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Microsoft Stores Are Permanently Closing

Wow. Had a store at a nearby mall. It was actually pretty good service. Didn't have the "feel" of the Apple store that was at the other end of the mall, but it was nice. Ending up by buying a few thousand dollars worth of surfaces.

But I guess with Coronavirus, occupancy limits, shelter-in-place etc, Microsoft may not see a bright future in malls.
 
NufSaid said:
The staff were always helpful but the experience kinda stunk.

you don’t realize how much goes into perfecting an Apple store.....until you visit Microsoft 😀
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An Apple Store is an experience to be endured, not enjoyed.

I've seriously never had an even remotely pleasant time in one, and I've happily spent many, many hours in computer stores over the years. I enjoyed it so much as a kid that I now do freelance IT for a living, specializing in Apple products.

But the Apple store just isn't pleasant. Even going in to buy something is annoying, the last time I was in one I was trying to assist a client with an iPad purchase. It seemed like something that should be simple enough; go in, tell the salesperson what he wanted, pay, leave. I knew they had it in stock, I knew he didn't need or want the new model that wasn't shipping yet, but it took almost an hour to get someone who could actually sell anything, to talk them out of trying to sell him the new one, to explain that no, I would be handling the data transfer, no, don't open the box, no, we won't be recycling the old one, etc.

And trying to buy an iMac from them these days - ugh. I've had to have several clients take iMacs back because the idiots at the Apple Store convinced them to ignore the specs I'd given them and get one with a Fusion drive, because it's "just as good as a SSD". I mean, we all know it isn't, not only is it slower it's an extra potential point of failure. And Apple doesn't try to pull that stunt with any other Mac, the rest don't even have a spinny rust platter option. But the iMac.... And when the client doesn't return it, I end up cutting the iMac open and replacing the spinny rust platter with a SSD in a few years, which isn't quite as fast because it's not Apple's proprietary NVMe knockoff drive, it's just SATA.

Don't get me started on the decor. I know some people like it, but I HATE it. Too bright, too much white, ugly tables, ugly floors, it's just unpleasant.
 
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rmoliv said:
I wonder if this might happen to Apple Stores as well. The world will come out of this crisis a lot poorer than it was before, and Apple can’t live off the rich minority alone to keep all of its stores running. I’d say they’ll probably have to close a few stores in some locations around the world.
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Wonder not, that will not happen.

Apple can continue to live off of more affluent people, just like they’ve been doing this century up until now. Your premise is backwards; rich people will be the last that need to cut back on their tech spending, so businesses that cater to them will do the best.

They have no need to close any stores, even if some of them go months or a couple of years not breaking even on sales. Which seems pretty unlikely in any case.

They have closed a few stores before, but mostly that was after other ones opened that were close enough to serve the same area.
 
In Seattle's U District there is/was a Microsoft Store directly across the parking lot from an Apple Store. The contrast in foot traffic was remarkable. I felt sort of bad for the MS employees; they were nice and were always happy when someone walked into their store.
 
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Jack Neill said:
Good. I hope every other physical retailer follows suit and as a society we transition to online/delivery for every need.
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What a supremely selfish and idiotic statement. The retail industry employs millions of people worldwide; 2.9 million in the UK; exactly ten times that figure in the US. And God only knows how many across Europe, China and India. How are you going to magic up jobs for all those people, stranded up there in your ivory tower?
 
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Not surprising, really. Microsoft just doesn’t have the brand appeal to justify a highstreet store; they’re not places that consumers would automatically consider going to.

And their product portfolio backs this up. Although the quality of their hardware engineering has improved, I’m surprised they even had enough products to fill a store with in the first place.
 
On of the outdoor malls in LA has an Apple, Microsoft and Sony store all within viewing distance of one another. The Apple stores was always packed. The Sony store was not as busy as the Apple store, but had steady traffic. However the Microsoft store was usually empty.
 
I loved my local Microsoft store. Honestly, the support staff were helpful and I ordered my razerblade from them. They had one of the best warranties offered by a PC maker or third party dealer. They also allow you to demo games and software in the store.

I also loved their Surface Studio line. Wished they had a better GPU and processor in their Surface Studio. nothing beats the hinge and being able to bring the screen down and drawing on it.

I also saw they were hurting for business. Most of the time, I was one of the few customers in the store. Even during peak business hours, there were maybe handful of people in the MS store compared to the packed Apple store down the hall. Microsoft had a good idea but poor execution of their store design.
 
dwig said:
The difference is/was that the Microsoft Stores were computer stores and the Apple Stores are phone stores.

The vast majority of the customers that you see in Apple Stores are looking at phone and most of the rest are looking at iPads. If you filter out the phone shoppers (and their families) and those looking at iPads other than the Pros the remainder is not much different that the customer level in a Microsoft Store.
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A good point that I never considered. A phone user often has to have help in transferring to another phone, or setting up a new one, and the number of options is minimal. They can stock all configurations without needing a warehouse attached to the mall. But, someone wanting a new Mac probably already knows what they want, and in my case, the configuration is never available in the stores, so I just order it exactly as I want.
 
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Jack Neill said:
Good. I hope every other physical retailer follows suit and as a society we transition to online/delivery for every need.
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ummm no. There are things that require in person assessment before purchase.
Case in point..... how does one purchase custom tailored clothing online?
 
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I think the real reason is that nobody was going there. Every time I've been to a mall with both a MS and Apple store, the Apple store was packed to the brim and the MS store had 6 people and 5 of them were employees...nice spin though...
 
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edubfromktown said:
Never set foot in one of them. Good riddance!
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"Good riddance!"? That's a odd reaction... It'd be like me saying "Good riddance!" that all Italian restaurants have been permanently closed because I'm not fond of Italian food (n.b. an example... love Italian food).

Some pretty extreme fanboy-ism in play there... I'm 100% into Apple, but I'd like them to have serious and strong competition on all fronts as I've seen many a time where Apple gets too arrogant and complacent for it's own good.
 
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The MS stores always looked nice...Even though I never personally went in one, they looked cool through the storefront window. I wish I would have visited one while I had the chance.
 
Jack Neill said:
Good. I hope every other physical retailer follows suit and as a society we transition to online/delivery for every need.
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That's a horribly narrow minded view to take.

1) There's still a good chunk on the population who don't have online access.
2) There's a bigger proportion who don't have access to credit or debit cards
3) Many people live in areas not able to be cheaply served by deliveries
4) Going to a physical store allows customers to see what's they're buying, be it food or electronics.
5) Physical clothing stores allow consumers to try items on for fit and look.
6) Physical stores provide an income streams for a large proportion of the population.
7) Physical stores allow people to interact with other people, both socially and in commerce.
8) Smaller physical stores can form the lifeblood of a community.

And that's after just a couple of minutes of thinking about it. I'm sure there's even more reasons why your suggestion feels like it came from an idealistic gen z'er.
 
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2010mini said:
ummm no. There are things that require in person assessment before purchase.
Case in point..... how does one purchase custom tailored clothing online?
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Clothing in general. I like to try things on before I buy. I never know what size is going to fit right.
 
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People hating on Microsoft Stores but Apple Stores have become completely awful over the last five or so years. I have never succeeded in having my query resolved without having to wait in a queue first. The person you speak to - you know by the door - can never help you, for whatever reason they have to pass you around.
 
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I wonder what kind of sales volume these stores experienced. To me, it seems more likely they existed for brand awareness.
 
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