Microsoft Closing All Retail Stores
Microsoft is closing all of its retail stores but will offer all associates an opportunity to stay with the company.
The company operates 83 stores in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia and the U.K.. It also operates "Experience Centers" around the world, and it intends to re-image the ones in New York, London, Sydney to serve consumers, education and enterprise customers.
The company will also continue to invest in its e-commerce channels, including Microsoft.com, Xbox and Windows, with new services to include 1:1 video chat support, online tutorial videos and virtual workshops.
Retail associates will instead provide sales, training and support remotely and from Microsoft corporate facilities for consumers, as well as for the company’s small-business, education and enterprise customers. All employees will have the opportunity to stay with the company, a spokesperson confirmed to RIS.
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“We deliberately built teams with unique backgrounds and skills that could serve customers from anywhere. The evolution of our workforce ensured we could continue to serve customers of all sizes when they needed us most, working remotely these last months,” said Microsoft Corporate VP David Porter in a statement. “Speaking over 120 languages, their diversity reflects the many communities we serve. Our commitment to growing and developing careers from this talent pool is stronger than ever.”
Microsoft opened its first retail store in 2009 in Scottsdale, AZ, with its first flagship opened in New York in 2015.
