Microsoft Store
 

Has anybody been to one of the Microsoft Retail stores? There is one opening by me on Saturday. It is in the mall right across from the Apple Store. I guess there are some people that may set up an appointment for help, like the Apple Genius Bar. But, I don't see how these can survive.

It looks similar to something I've seen before.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1340211673.jpg

The mall is going to be a mess on Saturday. As part of the grand opening, there is going to be a free concert with O.A.R. and Young the Giant.

We have a couple of them up here near Redmond (surprise). Anyway, they often have aggressive pricing and great customer service.

The giant wall screens are pretty cool.

pretty blatant copying...but hey, if you can't beat em, copy em

I have yet to see an Apple store with giant wall screens.

....or are you saying that the idea of a factory store is unique to Apple?

Maybe it's the corner of the Microsoft store that has people dancing with the Kinect that Apple had first...

Oh, you're right...MS Store isn't copying anyone.:rolleyes:

here's the Apple store in NY
http://images.apple.com/retail/galle...uws_photo4.jpg

The way I see it . . . .
 

This 917 can represent the Apple Store:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1340229925.jpg

And, representing the Microsoft store:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1340229985.jpg

Is the Microsoft store going to be staffed by transsexual transvestites, like our Apple store? Not that there's anything wrong with that...

hipsters or nerds?

who do you want doing your tech support?

How long is the wait for tech support in the microsoft store :D

All the Apple stores I've seen or walked into is / was packed with people. The MS store, don't think so.

Steve

73 911 T MFI Coupe, Aubergine

Microsoft has generally been very good at that!

Well considering MSFT also head hunted Apple store managers and staff then yes.

I'm pretty sure hipsters wouldn't do this:

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In a big mall near me there is an Apple store, and a Sony store right next to each other...

Same frontage and area.... both stores are always crowded, the Apple store seems to be more crowded..

Fwiw the interior design shares many of the same cues....

At least they cut loose a bit in that vid...

Imagine if they were like the workers in this electronic store in Xi'an, China


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1340242760.jpg

I visited ~35 Apple stores launching a product several years ago. They are all the same. And yes, I watched them do a rousing morning cheer when they opened the doors in the Aventura Mall one morning. The staff is highly trained to sell Apple & to be cute & helpful. In a robotic koolaid kind of way. Trying to talk with them was painful.

Good luck to MS. They just aren't cute. But then there are Sony stores, B&O stores, a McLaren store in London . . .

Ian

Apple stores have everything down to a science.

Why Apple Stores Tilt The MacBook Pro Exactly 70 Degrees | Gizmodo Australia

I see what you mean. ...wall graphics, good lighting with the product on display.

...Clearly the Porsche museum ripped off the Apple Store look.

I'm pretty sure they don't pay enough for that.

I was waiting for them all to turn blue and freeze and fall down. and quite honestly, hoping so for their own sake. Fun fact, 82% of them quit the next day after their friends saw that video. Sadly, the male employees were not allowed to retrieve their penises from the locker room before security showed them out.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1340247809.jpg

In terms of copying stores, once there was a company called Gateway...

The Apple hype is partially from being burned for so many decades by MS, partially because it's a dang good product that's usually easy to use and works consistently(unless you want to open the hood), and partially because the company has survived and was an underdog company which many in society can relate to.

I heard the layout of a prototypical Microsoft store is to have a bunch of windows which are occasionally stuck, a whole bunch of back doors, an entrance turnstile that you have to put money into in order for it to let you in, and if you want to come back next week you'll have to pay again because it's a "new version", even if it looks the same. It'll also have a whole lot of patches and paint-overs all over the place.

Exactly what does Microsoft have to sell in the "Microsoft Store"? Let's see, we'll stock a boxed MS Windows disc, a boxed MS Office disc, a MS XBOX, a MS Zune well maybe not, and, uh, a Microsoft mouse. Okay, that's one shelf. Lot's of empty space for all the customers who will be beating down our doors!

Zune owner flash mob....with 100% attendance.

Heh. Student of mine just came back from a big MS conference in Orlando. She brought me a "MS Company Store" bag, with a Redhat Linux hat in it (no, it is black).

Need to have Mel Brooks with the 15 .. oops... 10 commandments...

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One corner has Windows phones. One corner has the Kinect, which is hugely popular - and likely how all those Employees learned the dance moves. The rest of the store is filled with various cool new tablets, super slim notebooks, gaming machines, and machines with big touch-screens. ...and of course, the software suites and such are scattered about the store.

I've gone there to buy a Tablet, Office, a windows phone and a water-proof thingy to take the phone swimming. Prices were significantly better than even online for all those purchases and the customer service has always been plentiful and thorough.

But please stay with Apple products - I don't like crowds. ;) ..every time I've gone to an Apple store I feel like I should have my immunizations and a bottle of Purell.

Very true. I understand that they have a mock-up store in Cupertino to try out new displays & placement. Everything must be approved by corporate. There is no personal innovation allowed. The store designers wouldn't let us move a product - even though the installation was flawed - and the local stores freaked out when we suggested it. They have a proven system that sucks their buyer in.

Ian

I agree, a nice, big, empty store where all the salespeople can give you their undivided attention is a nice shopping experience. Why doesn't every retailer offer that?

The Apple test store is at the HQ in Cupertino.

It is nice. ..Nice and roomy. Likely more than Twice the size of the Apple store. ...but then, I should also note that Microsoft has many more offerings than Apple.

Perhaps one of the most blatant and embarrassing examples of "white man" dancing to the Black Eyed Peas that Ive seen in a while.

MS Store, MS Phone, MS Slate (or what ever its called), all lame attempts to pick up market share. Years too late without anything to seriously surpass Apple or set the trend, just copy.

Bill G. got out when he was on top. Smart man.

The microsoft store theme song..........

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