Microsoft says it is opening a flagship Microsoft shop in London on July 11, 2019, as the company makes a dedicated foray into bricks and mortar in the UK for the first time.
The first physical retail store for Microsoft in the UK will be located on Oxford Circus and covers 21,932 square feet over three floors, the company said.
It joins similar flagship locations for Microsoft in New York and Sydney.
The shop will feature Microsoft’s Surface, Windows, Office, Xbox and PC gaming offerings, HoloLens mixed-reality headset and more.
A community theatre, a space for tech, coding and STEM learning, will run free, year-round workshops and programmes for customers, the company added.
New Microsoft Shop in London: “Long Part of Our Vision”
David Porter, Microsoft Store, said: “A flagship store in London has long been part of our vision for our physical and digital store presence.”
“This opening represents another step in our journey to meet our customers – from consumers to businesses – wherever they are and deepen our connection with them. London is one of the world’s most exciting shopping destinations, and we look forward to empowering customers to explore all that is possible with Microsoft.”
The new UK Microsoft store will include interactive zones, “surrounded by immersive video walls running throughout the store”
Microsoft runs three gaming studios, the start-up hub Reactor London and the global centre of excellence for the development of artificial intelligence and other computing disciplines in the Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge in the UK..
The company is the latest tech firm to open a new site in London.
Databricks opened its new EMEA headquarters in the former House of Fraser offices on Baker Street, in March, with Cloudflare also this spring opening new offices on the city’s South Bank in April, promising space for meetups and hackathons.
The shop opening comes as Parliament has called for “swift and substantive action” to prevent the rapid decline of bricks and mortar shopping in the UK and subsequent decline of many High Streets, as online shopping continues to soar.
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