After two years of research by AT&T to create a retail design that provides an interactive customer experience, the telecommunications company launched its fourth “Store of the Future” at Lincoln Square on Thursday.

“This is an experience store,” said Mike Maxwell, AT&T vice president for the Pacific Northwest. “This is where customers come in and find out they can mobilize all aspects of their lives.”

AT&T opened its third “Store of the Future” in Anchorage on Tuesday, the other two located in Spokane and Clackamas, Ore. Maxwell said multiple Bellevue properties were considered over the past two years for the fourth retail store, which is the model AT&T will adhere to for all new store locations and remodels. When Paper Source relocated from the corner of Northeast Eighth Street and Bellevue Way, the decision was easy to make, Maxwell said.

“We kind of dug in and said, ‘We want to be on Eighth,’ ” he said.

Customers entering the new AT&T store can explore and play with mobile devices and products divided among three zones within the store — the Connected Experience, Community and Explore zones.

“This is really designed for everyone to see things as they would in their home,” said store manager Seneca Luetke, adding employees are encouraged to engage with customers about their lifestyles to help them customize their purchases.

The Lincoln Square store also promotes a paperless concept, customers reviewing their merchandise and service purchases and contracts through tablet PCs and making transactions using card scanners carried by all retail employees, Luetke said. Customers are also provided summaries of their purchased services through email.

While an AT&T store already exists at the Bellevue Square mall across the street, Maxwell said the Lincoln Square store provides more space, higher-end products and the company’s new design elements that wouldn’t work within the footprint of the Bellevue Square store.

“I think we’ll let this stand on its own, for now,” he said.