Well this is something interesting. I wrote an editorial a few months ago about Google needing to have a better retail foot print, similar to Apple’s. Now according to an “extremely reliable” source of 9to5Google’s, it looks like we might get these Google retail stores before the end of the year. The source is pointing to a few major US cities having Google stores by the end of this year. This would be a store where a Google fan could walk in, pick up a new Nexus device, Chromebook, or even grab some apparel, which Google already sells in their online store. There probably wouldn’t be any type of “genius” bar (yes I put the word genius in quotations, are Apple employees really geniuses?), since normally issues like that are the responsibility of the manufacturer but would be cool to have.
The idea for a Google store came from a plan to get the public more aware of Project Glass, which Google showed off at Google I/O last year. Which is said to cost between $500-1500 per pair. So you’re going to definitely want to try them on before dropping that kind of cash.
Wouldn’t it be really cool to be able to walk in to your nearest Google Retail store and pick a brand new Nexus 4, or even pick up the entire Nexus family? Or you could walk in and pick up a Chromebook and see how it can replace your Windows or Mac OS X machine? I know I’d love to do that, instead of waiting weeks to get a Nexus 4. This way you could also get the Google retail experience and speak with Google retail employees, although they probably won’t know much about the next version of Android or the next Nexus device.
Truly, this sounds like a Google and Android fanboy’s dream. But if this “extremely reliable” source from 9to5Google is telling the truth, we could see a few of these stores very soon. Which would make a ton of us happy. Are you excited for a Google retail store? Let us know in the comments below what you think about them.