Google Is Poised To Open Its First Permanent Retail Store (adage.com) 45
Google is planning to open a 14,000 square-foot retail store in Chicago's Fulton Market district, according to local media reports from Crain's Chicago Business and Chicago Tribune. While Google has opened pop-up stores in the past, this would be its first permanent location. Ad Age reports: In 2015, Google abandoned plans to open a store in New York City, after spending $6 million renovating the 131 Greene St. location, Crain's New York Business reported at the time. The Chicago store would give Google a bricks-and-mortar location to show off its expanding line of products, including Pixel phones, Daydream VR headsets, Nest products and more. The location Google is eyeing in Chicago is just a few blocks from Google's Midwest headquarters. The Fulton Market neighborhood, part of Chicago's West Loop, is formerly a meatpacking district. It has been transformed in recent years and is now home to some of Chicago's hottest restaurants. The report notes that there's still a future in brick-and-mortar locations, citing Amazon's interest in Whole Foods and the fact that retail stores have been a key part of Apple's strategy. Microsoft operates stores in 35 states.
who cares (Score:1)
yawn
Re: (Score:2)
Well in a world where a lot of retail stores are getting hit hard. The fact that internet companies are starting their own stores is kinda interesting.
Granted I expect the change of retail stores from places where you need to go to get stuff, to places you want to go to see stuff is a change in how retail works. The Apple Store isn't a place where people usually go to get a new phone or computer. But a place to see Apples offerings and help them decide if they like it or not, then normally get one online
Re: What'd they sell? (Score:1)
Your private data
Re:What'd they sell? (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
Internet search results aren't even remotely as interesting as internet searches themselves. I'd be keen to get a book on the history of Google searches and how trends vary throughout the year, news and election cycles, and geographically.
I think a hardcopy of trends.google.com would be awesome.
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internet search results, carefully printed on glossy paper and binded in a luxury edition.
You jest, but I remember a service in the dark ages of the Internet that let you request web pages via email. (I guess if you had low bandwidth, or access to email but not web for some reason.)
It would retrieve the web page, convert it to plain text as best it could, all the links would be converted to text with footnotes, and the footnotes would have the URLs of the links. Then it would email you the web page in that format.
I do believe one of the things I retrieved with it was search results ...
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internet search results, carefully printed on glossy paper and binded in a luxury edition.
You jest, but I remember a service in the dark ages of the Internet that let you request web pages via email. (I guess if you had low bandwidth, or access to email but not web for some reason.)
It would retrieve the web page, convert it to plain text as best it could, all the links would be converted to text with footnotes, and the footnotes would have the URLs of the links. Then it would email you the web page in that format.
I do believe one of the things I retrieved with it was search results ...
Texts too. You could text GOOGLE (466453) in the US with a query and get a response. It seems to be shut down now but I used it a bit back when I had a motorola RAZR.
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It would be cool if they had something along the lines of a "Super Genius IT Cloud Bar", where you could ask for help in person for their Google Cloud offerings. I know that Amazon has one in NYC for AWS.
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Hahaha, I first misread: "Google Is Poised To Open Its First Amendment Retail Store".
Apple (Score:3)
This is my favourite Apple story today.
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Google branded hardware is a rounding error in mobile. Maybe they will sell a few more Pixels this way and change that number from 0.1% to 0.2%. Then they can claim they doubled sales.
Or maybe they will sell ChromeOS hampered netbooks - yes, netbooks - that are beloved by no one except public schools. That should tell you something. Underfunded schools are run by tech illiterate administrators.
I don't like ${thing}, therefore, no one likes ${thing}.
Re:Desperation? (Score:4, Informative)
Chromebooks are awesome if you have kids or if you are the de facto IT person in your family. Support consists only of fixing hardware failures and resetting forgotten passwords, occasionally disabling a rude extension. Beats the shit out of spending a full day cleaning up Windows.
A pawn shop for your privacy? (Score:1)
Google Pawn! Sell your privacy for nothing!
Free Evil!
The Ugly Secret of the Internet Industry (Score:3)
I think you may have it backward: their business model does not work, which is why they turned toward SJW/PC as an audience. Ads have failed as the basis for funding large internet companies, although they could be enough to keep internet infrastructure going. Search engine technology has not been mysterious for some years, and so people expect it to be like a utility, always there.
For Google to survive, it would need to cut back to a handful of
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Which will be in Beta for 5 yrs, then close (Score:2, Funny)
Which will be in Beta for 5 yrs, then close.
the hook is in online integration (Score:4, Informative)
The hook for brick and mortar now is in online integration.
It's nice to have someplace you can return the stuff you got online, without having to ship it back. It's nice to have a showroom for certain items. Someplace to get service. Faster, cheaper, or both shipping if you order and then come and pick it up.
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It's nice to have someplace you can return the stuff you got online
This is a mistake for Google, a company which prides itself on having absolutely no human customer interaction what so ever.
Will they carry Amazon Fire devices? (Score:2)
Google cut off Youtube app access from Amazon Fire devices because Amazon refused to carry Google's video streaming devices in their web store. Now, Google will have both a web store and a B&M store, and neither of them will carry Amazon Fire devices. Yet Google still expects Amazon to carry Google's devices in their web store before Google will consent to permit Amazon Fire device users to access Youtube with an app.
Is it antitrust yet?
Would need loads of security (Score:1)
bricks-and-mortar better for some than others (Score:1)
In my city the Microsoft store is a very short walk from the Apple store. The stores are almost identical large open spaces filled with tables displaying wares. The walls are covered with colorful pictures of products.
One hour before opening, a crowd begins to gather in front of the Apple store. By the opening bell there are about 30 people rushing in the big glass doors. By noon there are over 200 customers milling about and ~30 employees visible (more in the back). There is excitement in the air. Everyon