If you've ever needed same-day help with a Samsung device in Calgary and ended up at a Best Buy counter hoping someone knew the answer, that situation just changed.
Samsung Electronics Canada opened its first Alberta Samsung Experience Store at CF Market Mall on May 23. Calgary is now the only city in the province where you can walk into a dedicated Samsung location for hands-on support, device troubleshooting, and the full product lineup.
The store is at 3625 Shaganappi Trail NW inside CF Market Mall, which ranks among the top 15 shopping centres in Canada.
What makes it different from Best Buy
Third-party retailers carry Samsung products, but they carry everyone else's products too. Staff are generalists. Floor space is shared. You're not getting a Samsung-trained technician or a room built around a single brand.
A Samsung Experience Store is different. The entire floor is Samsung. Staff are trained on the ecosystem how a Galaxy phone connects to a Galaxy Watch connects to a Galaxy Tab. You can try every current device, get technical answers from people who actually know the product, and access support a carrier store can't offer.
The CF Market Mall location carries the full Galaxy smartphone lineup, tablets, wearables, PCs, and connected home technology. It also offers Samsung Care+ services, device troubleshooting, technical support, and buy online, pick up in-store.
What Galaxy AI actually is
Samsung has been heavily marketing Galaxy AI across its recent device lineup, but the feature set is more concrete than the branding suggests.
Circle to Search lets you draw a circle around anything on your screen a product, a word, an image and instantly search it without leaving the app you're in. Live Translate works in real time during phone calls, translating both sides of a conversation as it happens. Chat Assist rewrites messages in different tones formal, casual, polished directly inside your messaging apps. Generative Edit in the camera lets you remove objects from photos, reposition subjects, and fill in backgrounds automatically. Note Assist summarizes long notes and voice recordings into clean bullet points.
Most of these features run on-device rather than in the cloud, which means they work without an internet connection and don't send your data to a server to process. For people who have been curious about Galaxy AI but haven't had a chance to try it hands-on, the CF Market Mall store is the first place in Alberta where you can actually test all of it in person before deciding whether it matters to you.
How this compares to the Apple Store experience
Calgary already has a benchmark for what a dedicated tech brand store looks like. Apple has operated a store at Chinook Centre for years open layout, dedicated Genius Bar for repairs and technical support, staff trained exclusively on Apple products, and the ability to book same-day appointments for device issues.
Samsung's CF Market Mall location is positioning itself in the same category. Dedicated brand staff, hands-on product access across the full lineup, Samsung Care+ repairs on-site, and a retail environment built around one ecosystem rather than fifty competing ones.
The key practical difference for consumers comes down to which ecosystem you're in. If you're on iPhone, the Apple Store at Chinook is your go-to. If you're on Android specifically Samsung CF Market Mall now gives you the equivalent experience on the north side of the city. For anyone considering switching between the two, having both stores accessible in Calgary means you can walk into each, spend an hour with the actual devices, and make an informed decision rather than guessing from spec sheets.
Why it took this long
Alberta's retail market has grown quickly over the past decade, but Samsung's Canadian Experience Store expansion concentrated in Toronto and Vancouver first. Calgary despite being Canada's third-largest city and one of its wealthiest consumer markets didn't have a dedicated location until now.
That's changing. Calgary has attracted a run of flagship brand openings over the past few years from companies finally treating it as the tier-one retail market it already was. Samsung's Alberta debut is part of that same pattern.
"Calgary consumers are highly engaged with new technology and increasingly looking for more immersive retail experiences," said Krista Collinson, Head of Direct-to-Consumer at Samsung Electronics Canada. "CF Market Mall has long been a location we've been excited about."
Samsung Canada president and CEO Brian Shin framed it as a deliberate market decision. "Alberta is an important and growing market for Samsung. Opening our first Samsung Experience Store in Calgary allows us to connect more directly with customers in the region."
What to know before you go
If you're going in for technical support or a Care+ claim rather than browsing, book ahead. Samsung Experience Stores in other cities get busy fast after opening walk-in wait times for repairs can stretch depending on parts availability.
Samsung Care+ covers accidental damage including cracked screens and liquid damage, with same-day or next-day repair options. If you're currently enrolled or considering it, having an in-person Calgary location instead of mail-in service is a significant upgrade.
The store is open now at CF Market Mall, 3625 Shaganappi Trail NW. Full details at samsung.com/ca.
Sources:
Samsung Electronics Canada news release — Samsung Canada Opens First Samsung Experience Store in Alberta at CF Market Mall, May 25, 2026 (news.samsung.com/ca)
ICSC 2024 Canadian Mall Property Performance Rankings (icsc.com)
