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The lineups in the morning were huge and snaked around the mall past the Apple store. Seemed like a ton of people leaving with the $99 Dell Venue Pro. It was too busy to do any real shopping but it was great to see so many people out. Everyone in line got the Microsoft t-shirts. The real fans put them on. It was also nice to see a whole bunch of Lumia 1020s in peoples hands, which is something I had never seen before today, apart from my family.
The store itself is fantastic and the staff were great. It'll be nice to have a store that actually carries Windows Phone accessories and have all of the Windows Phones (the few that Canada does have) on display.
It is now my go to place for all things Microsoft and PC.
Dell Venue Pro 8 retails for $249.99 on Dell's site. If MS is basically giving these away at substantial losses, it speaks volumes. They really shouldn't do this kind of nonsense.
Sure they should. It is just basic marketing. Lure people to your store, especially at the grand opening. Those marketing dollars can be spent many ways to get people into the store. Every grand opening of every type of store has specials on items that they feel will attract customers.
I'm not so convinced on the concert. I think the concert may attract people who couldn't care less about anything Microsoft and only show up for the tickets. Maybe that is the purpose, to attract people who normally wouldn't come to a Microsoft store.
I think your last sentence is correct. They're using the concert as a tool for marketing to new potential customers.
Yeah but does it ever work? All these dozens of concerts to open up MS stores and it resulted in what? Sure MS Store has great sales on Day 1, and then it's *crickets* the rest of eternity. All you have to do is go read Yelp reviews to see how few people are in an MS store at random times. Of course, personally I think the concept is good. There needs to be a place where you can get top Windows computers without junk-ware as well as see the best selection of Windows Phones all updated and with knowledgeable salespeople who are 100% dedicated towards getting you to buy one. Answer Desk and the XBox area are good too. However, based on actual sales per square foot the results are just not good. People who are looking to spend > $1000 on computers tend to buy Macs these days.