a 20" LCD flat screen. Keeping up with Yahoo! Finance Vision and the other tech-stock shows, E*TRADE On Air will broadcast daily from its full production studio! The bottom floor features a professional trading services area for E*TRADE's active investors. The mezzanine level offers a forum where high-net-worth customers can conduct financial transactions and receive personalized attention from financial service associates. Educational seminars will be offered to consumers on the top level, adjacent to the E*TRADE gift shop, bookstore and Mangia Café. Ole! Partnering with Aether allows wireless demonstration stations for investors interested in learning about wireless financial services. And the fun doesn't stop there! In partnership with Lexus, visitors can also view the Lexus IS 300 on the top level, which is the E*TRADE Game grand prize awarded to each quarterly winner.