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Google Opens First Retail Outlet In London

Posted by Soulskill on from the but-it's-still-in-beta dept.

theodp writes "Google is following in the footsteps of Apple and Microsoft. The London Evening Standard reports that the world's first 'Google Store' has opened in a PC World on London's gadget street, Tottenham Court Road. Officially known as 'the Chromezone,' the 285sq. ft. pop-up 'shop within a shop,' which only sells Google's Chromebook laptop and a few accessories such as headphones, will run for three months up to Christmas. But if the low-key experiment is successful, Google could follow Apple in opening permanent stores around the world. 'It is our first foray into physical retail,' said Google's Arvind Desikan. 'This is a new channel for us and it's still very, very early days. It's something Google is going to play with and see where it leads.'"

2 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What are they going to sell? by gmhowell · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you had RTFA, you would see that they are going to sell Chromebooks and things to go with them like headphones. Yeah, it would have been a great idea to put it in the summary, too bad they didn't... No, wait, there it is. In the summary:

    sells Google's Chromebook laptop and a few accessories such as headphones,

    What I want to know is what other computers one can get for 349 pounds.

    --
    Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
  2. Would have been nice for Nexus One by penguinchris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the Nexus One would have been a lot more successful if they had physical stores... I mean I'm still using mine and love it (it's a device you can really get attached to, despite its flaws and that it's outdated) but I've only ever seen one other one in the wild (other than at Maker Faire SF, where dozens of Google employees were using them).

    Also, it would have been nice to have someplace to check out and buy the accessories and so on, especially on short notice when necessary.

    Despite the fact that you can do everything online these days, there truly is still a major role for retail to play. I would be reluctant to buy a new and unusual computer like the Chromebook without being able to try one myself (as I'm sure people are with Apple products if they haven't used them before), so this will probably be a good strategy for them.