Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York will soon have a new neighbor. Microsoft will open a store of its own in the city of the Big Apple. It will be the first Microsoft flagship store that the software company will put up. Corporate Vice President for Microsoft Retail Stores David Porter told the Wall Street Journal, "As our first flagship store, it will serve as the centerpiece of our Microsoft Stores experience."
The Microsoft flagship store will occupy a current Fendi Store. Once Microsoft moves in, the store will be at the heart of a glamorous shopping strip. The software company believes that the location will be of strategic value. Porter adds, "We were only waiting for the right location. And now we have it." The date for the opening of the planned Microsoft store has not yet been confirmed.
Microsoft had put up stores in the past, in New York, but they were mostly temporary and pop-ups. In fact, Microsoft launched its Surface product in a temporary Times Square outlet. There is a Microsoft store in State Island but mainly sell limited and specific Microsoft products. Across the United States, the software company has over 100 retail outlets. Unlike Apple however, Microsoft is concentrated mostly on cloud and mobile use. Still this will not stop Microsoft from opening more retail outlets. Microsoft plans to open several more retail outlets in locations such as Tulsa and Bethesda. The company also plans to open an outlet in Toronto, Canada.
The upcoming flagship store will be a permanent place where Microsoft can showcase its products and services. The software company promised that the New York store will be very different from its usual retail outlet set up. It can be expected that when the New York store opens, it will probably showcase its existing and soon to come products such as Surface Tablets and Lumia gadgets.
A Microsoft flagship store in New York, if successful, will probably be the first of many.
