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Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

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Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#211

Post by buzzert »

legitster wrote: post #198

Microsoft stores are (were?) magical places full of bizarre and weird devices. I actually had fun going in and seeing all sorts of gadgets and devices and playing with demos. A candy store for futurists. In comparison Apple stores are dystopian places full of rows of identical looking people looking at rows of identical beige phones. But I think it's pretty telling that I loved hanging out in them, but never spent an…

I couldn’t agree more. I absolutely fell in love with the Surface Studio they had on display there. It was really set up to make a great demo too, preloaded with software that takes advantage of the “wheel” device and stylus.

Not only that, it was the only place where I’m sure I’ll ever see the Surface Hub[0]. An incredible “interactive whiteboard” running a special version of Windows 10, the price of which is “please ask for a quote”.

The Microsoft store was really like a mini CES more than a showroom for Microsoft things. I will miss it dearly.

[0] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/business/surface-hub...

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#212

Post by jrockway »

nitrogen wrote: post #160
lotsofpulp wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good looking people cause enjoyable chemical reactions to occur in people’s brains. If you take two identically qualified people, the person who appears/sounds more pleasing to the buyer will win the business. It’s part of nature, for better or for worse.

Orchestras introduced blind auditions to address this bias. Why don't we do that for other jobs? I say this as someone who would probably fall in one of the categories of people who would supposedly benefit from this bias.

This is the intended effect of the tech interviews that HN hates so much. Interviewers talk to the candidate and write down feedback about how the interview went. Then a hiring committee reads the notes and makes a decision. The hiring committee never sees the candidate, so can't judge their appearance. When I was doing interviews at Google, we were also trying very hard to write feedback like "the candidate said XXX" instead of "she said XXX", so that that source of bias was not available to the hiring committee. (It's not perfect, of course, because the person writing the feedback can be biased by those things. But it's better than looking at resumes with photos attached.)

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#213

Post by dhosek »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #66
josephpmay wrote: post #16

I think one point people are missing: Apple stores, even if they exist mainly to promote the brand, are MASSIVELY profitable. In fact, they are one of the most profitable store chains in the world. By contract, I believe that Microsoft was always running most of their stores at a loss. Even for a massive company like Microsoft, continuously running an unprofitable division is hard to maintain.

This is purely anecdotal. Take it with a grain of salt. We have a "high-end" Simon mall, in a town near where I live. It's quite "upscale," with Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, etc. It has an Apple Store near the South entrance, and a Microsoft Store, near the center. The Apple Store is always packed. I haven't been there in a few months, so I have no idea what's going on with it at the moment, but it has always be…

I've never seen any customers in the Microsoft Store in Oak Brook. I'm sure they must have some once in a while and it's not like I spend a lot of time in Oak Brook, but it has always been empty of customers every time I've passed it by. I don't think I've seen any other store in the whole mall as empty of customers.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#215

Post by M5x7wI3CmbEem10 »

AlphaWeaver wrote: post #21

This is a real shame. We have (had?) a Microsoft Store in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham), and my visits to that store were always really enjoyable. I made several warranty claims in-store, and they went above and beyond to help me out, even when my grounds for a claim were kinda shaky. Microsoft did a really good job of hiring diverse talent, and every store-clerk I ever interacted with was smart, nice, and seemed to…

that’s the first I’ve heard of that area called “the triangle.” mind sharing what it’s significant for and what kind of person would fit? I’ve considered moving to the SE for better weather and job opportunities as a new grad.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#216

Post by coldpie »

ryandrake wrote: post #204
blibble wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

that's one of the pathetic excuses I've ever read they're an OS developer and they can't spend a day figuring out a floating point bug? maybe redirect some of the time integrating Candy Crush

The follow-up on open sourcing the code was also unhelpful: > Hey everybody asking that the source code be released: The source code was licensed from another company. If you want the source code, you have to go ask them. OK, which company?

Well, in 1995 it was developed by Cinematronics and published by Maxis. In 2020, who knows. Probably Disney.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#217

Post by opmac »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #215
AlphaWeaver wrote: post #21

This is a real shame. We have (had?) a Microsoft Store in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham), and my visits to that store were always really enjoyable. I made several warranty claims in-store, and they went above and beyond to help me out, even when my grounds for a claim were kinda shaky. Microsoft did a really good job of hiring diverse talent, and every store-clerk I ever interacted with was smart, nice, and seemed to…

that’s the first I’ve heard of that area called “the triangle.” mind sharing what it’s significant for and what kind of person would fit? I’ve considered moving to the SE for better weather and job opportunities as a new grad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_Triangle

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#218

Post by jsdwarf »

WorldMaker wrote: post #182
simonh wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But is it actually serving a purpose if not enough people are actually going into the stores, at the demos and playing with the toys? I don't think this is abandoning consumer tech. Their ~90% domination is still a thing. They gained it without stores, and the stores weren't helping them maintain it. There seems to be this cognitive lag where it seems like the stores should be a big deal, should be significant, givin…

I think that an interesting part of that lag is directly Windows Phone related. Phones seem to be the one consumer hardware product that customers "demand" a store to exist. Look at the retail landscape, other than big box electronics stores and office stores and Wal-Mart/Target, who is selling consumer electronics physically? There's a lot of strip malls packed with phone stores. People that want PC laptops/desktops…

I think the "retail demand" for phones is closely connected to phone repairs. Unlike a computer, a phone is carried around every day and has a much higher chance to break. Customers depend heavily on it, so they are not willing to send phones to repair centers and wait weeks for a return.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#219

Post by trimbo »

muststopmyths wrote: post #56
AlphaWeaver wrote: post #21

This is a real shame. We have (had?) a Microsoft Store in the Triangle (Raleigh-Durham), and my visits to that store were always really enjoyable. I made several warranty claims in-store, and they went above and beyond to help me out, even when my grounds for a claim were kinda shaky. Microsoft did a really good job of hiring diverse talent, and every store-clerk I ever interacted with was smart, nice, and seemed to…

Same with the SF Westfield Center store. Great staff. It was a good place to check out various Surfaces in person as well. I will say, the surfaces/laptops side of the store was usually empty. Some kids playing with the Xbox or people at the counter getting help seemed to be the extent of traffic the past couple of years. They seem to be aggressively destroying any paltry remaining goodwill with consumer enthusiasts.…

> I will say, the surfaces/laptops side of the store was usually empty. Some kids playing with the Xbox or people at the counter getting help seemed to be the extent of traffic the past couple of years.

Exactly my experience last I visited. It seemed like the goal of the stores was misconceived from the start... like the purpose was to coax Surface into being a successful product, rather than build up a real store business of its own.

Re: Microsoft to permanently close its retail stores

#220

Post by smoyer »

scarface74 wrote: post #203
smoyer wrote: post #176

Apparently if you're not dramatically over-charging for your consumer technology products, you can't afford brick-and-mortar locations. Those who do pay for the premium platform should realize that not (nearly) all of the additional cost goes into product quality. Note that this discounts design superiority/inferiority.

By definition, if people are buying at the price that Apple sets at the margins Apple wants and there are alternatives, the product is not “overpriced”. That’s kind of Economics 101

True ... I should have used the word "premium" instead to represent the economic difference in the unit price and associated margins.
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