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Microsoft to open 11 new retail stores by summer

All these Surfaces aren't going to sell themselves

Microsoft has announced that it will open six new retail stores in North America by summer 2013, in addition to five locations that were previously announced in December.

To be precise, only a few of the new stores represent brand-new markets for Microsoft. Several are permanent replacements for earlier holiday pop-up stores, either on the same site or at another location within the same city.

In early December, Redmond announced that it would extend all of its pop-up store locations into 2013, and that some of them would transition into permanent, full retail stores – but it didn't say which ones.

Between Microsoft's statement on Boxing Day and the new announcement on Tuesday, we now know that at least seven pop-up stores will definitely be replaced with permanent outlets, and brand-new stores will be built in at least four cities.

Here's the full list of all the forthcoming store locations, with cities that did not previously have a Microsoft retail presence marked with an asterisk (*):

  • Beachwood, OH: Beachwood Place
  • Honolulu, HI: Ala Moana Center *
  • Miami, FL: Dadeland Mall
  • Natick, MA: Natick Mall
  • Portland, OR: Pioneer Place
  • Salt Lake City, UT: City Creek Center *
  • San Antonio, TX: The Shops at La Cantera
  • San Francisco, CA: Westfield San Francisco Centre
  • Schaumburg, IL: Woodfield Mall *
  • St. Louis, MO: St. Louis Galleria
  • Troy, MI: The Somerset Collection *

In keeping with its past practice, Microsoft is following Apple's lead as it expands into new markets. Each of the four new stores that aren't replacing existing pop-up stores will open in a shopping center that's already home to an Apple Store, as was the case with all but six of the 32 holiday pop-up stores.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Microsoft sales and marketing manager Jonathan Adashek said that grand-opening celebrations are planned for the Honolulu, Natick, Portland, Shaumberg, and Troy locations, with further details to be revealed in the coming weeks. ®

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