A security guard stands outside the new Microsoft store in New York City.
A security guard stands outside Microsoft’s store in New York. (GeekWire Photo, Jacob Demmitt)

NEW YORK — Microsoft’s new flagship store along New York City’s famed Fifth Avenue is certainly massive, though significantly less jawdropping than Apple’s iconic location just five blocks away.

The store is set to open on Oct. 26, the same day Microsoft will begin selling a slew of devices the company announced at a press event on Tuesday. Everything was blocked off and a security guard was standing out front when we visited the site, but you can already tell this not going to be your average Microsoft store.

Microsofts new flagship store along New York Citys Fifth Avenue.
Microsoft’s new store along New York City’s 5th Avenue. (GeekWire Photo, Jacob Demmitt)

The company says it has hired workers from all over New York City, together speaking a combined 19 languages. Some of those employees were going through training and could be seen coming and going when GeekWire visited.

The store spans 22,269 square feet across five floors. It will feature Microsoft’s response to Apple’s Genius Bar called the Answer Desk, space to test and buy products made by Microsoft and its partners and a Community Theater where the company says customers will be able to “learn how to use Microsoft’s latest and most popular products in their everyday work and lives.”

The buildings sits sandwiched between a Tommy Hilfiger and Stuart Weitzman shoe store along New York City’s famed Fifth Avenue, about five blocks from Apple’s own flagship store overlooking Central Park.

Apple's iconic flagship store in New York City.
Apple’s iconic flagship store in New York City. (GeekWire Photo, Jacob Demmitt)

The two locations will certainly draw comparisons, though it’s not exactly a fair fight. Apple’s flagship features a giant, standalone cube made of glass on some of the most high-value real estate in the country. It has become a tourist attraction over the years.

I doubt many visitors will be making special trips to Microsoft’s store anytime soon, but it does accomplish the goal of establishing a high-profile presence in the country’s largest city. I spoke with one tourist from Mexico who thought Microsoft and Apple were both headquartered in New York after walking past the stores.

Microsoft was late getting into the brick and mortar store business, trailing far behind Apple’s rollout of its now expansive network of retail locations.

Microsoft opened its 12th location, and the first in Seattle, in 2011. Now, it has more than 110 stores in Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S., as well as 17 store-within-a-store sites in China. The company is also planning to open a flagship store in Australia, but the New York location will be by far the company’s largest.

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