Visiting a Microsoft Store
One of my travel assignments has taken me to Minneapolis, MN. The Mall of America is considered one of the largest shopping complexes in the United States. Indeed, it is massive. The Mall of America is located in nearby Bloomington, MN. My visit happened to coincide with the opening of the newest Microsoft Store. Having never visited a Microsoft store before, I thought I’d drop in and offer my impressions.
Let me first set expectations. What I did not want to see was a copy of the Apple Store. I wanted to see some innovation. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of some sign that Microsoft could still be creative. Unfortunately with regards to this hope, I would leave disappointed.
The Microsoft store is located directly across from the Apple Store. Apparently the designers of this store must have believed that size does matter, because the Microsoft store is about 3 times the size of the nearby Apple store. The appearance is similar to it’s fruit-named neighbor, albeit a more colorful version. The familiar Apple fruit-logo is replaced with a block of squares which is (I assume) supposed to make people automatically think of Microsoft. (See photo)
If you are familiar with the Apple Store then you recognize these features of the Microsoft store:
- Answer Bar (Microsoft’s version of the Genius Bar)
- Theatre area in the back with nominal seating
- Video screens on the walls demonstrating novel ways to use Microsoft products.
- LCD displays along the outer walls
- Tables laid out in symmetrical patterns demonstrating various products.
- Software in the rear left corner of the store.
- A section for kids to play the XBox (Similar to Apple’s “Kid section: with iMacs)
What do they sell?
Since Apple is (mostly) a hardware company and Microsoft is (mostly) a software company, there has to be some difference right? Of course! The Microsoft store has for sale:
- Laptops by Toshiba, Dell, others. The laptops are sorted into tables holding Small, Medium and Netbook sizes of laptops. All of the laptops are “scrubbed” of spyware and the “Intel / AMD / tiny gerbil inside” labels have been removed. If you buy a laptop in the Microsoft store it is repackaged in a spiffy Microsoft Store box. The hardware that was on-display was unimpressive. Especially when compared with the slick laptops on display just across the hallway, but also when compared to other laptops on the market. If you needed a basic Windows machine though, you could probably be satisfied with the offerings on display. Some of them had reminder labels such as “Touch me! I have a touch screen!”
- XBox: Obviously this is a popular draw. This was the only part of the store that was crowded. The crowd was teenagers using the store as an arcade, but hey, a customer is a customer.
- Software: The store stocks both Microsoft and many 3rd party products. The number of titles offered was impressive.
- Windows Phone 7: Several of these phones were on display. I’m not going to write my impressions, but I will point out that each model, regardless of manufacturer seemed identical. I’m not sure why they have multiple vendors if they specs are so tight that they leave no room for innovation. I did like the UI on the Windows Phone line, and some of the sample e-mails were a bit humorous.
- USB Keys that look like R2D2. (It stuck in my mind, so I thought it was worth mentioning.)
- Kindles. Yes, the Microsoft Store sells Kindles. I guess they can say they technically have Tablets for sale.
- Microsoft Surface. I saved this for last. I spent probably 15 minutes playing with this. It’s a HUGE table that works sort of like an iPhone. Just slower than an iPhone, and I needed both arms to work it, and it didn’t do as much as my iPhone. But: it was a big huge table!!! I wonder if I can install Space Invaders on it? If I can then I might like it!
Conclusion:
The Microsoft Store is a solid effort, if not very creative. They sell an impressive collection of software and I can see the store being my first stop for an XBox. Nothing impressed me about the selection of laptops that were sold. There were not enough desktops in stock to mention. Quite frankly the store left me questioning why I might go to this store instead of a Microcenter, Fry’s or even a Best Buy. All of these later options I could get to without navigating a huge mall. Unfortunately the store was mostly empty only two days after they opened. The only people in the store were employees, which outnumbered the teenagers playing on the XBoxes. This leads me to believe that they very well may have missed the mark.
I wish Microsoft well with these stores, but I think they really need to find something to differentiate themselves.
