Turnout Light at Google's Inaugural Store Opening
Google’s first retail store, a LEED Platinum-certified, 5,000-square-foot space in the ground floor of its New York headquarters, opened in low-key fashion Thursday, with a couple dozen visitors waiting when doors opened at 10:02 a.m. Ten minutes beforehand, staffers rolled…
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out an oversized red Google Maps pin to mark the spot, located the next block up and across the street from Apple’s West 14th Street store. Google enthusiast Mukesh Shah, 69, told us he left his home in New Jersey at about 7:45 a.m. to make the opening. He showed us a screen from Google Maps saying his 7,483 photos had 99.7 million views over four years. Shah wasn’t sure if he would buy anything but heard the first thousand visitors to the store would get a gift. Overhearing the conversation, Ron Brayer, who ventured over from the East Village, said, “If it’s a thousand,” he said of the reported gift, “it has to be something small.” Brayer had brought along an unopened Pixel 3a phone, hoping he could trade it in for a product. Breyer got a free Google tote bag with the store location on it. The outlet has vignettes showing Google and Nest products as they would appear in a household. Google staffers are required to wear masks. The unbranded white masks had the text “I’m smiling under here.” Masks are optional for visitors; about half of visitors were wearing them.