I love store openings. I hate lines. I looove free stuff. I hate lines. But I went to the grand opening of the Microsoft Store in Scottsdale this morning to see what they had to offer.
They offered free goods including concert tickets for Ashley Tisdale (High School Musical & Suite Life fame) for the 1st 1,000 customers. We came in the 600 mark. Got a reusable bag with stainless steel bottle, mints, lip balm, sticker, and a Bing. t-shirt. No tickets. Which is fine since I planned to ditch them anyways. Sorry Sharpay.
Going back to the event. The crowd piled in pretty quickly in the 1st 2 hours of the event. News crews were there along super-excited employees ready to high-five anyone walking in. Got a few slaps, I'm happy. The set up of course was a throwback to the Apple Store. What can I say, the entire strategy is to steal from Jobs but that's my pov. You guessed it, I'm a Macintosh girl. Felt like a spy rolling up to the mall but at the request of my boyfriend, I left my sinister feelings at the door.
We came for one thing, the touch screen computer. I have to say, I was impressed. The fluidity could use a bit more work but overall it's a great toy if you have $30k lying around. Don't know if I'll return for a purchase. We're in a recession, you know.
The store overall seems to be easy to navigate and there are plenty of friendly employees ready to help you find what you are looking for. I'm sure after a week or two the crowd will die down and you will have more time to play around with the products without interruption.
Enjoy the store at your leisure. I will be tucking my Bing. tee shirt in the back of my closet and covering the MS logos on my new stainless steel bottle before public consumption.