MVNO Helio, the joint venture between Earthlink and South Korea's SK Telecom that targets the young tech-savvy market, has plans to open a chain of retail stores this fall. The MVNO, which targets the young tech-savvy market, plans to open a flagship store in Santa Monica, CA, in early October, followed by shops in Denver; San Diego; Palo Alto, CA; and New York. The stores will include lounges, a "Q&A bar," video screens, multiplayer games and live demonstrations by content providers such as game makers.

The move is a must if Helio wants to reach its goal of adding 3 million customers by 2009. And traditional carriers appear to be putting the squeeze on dealers not to carry competitor products [1], especially those from MVNOs. Virgin Mobile USA CEO Dan Schulman recently told FierceWireless that carriers are becoming a bigger problem for MVNOs as lower prices and try to block them from distribution channels [2]. And apparently, Earthlink and SK Telecom are willing to invest the big bucks to make Helio a formidable competitor. How much are they willing to throw at the operator?

For more about Helio's plan to open retail stores:
- read this article [3] from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)