The New BlackBerry Store.

It's not exactly a sleek Apple boutique on Manhattan's Lower West Side -- in fact, it looks like a rather cheerless box in a bleak Upper Midwest suburb -- but the first "authorized" BlackBerry store (does that mean there are "bootleg" BlackBerry stores?) had its grand opening this week in Farmington Hills, Mich.

Featuring "the most comprehensive offering of BlackBerry products and services," the new retail outlet is operated by Wireless Giant, a chain founded in 1996. The store is multicarrier, which means you can purchase BlackBerrys and data plans supported by any of the Big 4 U.S. wireless carriers: AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, or Verizon Wireless.

The new BlackBerry outlet follows a trend of device-makers opening their own stores: the Apple stores have become magnets for Mac-heads and lovers of iPhones and iPods, while Nokia has gradually been rolling out its own retail locations, with flagship stores in Chicago, New York, and Shanghai.