News

Microsoft makes surprise decision to expand retail presence

July 13, 2011

A story at WindowsITPro.com reports that Microsoft will dramatically step up the pace of store openings over the next two years.

According to the story, COO Kevin Turner unveiled the company's retail expansion plan on July 13 at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2011 in Los Angeles.

The announcement contradicted industry rumors that Microsoft would scale back its retail presence. Instead, the company will open 75 new stores within two to three years, a nearly seven-fold increase over the 11 stores opened in the previous two years.

A graphic in Turner's presentation indicated new retail locations in New York City, Boston and other East Coast locations, as well as states including California, Washington, Texas and Florida.

Turner said that the stores were a means for Microsoft to learn about — and leverage — the customer experience. "It's helping us to transition from thinking about our customers to thinking like our customers," he said in the story.