Microsoft Is Permanently Closing Nearly All Retail Stores
Software giant Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is taking a "new approach to retail." The company is closing all of its physical Microsoft Store locations, except for four remaining locations, for good, focusing its retail efforts on e-commerce storefronts.
Microsoft's 72 U.S. retail locations and 10 international stores are already closed due to COVID-19 mitigation efforts. The store closings will now be permanent, effective immediately. Microsoft will record a pre-tax charge of $450 million to account for the related asset write-offs and impairments. The expenses are going into the second quarter of 2020, which ends on June 30.
The online sales department will shoulder Microsoft's retail efforts, serving every market from consumers to enterprise customers. Staff from the retail stores is not being laid off. They were retrained during the COVID-19 closedown to serve in Microsoft's online retail services instead, using tools such as video chat and virtual workshops. The digital stores on Microsoft.com, Xbox, and Windows already reach "up to 1.2 billion monthly customers" in nearly 200 geographic markets.
Source Fool.com
