Pioneer Electronics has opened its first retail store in the U.S., and kicked things off Thursday night with a private reception at its South Coast Plaza location.

Pioneer hosted the event for the Performing Arts Business Partnership and their guests, who filled the store and sipped wine while checking out Pioneer’s high-def flat-panel TVs and A/V units.

The store also sells some headphones, car audio/video, and accessories. But the emphasis is on flat-panel TVs. Videophiles will be glad to know that Pioneer is peddling its upscale Elite line of wares in the shop, located on the first floor of the mall by Macy’s men’s store and Saks Fifth Avenue. The Elite line includes Pioneer’s first Blu-ray player. Blu-ray, of course, is competing with HD-DVD to be the next standard in high-definition DVDs.

The presentations were quite good, with video of shimmering lakes and Blu-ray movies (also for sale at the store) looking splendid on the Elite plasma displays that were mounted to every wall.

Overall the store presentation is nice. It’s not a huge place, but it’s comfortable, with couches and other homey touches to make your TV-decision buying decision feel like it’s actually taking place in a house, not a big-box retail outlet.
The store operates on the mall’s hours: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Sunday. Get more info at the store’s Web site here.

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