“Microsoft is in negotiations to open its first ever New York City retail store on Fifth Ave., sources told the Daily News,” Katherine Clarke reports for The New York Daily News. “The deal, at 677 Fifth Ave. near 53rd St., would give Microsoft a splashy presence on the top retail corridor in the country and put it just a stone’s throw from its biggest rival Apple’s iconic glass cube store.”
“The 8,700-square-foot, two-story space eyed by Microsoft was last occupied by luxury fashion brand Fendi, which departed the building last year for a spot on Madison Ave.,” Clarke reports. “Rents for ground floor stores on prime Fifth Ave., are the priciest in the nation and have been topping $3,500 per square foot in recent deals.”
“Microsoft has a track record of setting up shop near Apple stores, where it can go head to head with its competitor at close proximity. It has reportedly used that tactic numerous times at its Palo Alto outposts,” Clarke reports. “The company last flirted with New York retail in 2012, when it opened a temporary pop-up store in Times Square for the holidays. It’s been on the hunt for a more permanent home since then.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
Believe it or not, Microsoft now has amassed some 100 retail stores in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Every time we’re near one of Microsoft’s cavernously empty tombs, we look into it and find nothing but bored employees, crappy Windows PCs and assorted other Apple wannabe dreck, and a handful of abandoned kids playing with Xboxes (“Go in there and play games while we shop, Johnny.”)
These Apple Store knockoffs must be a “marketing expense” write-off at Microsoft. “Look, everyone, we’re still relevant! No, really, we are – look we have our own stores, too!!!” Microsoft desperately screams.
We cannot imagine any scenario in which these stores aren’t losing money hand over fist.
For how long can Nadella continue this charade?
Related articles:
Microsoft retail store traffic pales in comparison to Apple’s – November 26, 2010
Analyst: Apple Retail Stores mauling Microsoft; Since 2004 over 18m Windows users switched to Mac – April 28, 2010
Microsoft looks to double retail store ‘network’ to four; Denver and San Diego up next – April 01, 2010
Apple’s retail store network, 285 strong and counting, driving Mac sales growth; AAPL at $435? – March 22, 2010
Apple exec offers peek into retail roll-out; including ‘jaw dropping’ London and Shanghai stores – February 26, 2010
NPD: 48% of the money spent at U.S. retail on desktop PCs was spent on Apple Macs – November 25, 2009
Microsoft: You’re not cool; you’re the opposite of cool; stop making your employees dance (w/ vid) – November 17, 2009
Microsoft Retail Stores have to resort to free concert tickets to generate opening day crowds – October 30, 2009
Notes from Microsoft’s first retail store: ‘Cheap, disorganized, and poorly-located’ (with photo) – October 23, 2009
Microsoft’s Bizarro Universe: 8 years late; in garish color; featuring inferior products (w/ video) – October 22, 2009
Microsoft to mimic Apple (what else is new?) with ‘Guru Bars’ in retail stores – July 25, 2009
That will be difficult for the shop staff to be looking over at how busy the Apple Store is. I guess they at least have new hardware to sell, I.e., Nokia handsets.
The “charade” can continue as long as there is more money to bleed. It is both sad and funny. Microsoft charades have gone on for decades. Just look at the Microsoft Nokia phones and the Surface. And what are the real numbers behind Windows 8? Are people buying it in their PCs and clearing it out to put another OS in them or an older Windows OS?
BWAHAHAHAHA! What’s most amusing is that no matter how much we shout about Microsoft’s Folly, that being their loser Microsoft Stores, it doesn’t penetrate. It’s their own personal self-destructive imperative. Ha. Haha. HAHAHA! HEEHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Who made this coffee?!
Go, coffee, go!!!
The Morning Caffeine Prayer:
“O Coffee Bean, O Giver of Life, deliver me from the clutches of Morpheus. Let C8H10N4O2 engulf my very being, I remain your whore, In Juan Valdez’s name…amen.”
Oh giddy heightener of my already manic mind…
About Surface. I hate that all NFL teams will be using those crappy devices. There will likely be more placement shots of them than yards completed. Bye bye iPads, that were chosen by the coaches and players. Hello MS junk. Ugh.
And yet…
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/27/despite-multi-year-msft-surface-deal-nearly-all-nfl-teams-use-ipads-as-playbooks-says-apple/
It’s going to be very funny when a coach snaps a Surface into hundreds of eye-poking pieces over their knee. Brink back Coach Ditka – he will do the job right.
I wonder if the players had any say in it at all. They get endorsements and do ads for Apple’s competition but are invariably caught using Apple gear. I wonder if the coaches even got a vote on it. MS probably pitched the Surface at red-tag special sale pricing to the NFL and owners, and they said hell yeah.
Microsoft has had a heck of a lot of failures over the years. When was the last time they introduced anything that was truly a success? Windows XP?
Well, Windows 7 was considered a success. The XBox was a success for a middle period in there somewhere. Office still reaps millions of victims. Windows Server still has its claws in thousands of suffering businesses.
A better question might be:
‘When was the last time Microsoft introduced anything that was truly INNOVATIVE?’
Beats the hell out of me!
Ever heard of Microsoft Kinect? Oh yeah, they bought that innovation from PrimeSense. Nevermind 😉
Crowded stores can be a pain, but empty stores are empty for a reason.
And if “emptiness” continues, the new CEO will exit.
Being “late to the game” is not a winner in this age. MS made a hit by getting MSDOS into the game early.
Win8 & Surface are too late to be a force as proven by the Apple/IBM deal. This had to put fear into Satya’s value of his options.
Bill Gates bluffed IBM to get into the PC game to best Apple Mac by showing some basic DOS scripts to them to seal the deal. Went back to Seattle, bought Seattle DOS company + DOS code expert became Microsoft employee for 3500 dollars. Changed name to MS-DOS & delivered it to IBM. Gates was expert poker player who bluffed & bought his way into PC industry after dropping out of college with help from very rich parents. TROOOOOTH!
Almost 400 million dollars a year in rent with minimum locked-in rental period of ten years. Considering this will entirely be a non-profit, loss-making exercise, this is a fine new money pit to be blowing beleaguered MSFT investors cash on.
Well with 400 Million over 10 years they could keep some of that staff they are letting go. If they do this they are just completely nuts. How many more empty stores do they need to see that this is not working. This new guy seems to be as bad as the last CEO “The emBalmer”.
Over 10 years, they will have paid $4 billion (with a B) in rent for that store (if russ‘s math is correct).
While Russ I’m sure is a nice guy, I checked it’s nowhere near that price. Yes it’s not cheap but there is no way a company can sell enough stuff out of that store to turn a profit. 30 Million a year tops for ten years gets us close but still no cigar. Even at 30 Million a yeah turning a profit would be next to impossible.
If the price quoted in the article is correct ($3,500 per month per square foot), then it means that for an 8700-sqft space, the monthly rent is $30.45 million (making it close to $400 million number that Russ had mentioned.
Something is surely wrong with the numbers in the article. Not even Apple can make half a billion dollars in profit in a single store, just to cover the rent, even it if it a 5th avenue store.
… One day, we shall bathe in rivers of schadenfreude! 😆
Doesn’t it tug at your brain when you write that a store space would cost $400 million a year and that you ought to do some research?
Cost per square foot for rental space is per year not per month as you are relating your rental experience/knowledge (e.g., homes) to something (commercial real estate) about which you know nothing (apparently).
I went in to buy a copy of windows 7 I needed for a VMware project and they did not want to sell it to me. Clearly the box was there on display but they tried to move me to windows 8.1. Which won’t work for this project. So I left went to staples and in 3 minutes had what I needed. Such a joke of a place. Such a poorly run company.
In just a few short years it could go on to serve as a historical museum. They wouldn’t even have to remove their inventory.
I am not an accountant, but how do you possibly justify this with minimal margins and few customers?
Nothing more than a product showroom. Go and try out the goods, then order them on-line. This is what killed the ma & pa stores.
Maybe M¢ will get their Surface RT’s back from PawnAmerica and have something to stock the shelves with.
Every Surface tablet is a paving stone to the future of Microsoft’s bankruptcy.
Finally, a place where I can take naps in peace and quiet. Thank you Microsoft! 😜
I can’t take the credit for it but I read a comment on similar post that made me chuckle that I’d like to share. Apple Store Fifth Avenue store has the iconic glass cube. Microsoft’s store will have a PLEXIGLASS cube.
No Microsoft don’t want to be seen copying Apple.
Their store will be totally original, it will be a plexiglass pyramid.
This is kinda like opening a Kia dealership adjacent to the BMW dealer. No actually, it is like opening a Pinto dealership next to the highest grossing BMW dealer.
They should offer lap-dances.
They already offer hookers and free drugs to anyone trying to return a surface tablet. It works out cheaper than warehouse costs.
They should stock their stores with iPhones and iPads running Office and Macs running Boot Camp.
They could use it as the “Microsoft Museum of Failed Products”. That’ll get them some traffic.
It will eventually turn into that anyway.
Exposing their weaknesses and how poorly they fare in comparison. Whoop- de- doo!!!
That’s one heck of a “stone’s throw”: look more like six blocks to me…
Those who move near glass stores shouldn’t throw stones.
Why bother?
Good. We want M$ to pour more money down the drain.
I very much doubt that the stores have ever turned a profit. Doe anyone know if M$ disclose the store’s performance in their quarterly results?
Does not Doe
“Microsoft has a track record of setting up shop near Apple stores, where it can go head to head with its competitor”..
Really, this “reporter” never read the news? How can any one say they are “Head to Head”, didn’t they mean “Head to tail”?
Microsoft is not opening those stores near apple stores because they want to compete, they are doing that because they know Apple stores attracts tons of people and microsoft just want to see if they can sell something to those who were lost or confused.
Or just plain stupid. You can’t fix stupid. Ask Steve Ballmer.
I like their strategy. I like it a lot.
Head-to-head?! More like head-to-distant-trail-of-dust from Apple far in the lead.
The Apple-IBM partnership killed whatever remote hope that Microsoft may have had for remaining relevant.
Microsoft is truly a parasite. How can anyone want to buy defective trash from Microsoft
?
Because their IT doofus jobs depend on it.
Whatever their intentions are for this property, I am surprised that MSFT has not had a retail presence in the NYC area.
Rents for ground floor stores on prime Fifth Ave., are the priciest in the nation and have been topping $3,500 per square foot in recent deals.
EXceLLeNT! OuR eViL pLaN is WOrKiNg!
Spend Microsoft! Spend SPEND SPEND!!! 😈
One of those MS stores opened up here, across the breezeway from a giant Apple Store that is always going gangbusters. It’s about ¼ the size and still it’s empty most of the time. I have yet to figure out what it is they sell to pay the rent and wages of the workers. People walk in and out, but I almost never see a MS shopping bag leave the store. If they buy anything, they’re hiding their purchases under their trench coats.
What is it that they do, do? to paraphrase Young Frankenstein.
Why, given Apple Stores are full of people and Microsoft are not, does Apple owns just one digit computer market share? I wonder…
1980s called. They want their market share facts back.
Counterweight that market share stuff with the profit margins of a typical computer. A PC makes around $15 per unit, so they have to sell train cars full of them to make any money. Apple profits about $230 per unit.
The PC industry fell into “the value trap” brought about the vicious competition that eviscerated so many companies. The race to the bottom gutted the market. CompUSA, buh buy. Circuit City, ciao baby. Gateway… who? Dell delisted from the stock market. Pink slips in the 10s of thousands.
And now… Windows 8, so bad, like Vista, that people are paying to downgrade the PCs to Win 7, but tough beans there, MS is pulling the plug on security patches on Win 7 in 6 months to force users into the dystopia of Win 8.
It’s a grisly picture. I feel an incipient paradigm shift coming, a subsonic trembling in the earth beneath my feet.
Yeah, I agree. But that doesn’t explain why this crowd doesn’t add up market share. Are this people inside this stores just admiring beautiful machinery, as in a museum, and getting out with no bags in hand? Apple Stores are not new, you know? Lustrums come and go and we (Apple, Inc. and fans) have just one digit market share to presume. The war isn’t over… and it won’t be over in a looooong, looooong time.
The stores aren’t full of corporate buyers, they are full of individuals. If you take corporate PC sales and leases out of the market picture, the story is a lot different. And the total computing device sales of Apple are increasing while the best news on the PC side is that the rate of decline in sales is slowing. Yes, the PC sales to individuals is still huge, but people have been waking up to Apple for a long time and it’s accelerating. MS has made it hard to love a PC.
Oh, my goodness yes, Apple Stores sell outrageous amounts of stuff. It’s not just a bunch of Lookie Lews.
Apple is 17 times more efficient than other retailers. A respectable take for the year per square foot on retail space is $300. Apple Stores haul in $6,000/sq. foot.
Apple Stores churn up so much money the average take for every single person who walks in the door is ~ $57. That’s a helluva admission ticket just to walk in the door.
The median for the top 20 retailers is around $780 and that’s including Tiffany at #2 with their ¼ million dollar ruby and diamond necklaces.
They need those big yellow Caterpillar tractors to move all that stuff out the doors.
True, iPad sales were terrible last quarter, only 13.3 million units compared to the astronomical figure of Windows Surface tablets of 500 thousand. (Insert facetiousness here.) The problem is iPads are too good and people don’t upgrade quickly. I skipped 3 generations before I got my iPad Air.
Are those tumbleweeds blowing across the floor?
They won’t have to worry about oxygen. Cause there will be plenty of that in their store.
A sad testament. Build stores next to the most successful retail stores in the tech industry and hope some of the overflow wanders in. It’s the “scraps from Longshanks table”. This is kind of old news. That’s been one of their new strategies for a while now. Pathetic.
That photo looks just like the mostly-empty store they opened a few years back, directly across the parking lot from Apple’s busy store in Seattle’s University Village shopping center. The Apple store in Bellevue Square mall – the one closest to Microsoft World Domination Headquarters – is just enormous (it started out years ago about the size of a postage stamp).
What is wrong with them? Doesn’t MS know how pathetic they look when they open stores near Apple stores? I thought they were going to hire smart people to run MS.
When Apple started the whole idea of retail stores, the critics howled about what a disaster and a mistake it would be. Ok, so they were wrong about Apple back the, but where are they regarding Microsoft stores now? I don’t see the doom/gloom stories in the tech press about this failed MS adventure. Did they just not notice?
They put one in a mall in Scottsdale AZ that is directly across the hall from the Apple store. They look like mirror images. Well except that one is empty and one is packed with people.