Microsoft is Permanently Closing All Physical Retail Stores (venturebeat.com) 103
Microsoft has announced it will permanently close all of its physical retail stores and transfer most of its resources to online channels. From a report: This comes after the computing giant shuttered the outlets in late March due to the COVID-19 crisis. In what Microsoft is touting as a "new approach to retail," the company said its retail store employees will be transitioned to its corporate hubs and will provide customers remote sales, training, and support. The company will focus its efforts on existing digital stores on Microsoft.com and through Windows and Xbox, which have a collective reach of 1.2 billion people globally. Microsoft added that the closures will result in a pre-tax charge of around $450 million, which it said consists mostly of asset write-offs and impairments. The Seattle-based tech titan debuted its first physical retail experience back in 1999 at the Sony-owned Metreon shopping complex in San Francisco, though that closed around a decade later. Microsoft's first real foray into brick-and-mortar retail was in Scottsdale, Arizona in 2009. This grew to around a hundred similar outlets across the U.S., including its New York flagship, which opened in 2015. The company later went international, opening seven retail stores in Canada, one in Australia, and one in the U.K.
They had physical stores? (Score:2)
Re: They had physical stores? (Score:5, Funny)
This is not unexpected. (Score:5, Funny)
There's no way they were going to stay in business if people just came by to Windows shop.
Re:This is not unexpected. (Score:4, Insightful)
This really does deserve a mod point.... and a slap on the face :-p
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"Excuse me? I ordered a corndog on a stick. This seems to be some sort of electronic device. I'd like to return it and get my corndog please. What do you mean it would hurt your sales stats? Look, I'm hungry an.. no.. no I don't want to rate my customer experience right now, get that out of my face!"
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They had physical stores? Never seen one
Not many, but they were useful for product returns and support. I broke the screen on my Surface Pro 4 and could just run to the mall and get a replacement. I chose that route after the online process was going to take days.
Although if they shift their focus more to online perhaps next time I have a problem I can have a replacement over-nighted. It was mostly their decision to make the in person support the better experience.
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Yeah, I subscribe to the Surface Subreddit because I had a Surface 2 RT at one point and kind of like to keep track of what's going on as it seems like a nice device to have, but I don't want to spend that much cash right now.
The general consensus seems to be that there's a lot of quality control and breakage issues but they support them reasonably well if you have a Microsoft store to take them to. The closest one to me is a 6 hour drive away. I don't think I'd buy one based off all the stuff I hear about
"Do not return to store" (Score:3)
I don't know if you've noticed them, but I've noticed that a lot of products I buy include a sheet of paper that starts with big bold letters saying "do not return to store!". Below that is how to contact the manufacturer.
The most recent purchase I made which had a problem is a rolling tool chest One of the casters (wheels) is bad. A caster is $6 item at full retail price in single quantities. It probably costs the manufacturer $1.50 for a replacement they can send me. If I return the toolbox to the st
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If people keep contacting the manufacturer directly, the store might just keep buying (and buying and buying) defective crap from the manufacturer.
Re: "Do not return to store" (Score:1)
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Ugh, have been disappointed in my Surface Pro 4. Even when it was new battery life was substandard, performance was dismal due to the RAM limitations, and Windows 10's tablet mode is horrible. Admittedly the pen/touchscreen technology is excellent, but they really dropped the ball on everything else.
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Ugh, have been disappointed in my Surface Pro 4. Even when it was new battery life was substandard, performance was dismal due to the RAM limitations, and Windows 10's tablet mode is horrible. Admittedly the pen/touchscreen technology is excellent, but they really dropped the ball on everything else.
I had a very bad experience with my Surface Pro 4 in its initial launch. I had to return mine twice. The display and battery had a number of issues. They eventually fixed those problems with firmware or perhaps even better hardware in later models, but it look a while to get a model which wasn't a lemon. I did get mine replaced six months ago because I dropped it from my kitchen island and cracked the screen, but otherwise have really liked the product since those initial troubles. It seemed like a product
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You haven't found the performance abysmal?
One (Score:2)
There is one in the mall near my house. It was, almost, always empty. There's be some kids in front playing with the Vive hooked up to the giant Alienware desktop sometimes, but that was about it. I went in once to confirm my suspicion that the Surface keyboard was garbage.
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I took my kids to one a bunch of years back and they loved it. Particularly the Surface devices that you could draw on. This was before the introduction of the Apple Pencil. It's amazing how Microsoft has for some reason not been able to steal more marketshare from Apple with their Surface device, which at the same time, Apple is basically copying all it's best features like adding pen support and adding true mouse and keyboard support. Adding support for an external monitor. MS supported all these feat
Re: They had physical stores? (Score:2)
OK, I have no doubt that you were created as part of a Martian military experiment, as you state in your profile.
Who the hell loves MS? ;)
Is it like a masochist relationship, or were just just created totally evil?
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It's amazing how Microsoft has for some reason not been able to steal more marketshare from Apple with their Surface device...
It might be because Surface devices have notoriously bad hardware and software.
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errrrp...decision: use an MS interface or an Apple interface. MS interfaces make me want to puke me guts out, they never had any taste.
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Are you Captain Haddock?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
He is the only person I ever heard of who tasteless stuff like water makes him want to puke!
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That just seems to be a matter of opinion. Maybe it's because I've been using WIndows interface for 25 years, but personally every time I have to use a Mac, be it an iPad, or something like a Macbook, I really can't understand anything. I know that's just lack of familiarity in a lot of cases, but sometimes it seems like they just try to make things different just for the sake of making it harder to switch once you get used to it.
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The ones I've seen were located across from an Apple Store inside a mall. An empty spot with some kids playing the Xbox on a big screen.
It is true, Microsoft stores never really took off.
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There is one physical Microsoft store close to me in a mall.
It's kind of funny, because this mall is organized with the high-end luxury brands on the top level, and the discount crap at the bottom level.
The Microsoft store is directly below the Apple store.
The layout and colour scheme inside the store both looked like a cheap apple knockoff.
The apple store was always packed, the Microsoft store rarely had more than 1 or 2 people inside. I'm surprised it wasn't closed down years ago.
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"They had physical stores? Never seen one"
It's where the TV series and movies go to get their free Windows phones and Surface computers.
On TV is the only place I ever saw one f those.
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Saw a few in SoCal. They set them up conspicuously close to Apple Stores in mall locations. Either taking up space as a retail store or as a pop-up location.
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"Haha, look at me, I set up right next to you with no customers, aren't you angry and jealous?! Didn't I embarrass you by standing here? See, your customers are laughing."
Was this Ballmer's idea?
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No idea. But this photo [yelpcdn.com] shows exactly where it is when you walk out the front door of the Apple Store at the Topanga Mall. Here's a photo [twimg.com] of the store under construction, that shows its position in relation to the Apple store.
I have no idea if it is still there.
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I remember walking past one in Portland and laughing, but I never did figure out why a company that makes office keyboards needs a branded shop. They're not exactly Nike.
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I saw one. Across the aisle in the mall from an Apple Store. Really looked to me like just more of their global strategy of copying ideas from others.
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Retail workers? (Score:2)
Relocating retail workers to corporate hubs?
Sounds to me like they are just out of a job.
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Relocating retail workers to corporate hubs?
(India)
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My guess is they're doing a similar trick Intel pulled a few years ago, where they told their remote work force that they now had to come into the office every day or quit. This let them get rid of an enormous number of employees, and anyone who couldn't relocate was functionally fired without severance.
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I should note this is second hand information I'm trying to remember. It's hard to google this right now, since it's utterly buried in 2020 remote work force stories.
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I've heard of this from several companies. Particularly hey, "we haven't fired you, but your manager is now in India and you are expected to report in person".
Generally a move saved for things going to utter crap because once you do that, you have just broadcast that you are no longer respecting severance and people are going to be quitting as soon as they can on their own terms.
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and then use there card for the airfair 1st class + 1st class hotel + customs bribe.
Re: Retail workers? (Score:2)
You still don't wanna relocate to India. Trust me. :)
And I say that as sonebody who traveled to India twice, and twice found it an unforgettable experience (in mostly a "fascinating" and good way, but also in a "boy am I happy to have the option to not live here" way.
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Did it fly?
I can understand a company doing that for a single problematic employee, But do that to a significant portion of the workforce and it is clear that it is a disguised layoff. Also, employees can get together and hire good lawyers. It may not be worth getting top class lawyers for an individual case, but with the severance pay of hundreds of employees on the line, it is a different game.
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It is hard to research. The current obsession with remote work will poison your search results, and I wouldn't be surprised if a fear of SLAPP suits will keep the number of proper news articles low. From the few articles I could find, it seems to me like Intel was practicing a pretty staggering level of shameless obfuscation as well. If you want to dig into it, you might have better luck reading articles about the housing market in Oregon during the 2013-2015 era, then working from there. The mass immigrati
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I liked the stores because I got to see all of the MS hardware. I had nowhere else to see it, and it convinced me to buy some Surfaces.
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I got several of my Windows Phones from Microsoft stores
Ah, so you are the one who bought all the Windows Phones.
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Lucky you. I have moved on to Android, but it has become such an over-engineered monstrosity that the basic usability has gotten even worse now. At least we have Square Home though, to make it look like Windows Phone on the surface.
Exactly... (Score:2)
I got several of my Windows Phones from Microsoft stores. It was pretty easy, actually.
Yep back then they made a lot more sense, but without offering something a lot of modern customers are more interested in browsing for, they lack purpose...
People are I think a lot more willing to buy a laptop sight unseen, than a phone.
I seriously wish Microsoft had kept making phones. Even just making their own hardware and UI with an Android base.
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Totally! I like the Microsoft Stores and have purchased a Lumia phone, two laptops, and exchanged a Surface after it broke. For me, it was really convenient, plus their machines are configured without crapware. I'm really bummed to see them go. First Radio Shack, and now this. :-(
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We had one here in DE... (Score:4, Funny)
I went in there for a MS support issue... I was the only customer in the huge store, and they asked if I had an appointment!
I replied, "If I wanted to need an appointment, I would have bought a Mac. There are two hundred people shopping over at the Apple store, so this is quicker."
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Unfortunately, the layout was pathetic. Tables spaced far enough to drive a truck through, with the laptops on display spaced about 5 feet apart. You frequently had to wait for someone to finis
Life imitating scams (Score:4, Funny)
its retail store employees will be transitioned to its corporate hubs and will provide customers remote sales, training, and support
You mean ... that person who calls me and claims to be from Microsoft and that there's a problem with my computer - they might actually be for real?
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That's not the only imitation with these.
I laughed out loud when I saw the first one in a mall around here--it was laid out pretty much exactly like the *prior* version of the Apple Store . . .
Retail imitates software?
hawk
I never understood the point of them (Score:2)
Did they think people would think "Yeah, I really fancy a new mouse/game controller, I'll go to the MS store and pay twice the price compared to the local PC World!". Or was it a case of hoping people would buy their underspecced overpriced surface pro if they could see it in the flesh first? Pfft.
There's an MS store in central London a few doors up from the Apple Store. Guess which one (before the virus) was rammed and which was usually almost empty?
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It wasn't about game consoles or computers, it was all about Windows Phone and Microsoft wanting to go full Apple in their business model.
Ballmer launched the initiative together with Windows Phone 7 as part of trying to force Windows Phone into the market without anyone asking for it and no partners helping. He wanted to stand toe to toe with Apple stores and to push Windows Phone as the carriers did not care to push it. Surface tablets were trying to respond to iPad, Doubling down by making the desktop pl
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Ballmer was not the best strategist. Though Windows Phone was actually a really well-done system, and I will fight anyone on this.
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I can't really debate one way or another, I never saw a reason to even try it. That's ultimately the issue in mobile devices that there isn't a lot of differentiation that will actually matter for the users beyond 'can I message and call and are the apps I want there?'.
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Whatever their strategy, it was not rational. The store near me did a reasonable volume of business based on bag spotting, but the four times I wanted something there I was out of luck. IIRC, I wanted to better understand licensing options, buy a retail copy of Windows, get an accessory, and something else...
The stores lasted much longer than I would have expected though.
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I thought it was a great place for people to buy laptops, and I frequently recommended it. You could go in and get your hands on the machine and see how heavy it was and what the keyboard and display were like, etc. You can't do that online. And what set it apart from other physical (and online) stores was that the machines were sold without crapware.
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I thought the whole Surface sales strategy was to sell online only so that prospective customers had zero chance of trying one out first.
This is why Bootcamp Support is no longer needed (Score:1)
Microsoft is doomed.
And they've got nobody to blame for it but themselves. Afterall, they have been pushing the browser-centric Software-as-a-Service, where client platforms are far less relevant, for over a decade now, and making it happen in earnest for about the past 5 years.
No one wants to pay their exorbitant license fees for software... forever; especially when it is all nothing more than a distributed data collection system for user data.
Hereâ(TM)s a clue: Make stuff people actually want, and th
Re:This is why Bootcamp Support is no longer neede (Score:5, Informative)
Microsoft is doomed.
And they've got nobody to blame for it but themselves. Afterall, they have been pushing the browser-centric Software-as-a-Service, where client platforms are far less relevant, for over a decade now, and making it happen in earnest for about the past 5 years.
No one wants to pay their exorbitant license fees for software... forever; especially when it is all nothing more than a distributed data collection system for user data.
Hereâ(TM)s a clue: Make stuff people actually want, and they will come.
Tell me any ten Windows users around you that actually like what Microsoft is doing for the past few years.
Can't be done.
Buh-bye, Microsoft!
Apparently you are unaware that Microsoft's revenue and profits have been going up for years
https://finance.yahoo.com/quot... [yahoo.com]
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Microsoft meat and potatoes are now in business software and consulting. They make some good money with the consumer market but the demand isn't their. Microsoft failed to fully embrace mobile technology.
Windows phone even back in the late 1990's was more of toy than something useful. As it's business model relied on its huge software cataloge the supported the OS.
So when smart phones such as the blackberry and iPhone picked up, people made. Choice without the consideration of software compatibility bec
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Microsoft has been counted out so many times.
Have you seen or used Azure? People like it. It shows they are adapting to the new landscape.
And Windows and MS Office will be cash cows for the foreseeable future.
Buy there stock if you can.
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Lol, Microsoft is not doomed. They could cancel the Surface line and the Xbox line and all their mice and keyboards and it wouldn't even put a dent in their profits.
Microsoft makes money mostly from (a) Windows, (b) Office, and (c) Azure. None of these are targeted at consumers -- because consumers don't spend 7 figures on a deal like companies do. Microsoft is doing just fine.
People think Microsoft is a consumer company, because 20 years ago they were. Today, they only really have one consumer product,
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While us geeks hate MS for their bullshit Telemetry, not having a fucking clue about UI, disrespecting my TIME and HARDWARE, pushing a shitty mobile UI onto Desktop, and we laugh at them trying to copy Apple and constantly fail, the general populace doesn't really care. If people did then there would have been a mass revolt against Windows 10 Spyware -- and that never happened.
MS has become IBM. Not dead yet, but still relevant for certain sectors.
MS has their fingers is so many pies that they will be aro
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"No one wants to pay their exorbitant license fees for software... forever"
I've been hearing this for 30 years.
COVID-19? (Score:2)
Nothing new here!
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I expect that is half truth. The Microsoft store compared to the Apple store was like the Zoon compared to the iPod.
However COVID-19 hurt a lot of retail that relied on a slim margins to keep active.
I hope they preserve the "store within a store" (Score:2)
Brick and mortar stores are a mean to showcase your equipment to prospective buyers.
an anecdotal example: When I bought my fist Mac (a monoblock aluminum laptop in 2009), I already decided the specs, but wanted to try the (chicklet) keyboard since I never had one of those, and the then revolutionary "the whole glass trackpad is the button" trackpad (all my laptops before were trackpoints, but I used the trackpads on other peoples laptops). After I was satisfied with the look and feel, I bought it then and t
It is now clear... (Score:4, Insightful)
that MS has basically given up on the consumer market. They have ceded that to Apple. All they have left is their entrenched corporate systems like Windows, Office 365, SharePoint, etc.
Given that most things can be done in a browser, the OS is irrelevant to the home user particularly if you are willing to embrace Linux. Or a Chromebook, if you prefer a more guided path with out of the box configuration and updates. Or a Mac, if you're willing to pay the "Apple tax".
Pretty much all they have left on the consumer front is XBox and even there it seems like much of the gaming is moving online. Certainly for casual gaming an iPad works just fine.
MS is following the path of IBM. Windows servers are irrelevant unless you need them to run MS only applications. Otherwise spin up a Linux box.
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that MS has basically given up on the consumer market. They have ceded that to Apple. All they have left is their entrenched corporate systems like Windows, Office 365, SharePoint, etc.
Given that most things can be done in a browser, the OS is irrelevant to the home user particularly if you are willing to embrace Linux. Or a Chromebook, if you prefer a more guided path with out of the box configuration and updates. Or a Mac, if you're willing to pay the "Apple tax".
Pretty much all they have left on the consumer front is XBox and even there it seems like much of the gaming is moving online. Certainly for casual gaming an iPad works just fine.
MS is following the path of IBM. Windows servers are irrelevant unless you need them to run MS only applications. Otherwise spin up a Linux box.
This is seemingly ignoring PC gaming, which is dead of course, but there are rumors of strange things skittering around in the dark.
Frankly I could care less if a gaming PC evolves into basically an Xbox variant with a mouse and keyboard though. Some kind of Windows "Steam Machine" maybe. Whatever you call it, it is a significant foothold in the consumer PC space, as long as it's running Windows at least.
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I'm not sure how you reach that conclusion at all. Their consumer toys are doing remarkably well. They've managed to convince hordes of consumers to buy subscription services providing an endless income through a cloud based office suite which they mess with and use users as beta testers every other day. Their OS has been turned into a marketing platform opening all manner of new monetisation possibilities all the while still getting Dell and HP OEM money. And their Surface line like their Xbox line is a mo
Loser Stores (Score:3)
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What gave Microsoft stores the true stench of death was how
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Why? Was the microsoft store keeping you up all night? Because it beat you up in the 8th grade? Out of all things in the world that bothered me. A microsoft store wasn't one of them.
The Boston one was pretty sad (Score:3)
Every single time, I'd walk by and see nothing but employees. I even was seriously considering a surfacebook for awhile, so walked in and was quickly swarmed by bored and lonely workers. They were nice and all, but I just felt sorry for them. It was such a nice store, yet so unloved and so empty. I was surprised it stayed open as long as it did. They had to be paying some of the highest retail rent in the country to keep that lonely store open.
I like Microsoft's hardware. They have unique and interesting designs. If I had more confidence in their quality, I'd probably own a surfacebook. I saved up the money and was excited to buy one, but then saw review after review of device failure, the sort of rookie mistakes you hope they'd work out in future revision.
I want choices beyond Apple for nice tablets/laptops. I want Microsoft to succeed very badly. I just don't have faith they're on the right track. Hopefully they'll spend that money they're saving on design and wow us with the next release.
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I want choices beyond Apple for nice tablets/laptops. I want Microsoft to succeed very badly. I just don't have faith they're on the right track.
At this point I don't even want them to succeed. They're turning their latest Windows release into a spyware service (and yet they still charge for it). I'm willing to use a few spyware web apps with full knowledge of who I'm giving the information to and exactly what information I'm giving, but as a desktop operating system? Hell no. The OS itself shouldn't be feeding me ads, scraping my information, or changing my settings for me. Windows needs to die.
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I've only ever been to one in Houston, it was empty. Not only were there no people, but there were no products. Just their Surface stuff. As nice as that is you can fit the entire Surface product range on a single table. Renting a 200m^2 retail space is just an exercise in setting money on fire.
So they will need advertisement. (Score:2)
Nobody's gonna just walk by Microsoft.com like it was a store in a shopping street. ;)
Hell, nobody willingly walks by Microsoft.com at all.
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This sucks (Score:2)
For their customer. He'll have to buy online or something.
They were nice if you had Surface hardware (Score:2)
I had a Surface Pro 6 which fell off of a table about a week after I bought it. I had bought the complete care package from Microsoft since it was for work. I walked in, handed the guy the Surface, and 10 minutes later walked out with a replacement. It was a great experience. I won't be purchasing Surface hardware again since the Linux compatibility is so bad (even with custom kernels, you can't get the cameras working, and it seems to lock up a lot). But if I was someone who needed Windows and liked S
Well that's a step in the right direction (Score:1)
MS Stores were awesome. Really. (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm really sad to hear this news. The Microsoft Store here in Austin was a true eye-opening experience that made me reconsider MS again.
I'm not an MS fanboi (look at my early /. postings (even before I had an account), for crying out loud, where I regularly excoriated them...), but I do call it like I see it, and the MS store is not only the best encounter I've ever had with Microsoft, it was the best tech experience I've ever had with any company, period. No BS - In my experience, the Microsoft Store is without question the benchmark to which all other technology sales and support should be held.
The stores were also really startup-friendly - happy to work with even early stage Austin startups. They had business and developer-savvy staff (I first learned of the amazing WSL from the staff there, when it was brand new). In addition, the support was always friendly and they always found a way to help you have a better experience with their products, even if that wasn't always in the company's interest. (For instance, I was an early SurfacePro4 customer, and they swapped out my unit several times with no hassle and even tried (as well as they could with the non-customer-focused MS groups in Redmond) to help run down the problem, which eventually turned out to be Intel botching Skylake's power management hardware, requiring a complex and very delayed firmware workaround). While the failure-to-wake on the early SP4s was frustrating, the Store folks were *always* unfailingly helpful and looking at things through the customer's eyes.)
I'm a huge fan of the Surface Pro line (I have several, and bought a bunch of other gear for the staff of one of my startups a few years back), but I definitely won't feel as comfortable buying another one without knowing that the Store is there to have my back - especially since the batteries and screens are not replaceable, but require swaps. Sadly, swaps are really hard to get if you just call in, while I've almost never had any trouble getting a swap at the Store even if I just drop in. One other *huge* difference is that the Stores would swap you either brand-new, or high-quality refurb units, while phone swaps took at least a week and the "new" units were battle-scarred refurbs that frequently also had functional flaws - whoever was doing MS' Surface refurb QA should have been shot.
It's not a stretch at all to say the Microsoft Stores were unquestionably the best part of Microsoft (and a well-kept secret, since they were only occasionally stuffed like the Apple store 150 yards away), and the only part I really liked interacting with. I was hoping they'd become a model for the rest of the company, but sadly, it looks like that isn't going to happen and the collective will continue doing things the wrong way.
RIP, Microsoft Store, and quality Microsoft customer care. It was really nice while it lasted.
Yeah.. honestly, it was a cool place (Score:2)
The one in our mall ran little free classes for kids (intro to coding, messing around in Minecraft... nothing too substantial, but perfectly fine subjects). My wife put the kids in a bunch of them. They were often the only kids there - but the store staff leading the classes were always happy to see them, knowledgeable on the stuff they were teaching, enthusiastic, and just generally great. Absolute top marks.
Other than not having any products I wanted to buy, it was really a great store.
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I'm a huge fan of the Surface Pro line (I have several, and bought a bunch of other gear for the staff of one of my startups a few years back), but I definitely won't feel as comfortable buying another one without knowing that the Store is there to have my back - especially since the batteries and screens are not replaceable, but require swaps.
It takes about 2-3 days between ending your customer support session online and having a brand new (errrr. refurbished) device. It's really not that big of a deal.
I've been in a Microsoft store once, and looked past a few of them. They all shared something in common: Completely empty of customers. Completely empty of product variance (the entire Surface line can fit on a single table if you wanted to, you don't need a 200m^2 retails space for that). And completely unappealing to enter.
I've got 4 Surface Pro
I actually liked their stores (Score:2)
I visited one in Arizona and one in California, and they were actually both very nice. I did not buy much, but it usually had lots of people inside.
I think it was more for brand recognition (large Xbox displays), and some customer support (replaced my broken Surface there), but not really for retail sales. The staff were not actually trying to sell to me. They were more passive compared to Apple, where they would ask what you want to buy.
I will miss my occasional visits.
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Pandemic (Score:1)