Disney announced recently it is opening stores in the US for its MVNO, and now Helio, the JV between Earthlink and SK Telecom aimed at the youth market, is planning to open stores as well. The first of the stores is to open in Santa Monica in October, followed by stores in New York and Palo Alto among other locations. The sexy, futuristic style, seen in the rendering here, takes its cues from the minimalist styling of the handsets themselves.

Going direct with just two devices says Helio is going to move even more product into the market, and probably go upmarket a little as well. In addition, more services such as MySpace may be introduced, for which having direct in-store assistance will be useful. The whole idea is to build cachet and nuture a Helio economy, with complimentary accesories and services.