“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.”
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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?
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