A little over a week ago, we were invited to a VIP reception event that will take place today at a Sony Style store in Santa Monica. Though we weren’t given much information to go off of, we can confirm that the event will help kick off a new vision for Sony and their retail initiative, bringing a store that is set to be very different from the current stores. Sony will also take this time to highlight and update us on what is happening in Japan. For this event, Sony has also invited some celebrities which will not only add some glamour to the night, but will also help bring attention to a few charities that Sony hopes people will contribute to. The event is set to kick off at 6pm (PT) tonight, which I will be covering and live blogging from. So feel free to bookmark this page and follow our live blog as it happens after the jump, or follow our Twitter feed.

Update:
We’ll be bringing a lot more tomorrow. Our live blog didnt go quite as planned. The scene was a little too hectic to pull out the iPad and post with.

4:00
Heading down to Santa Monica

5:24
We have just arrived at the new store opening. More on that, once we settle in.

5:45
The store launch is set to open in 15min which from the buzz of it, seems to be a big deal for Sony. Currently, the press is setting up and the celebrities are starting to arrive. During the week of launch, Sony is looking to give away thousands of dollar worth of merchandise to customers who are first in line. They will also be teaming up with Kiis, the local radio station here to give away even more prizes.