Microsoft to open first flagship retail store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan

“Microsoft Corp.’s first Manhattan flagship store is coming to Fifth Avenue,” Keiko Morris reports for The Wall Street Journal. “The software company confirmed that it will be setting up shop at 677 Fifth Ave. as it continues to expand its retail presence and take more control over its consumers’ shopping experience.”

Morris reports, “‘As our first flagship store, it will serve as the centerpiece of our Microsoft Stores experience,’ said David Porter, corporate vice president for Microsoft retail stores.”

MacDailyNews Take: “It will serve as the centerpiece of our Microsoft Stores experience.” In other words: Each shopper either enters alone and stands awkwardly amid boxes of non-selling bloatware and tables adorned with crappy Windows PCs and moribund tablets and smartphones while surrounded by blank-eyed employees who got rejected by the real Apple Store or customers enter with one or more children whom they wish to park in front of Xboxes for some free babysitting.

“The Fifth Avenue location, currently a Fendi shop, sits in the center of a glitzy shopping corridor and is several blocks south of Apple Inc.’s store,” Morris reports. “Over the past few years, Microsoft has made an aggressive push to broaden its retail reach and directly connect with its customers. Its competitor Apple had a head start with this approach, shaping the look and shopping experience in its stores. Apple has about 254 stores in the U.S., according to its third-quarter report.”

“Since 2009, Microsoft has opened 104 physical store locations in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. Last year, Microsoft and Best Buy Co. announced they were creating Microsoft mini-stores inside of 600 Best Buy locations,” Morris reports. “The company plans to open 10 more Microsoft stores in the U.S. and Canada in time for the holiday season.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft is a severely mismanaged and critically confused company.

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