The Microsoft ghost town

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Today is one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
I went to one of the largest, most crowed malls in the Phoenix area (Scottsdale Fashion Square) and took this picture of the “crowds” at the Microsoft store:

Then, I ended up at another mall right down the street (Biltmore Fashion Park) and took this picture of the Apple store:

Microsoft must be losing their shirts on these stores - employees outnumbers customers 4 to 1.

#2

I didn’t even know there were Microsoft stores. Possibly because I haven’t been to a mall in 12 years or so.

#3

I already own an Xbox and a PC…I just don’t know what I’d go to such a store for!

#4

The (shitty) new version of Windows they foist on the public every 16 months or so?

#5

Actually, Windows 8 is pretty cool.

I also didn’t know there was a Microsoft store.

#6

I already have Windows 7, but I haven’t gotten a physical copy of their OS since windows XP. It was a 30 minute download from their website!

#7

Microsoft feels compelled to copy Apple in everything they do. Since the Apple stores have been a smashing success (more dollars/square foot than any other US retailer), Microsoft figured that they better cash in also. If the crowds I’ve seen are any indication, they are failing miserably. Microsoft has been placing their stores as close as they can to Apple’s.

#8

Sounds like a classic case of trying to duplicate the effect without addressing the cause… :wink:

#9

Never heard of a Microsoft store either. Shitty computers and X-Boxes? I thought that is what Wal-Mart is for.

#10

what would they sell exactly? It’s a software company and their product is in every computer store except dedicated Apple stores.

#11

I think it’s important to note that in their first two years, Apple Retail stores struggled a bit. (http://www.macworld.com/article/159499/2011/05/applestoresinancials.html). They’ve spent 10 years honing it into a product that’s vastly successful.

Microsoft is two years into their experiment. I don’t know if it’s currently successful or not, but if it’s not, then with the right execution, they could still pull it off.

#12

Sony is jumping on the bandwagon as well with Apple knockoff-type stores.

#13

Yeah, doesn’t make much sense to me. I can get Microsoft stuff at every electronics section of any store.

#14

Yes, MIcrosoft stores make no sense. Apple’s retail operations are a big success-because they do not discount, and do not sell to other retailers.
That is why APPLE enjoys huge margins.
Microsoft has tried to markeyt all kinds of devices-outside of the XBOX, how many have been a success?
Not many.

#15

Oh good! I can go pick up a Zune finally! oh wait…

#16

It must be really hard to work at a Microsoft store if your name is Bob.

#17

Or Clippy…

#18

If I want an Apple product, I can buy one online, or I can go to the Apple store.

If I want a Microsoft product, I can buy one online, or I can go to the Microsoft store, or I can go to Target, or I can go to Walmart, or I can go to Meijer, or I can go to Best Buy, or… wait, remind me why I would want to go to the Microsoft store, again?

(I was hoping from the title, by the way, that this was going to be some kind of cool feature article about how Microsoft had layoffs and part of the Redmond campus is abandoned with old tattered “Windows XP” banners fluttering forlornly from the edges of buildings, and the occasional 2010 bus pass tumbling along in the breeze.)

#19

Or you can go to Best Buy, or Fry’s, or amazon.com, or Walmart, or Radio Shack, or… the point is, you can buy Apple’s products at lots of place other than Apple stores or Apple.com.

#20

I would group Amazon.com under “online,” actually. Can you really just waltz into Best Buy or Walmart or whatever and pick up an iPod or an iPhone? I honestly had no idea, not ever having tried. Edit: Also, if the answer is “yes,” which I assume by your post that it is, then I feel silly. :stuck_out_tongue: