Display technology is often viewed in an ancillary product light as opposed to an interconnected link within the modern business environment. Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America seeks to dispel that notion of tech isolation and is showing dealers and end-users practical applications courtesy of its recently rebooted Executive Experience Center (EEC).
Nearly 150 guests gathered in Downers Grove, Illinois, on Oct. 13 for the center’s grand reopening, which blends the manufacturer’s AV, collaboration, display, document and Dynabook laptop technologies. The reopening was accentuated with a ribbon cutting, guided facility tour and product demonstrations. Sharp representatives were on hand to answer questions regarding the tech menu, from the 165” COB (chip on board) all-in-one dvLED display to AQUOS BOARD interactive displays and its digital press series.
It was the culmination of a two-year journey aimed at providing a facelift for the OEM’s showcase facility, centrally located in the Chicago suburbs. Mark Quiroz, Sharp’s senior vice president and general manager who heads up all aspects of the company’s display business in the United States and Latin America, provided an overview of the grand reopening.
Upon joining the company in late 2024, Quiroz noted that the Downers Grove experience center hadn’t been updated since 2017. The main focus was to consolidate multiple floors—including a lab and training center—into a unified workplace strategy. The intention was to fashion the experience center as a complement to the EEC at Sharp’s Montvale, New Jersey, headquarters, but in the context of the display division.
The planning process went underway in April of 2025, as the company created a tech blueprint with renderings. The construction, which shut down the EEC at the end of the year, involved in whittling multiple floors into one, which made the project more complex. It was further exacerbated by contractor delays and supply chain issues. Although the EEC was slated to open this past spring, it was delayed to ensure the technology was fully in place and functional.
“Given the delays, we decided to hold the reopening in the fall, when the weather is still nice in Chicago,” he noted. “It was worth the wait. We had a vision of how we wanted it to look, which meant changing some things around, repositioning certain things. But the team and the contractors did a great job, it looks fantastic.”
The Downers Grove EEC was designed to serve three purposes. According to Quiroz, the main thrust was to create a resource that underscores Sharp’s business solutions and technologies. Secondly, it was important to develop the EEC as an educational resource by leveraging the adjacent development lab and training center for the purpose of in-depth demos. Lastly, Sharp wanted to be seen as a resource for future employees in the AV and printing sectors.
For Sharp dealers, the new EEC is a strong proving ground for showing clients and prospects how they can leverage the full catalog of Sharp products and see them in a natural setting. In addition to one-off visits, resellers can reach out to discuss hosted events. The Downers Grove team is exploring the possibility of putting together a monthly office hours-type schedule so that dealers can bring in guests to coincide with tech expert availability.
Unlike its office-centric Montvale sister EEC, the Downers Grove refresh focuses on vertical applications including transportation and financial services. The center is rich in projection technology and includes a pixel pitch comparison wall to help customers compare various LED resolutions based on viewing distances (there are five different configurations within a 1×3’ cabinet). As an added touch, a touchscreen way-finding application, developed by a Sharp project manager, helps visitors navigate the various vignettes within the space, from education to healthcare, retail and transportation.
“We’ve got a great experience center in Montvale, which has got a very office-centric vignette approach,” Quiroz said. “We took the same approach [in Downers Grove), but we brought in additional vertical applications because they are more display-centric. We have customers in the transportation sector, financial services and a few others, and we were able to integrate those into a unique way to display them. I feel like we really accomplished what we set out to do.”
The center was also conceived with an eye toward future growth, with extra space baked into the layout to allow for newer technologies to be added without the need for a revamp. Looking ahead, Quiroz notes there are tentative plans to reboot the Santa Ana, California, EEC, in 2027.
