Microsoft Mulls First NYC Store Near Prime Apple Spot

Microsoft (MSFT) reportedly is talking to a commercial brokerage firm in New York City about locating its first-ever Manhattan retail store in one of midtown’s splashiest locations, only a few blocks away from a popular Fifth Avenue Apple (AAPL) outlet.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, Microsoft has its eye on a 8,700-square-foot, two-story space owned by Asian conglomerate King Fook. It was most recently occupied by fashion house Fendi, which vacated the spot last year. Cushman & Wakefield, the commercial brokerage marketing the space, didn’t respond when the Daily News asked about it, the report said.

Should Microsoft take the New York real estate, it may serve as sales location not only for the vendor’s tablets, Xbox and software but also to fulfill volume license sales, according to a new CRN report. The unconfirmed word is that Microsoft business development experts, housed in about half of the vendor’s stores, now will handle volume license sales up to 250 seats directly in stores under its Open License program rather than farming them out to distributors or partners, as has previously been its practice.

Licensing deals larger than 250 seats for Office, Office 365, Windows and Windows Server and SQL Server rarely go through partners.

As for Microsoft’s possible New York retail outlet, the location at 677 Fifth Avenue near 53rd Street is close to Apple’s famous glass cube store in the 50-story General Motors Building at 767 Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th streets. The spot Microsoft reportedly is considering is one of the hottest retail areas in the city and among its priciest, commanding some $3,500 a square foot, according to a top retail broker with realtor Douglas Elliman, the Daily News report said.

Microsoft never has occupied a New York City address with one of its retail stores, lacking a presence in the City since 2012 when it opened a temporary pop-up kiosk for the holidays. The vendor is substantially expanding its retail store blueprint from its current 101-outlet lineup in North America, with plans to open 13 more locations soon.

A year ago, Microsoft announced plans to open 600 Windows Stores in an exclusive store-within-a-store arrangement with big box retailer Best Buy (BBY) in North America in its biggest retail expansion to that point.