Microsoft shuts down retail chain, takes $450M charge

Microsoft on Friday said it would close its chain of retail store and take a $450 million charge against earnings to account for the permanent shutterings.

The stores – Microsoft had 82 worldwide, all but 10 of them located in the U.S. – have been padlocked since mid-March, when the Redmond, Wash. company closed them because of the coronavirus pandemic. None had reopened before Microsoft slid them into the “really dead” category.

Four outlets – one of the New York City stores, those in London and Sydney, and an on-campus location in Redmond – will be repurposed as “Microsoft Experience Centers” where products will presumably be shown if not sold, highlighted if not hawked.

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