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Microsoft’s “new approach” to retail stores: Closing them forever:
Microsoft's retail stores, like many retailers throughout the nation, have been closed for months due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. If you were hoping to visit one again as restrictions in your state ease up, however, you're out of luck: the Microsoft Store is done for good.
The company announced the closure today, amusingly, as the Microsoft Store taking "a new approach to retail," by which it means "not actually operating retail stores." Although four locations—in London, New York City, Sydney, and Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus—will remain open, they will become "experience centers," where one can see, touch, and play with Microsoft products but not actually purchase any.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2020, @06:59PM (10 children)
Microsoft has retail stores? FFS, why?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2020, @07:02PM (1 child)
Look but don't touch. Touch but don't taste. Taste but don't swallow.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 30 2020, @07:50PM
Microsoft definitely wants people, or at least its customers, to swallow.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 30 2020, @07:06PM (3 children)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_hardware [wikipedia.org]
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/23/microsoft-surface-pro-7-review-the-best-windows-10-tablet-pc-computer [theguardian.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Tuesday June 30 2020, @09:39PM (2 children)
If the goal was to get those tablets / laptops out there where people can see them and will buy them, then just sell them at Walmart and Best Buy.
Don't set up an entire brick and mortar operation.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday June 30 2020, @10:33PM
Sony, Xiaomi and Samsung all have retail stores near me. I can buy their products for as much as 20% more than other places there.
I am unsure why they bother.
The Xiaomi one is staffed by the most uninterested people possible, which makes going there even less pleasant.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 01 2020, @02:52AM
They were copying Apple, but they lack the rabid fanboi's that Apple has amassed who will wait days outside for the next shiny new thing, and crowd the Apple stores to the limit.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 30 2020, @07:28PM (3 children)
Probably to imitate Apple, where consumers can bring their hardware in and have an easy path to get it fixed, besides receiving training on how to use it.
M$ does have its own version of an iPad which they probably serviced in those stores, can't imagine they would have handled random hardware issues on random companies' PC hardware. If they're closing the stores, why not just buy a real iPad?
I guess if interested people don't live near London, New York City, Sydney and Redmond, they can go to any Best Buy for a more functional "Experience Center".
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday June 30 2020, @07:38PM
What would draw me to a Microsoft "experience center" (post-pandemic)? HoloLens.
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(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Tuesday June 30 2020, @10:14PM
Apple Sydney [goo.gl]
Microsoft Sydney [googleusercontent.com]
Even the Microsoft logo looks tacky and plastic - if anyone even knows what the four squares represent; "brand recognition" and "logo recognition" are very different things!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by toddestan on Tuesday June 30 2020, @10:41PM
In the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN, the Microsoft store was literally right across from the Apple Store. That they were trying to copy Apple couldn't be more obvious.
It was a long time ago, so I don't recall if they had a service desk. It seemed to mostly stock high end laptops from the likes of Dell and HP (there were distinctly no Thinkpads there - I looked), had a few Windows phones, and various XBox hardware and games which would probably be the main draw if one was a fan of the XBox.
That they are closing the stores down is little surprise to me.