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> Well, turns out that since COVID there is no such thing as "Google Store" in London. Was there ever a Google Store anywhere in the world? News to me. That's

> Well, turns out that since COVID there is no such thing as "Google Store" in London. Was there ever a Google Store anywhere in the world? News to me. That's not something you'd expect to find in Google's home country. They're not a retailer. > Google's commitment to removing any ways from consumers to actually interact with the company is truly extreme. You can't "remove" what was never there. But, in this case... most manufacturers and brands don't have stores. You don't go to the M&Ms Store either. You go to the grocery store. There's no Samsung Store, no HTC Store, no LG store, no Foxconn Store, no Xiaomi Store, no Nokia Store, no Motorola Store, and no OnePlus Store. Why would there be a Google Store?

djaychela 2y ago
> There's no Samsung Store Except there are... There was one in Bournemouth where I live, and there are others [1] [1] - https://www.samsung.com/uk/samsung-experience-store/locations/ https://www.samsung.com/uk/samsung-experience-store/location...
- drcongo 2y ago
  There's actually an M&Ms store in London too. https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london
- thaumasiotes 2y ago
  Wow, others. Let's see... there's one in Frisco, Texas ("Dallas"); one in Long Island ("New York City"); one in Houston; and one in Los Angeles. That's almost 1.5% of the number of Apple Stores in the US. The difference is that Apple uses their stores to sell things. This is obviously not a method by which you'd be expected to buy a Samsung product. Or, in most cases, a method by which doing so would be possible at all. I'd apologize for the oversight, but my sweeping generalization is more accurate than the detail that Samsung Stores technically exist.
  - silentsanctuary 2y ago
    The poster was mentioning London - there are 4 Samsung stores in London. That's more than "technically existing", no?
- raverbashing 2y ago
  Yup, they exist in several places, in several countries I remember seeing one in Liverpool (though pre-Covid)
zimpenfish 2y ago
> Was there ever a Google Store anywhere in the world? Yes, London had one embedded in the Currys on TCR. Even made the news. https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/11/google-opens-its-first-ever-store-in-london.html https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/11/google-opens-its-first-ever-... Popular enough to make it to 4sq. https://foursquare.com/googlesh8058175 https://foursquare.com/googlesh8058175 Also crops up in an answer on Google's support site. https://support.google.com/store/answer/10840716?hl=en https://support.google.com/store/answer/10840716?hl=en Also one in NYC based off this archive.org snapshot of their locations page. https://web.archive.org/web/20210614171636/https://store.google.com/magazine/locations?hl=en-US https://web.archive.org/web/20210614171636/https://store.goo... etc.etc. (Also London had a Nokia store back in 2008 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/textlad/2278591733 https://www.flickr.com/photos/textlad/2278591733 )
- joncrocks 2y ago
  I guess this _might_ count, but the whole 'store within a store' tends to be a bit of publicity stunt. You can just bung the store owners a few quid, make some stands with your company name on it and send out a press release that you now have a 'store'. It's an order of magnitude less hard than actually setting up a store front, signing up for utilities, hiring staff directly, managing stock/inventory, dealing with returns etc. Not to mention that no-one will likely notice when you quietly take down the 'Google section' overnight. It the equivalent of setting up a 'store' on Amazon vs. creating your own web presence + fulfilment warehouse.
  - zimpenfish 2y ago
    Does a full store count then? https://blog.google/products/devices-services/google-store-nyc-opening/ https://blog.google/products/devices-services/google-store-n...
  - Symbiote 2y ago
    A 'store within a store' is a fairly normal thing in a department store, especially the luxury ones. It's also not unusual for electronics. I think the large electronics shop near me has a Sony section (or is it Samsung?) and a Sonos section.
ApeTheRick 2y ago
Funnily enough, there is an M&Ms store in London https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london
cqqxo4zV46cp 2y ago
This is such a weird comment. Why are you so confident that there’s rhyme or reason to which ‘brands’ have a physical retail presence and which ones don’t? You haven’t presented any justification, and your examples include plenty of orgs / brands that actually do have a retail presence. There’s even an M&Ms store in London as another commenter has pointed out. Chill out.
lmpdev 2y ago
Samsung, HTC, LG and Xiaomi all have physical shops Foxconn isn’t B2C Nokia used to
slightwinder 2y ago
Google, M&Ms, Samsung, they all have stores I know about. Samsung even had one in my City. But it's true that they are rare. M&Ms for example has only 7 world-wide, and 4 seems to be in the USA. Usually, those brands are more likely to cooperate with other shops (online & offline) to sell their goods.
- zeristor 2y ago
  Isn’t it more advertising? I noticed this with the Olympics Chinese adverts on buses. I’m guessing the hallowed wealthy people who travel to the Olympic are very niche market. I’m guessing this circus is running rings around Paris as I type.

djaychela 2y ago

> There's no Samsung Store Except there are... There was one in Bournemouth where I live, and there are others [1] [1] - https://www.samsung.com/uk/samsung-experience-store/locations/ https://www.samsung.com/uk/samsung-experience-store/location...

drcongo 2y ago
There's actually an M&Ms store in London too. https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london
thaumasiotes 2y ago
Wow, others. Let's see... there's one in Frisco, Texas ("Dallas"); one in Long Island ("New York City"); one in Houston; and one in Los Angeles. That's almost 1.5% of the number of Apple Stores in the US. The difference is that Apple uses their stores to sell things. This is obviously not a method by which you'd be expected to buy a Samsung product. Or, in most cases, a method by which doing so would be possible at all. I'd apologize for the oversight, but my sweeping generalization is more accurate than the detail that Samsung Stores technically exist.
- silentsanctuary 2y ago
  The poster was mentioning London - there are 4 Samsung stores in London. That's more than "technically existing", no?
raverbashing 2y ago
Yup, they exist in several places, in several countries I remember seeing one in Liverpool (though pre-Covid)

zimpenfish 2y ago

> Was there ever a Google Store anywhere in the world? Yes, London had one embedded in the Currys on TCR. Even made the news. https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/11/google-opens-its-first-ever-store-in-london.html https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/11/google-opens-its-first-ever-... Popular enough to make it to 4sq. https://foursquare.com/googlesh8058175 https://foursquare.com/googlesh8058175 Also crops up in an answer on Google's support site. https://support.google.com/store/answer/10840716?hl=en https://support.google.com/store/answer/10840716?hl=en Also one in NYC based off this archive.org snapshot of their locations page. https://web.archive.org/web/20210614171636/https://store.google.com/magazine/locations?hl=en-US https://web.archive.org/web/20210614171636/https://store.goo... etc.etc. (Also London had a Nokia store back in 2008 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/textlad/2278591733 https://www.flickr.com/photos/textlad/2278591733 )

joncrocks 2y ago
I guess this _might_ count, but the whole 'store within a store' tends to be a bit of publicity stunt. You can just bung the store owners a few quid, make some stands with your company name on it and send out a press release that you now have a 'store'. It's an order of magnitude less hard than actually setting up a store front, signing up for utilities, hiring staff directly, managing stock/inventory, dealing with returns etc. Not to mention that no-one will likely notice when you quietly take down the 'Google section' overnight. It the equivalent of setting up a 'store' on Amazon vs. creating your own web presence + fulfilment warehouse.
- zimpenfish 2y ago
  Does a full store count then? https://blog.google/products/devices-services/google-store-nyc-opening/ https://blog.google/products/devices-services/google-store-n...
- Symbiote 2y ago
  A 'store within a store' is a fairly normal thing in a department store, especially the luxury ones. It's also not unusual for electronics. I think the large electronics shop near me has a Sony section (or is it Samsung?) and a Sonos section.

ApeTheRick 2y ago

Funnily enough, there is an M&Ms store in London https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london https://www.mms.com/en-gb/explore/mms-stores/london

cqqxo4zV46cp 2y ago

This is such a weird comment. Why are you so confident that there’s rhyme or reason to which ‘brands’ have a physical retail presence and which ones don’t? You haven’t presented any justification, and your examples include plenty of orgs / brands that actually do have a retail presence. There’s even an M&Ms store in London as another commenter has pointed out. Chill out.

lmpdev 2y ago

Samsung, HTC, LG and Xiaomi all have physical shops Foxconn isn’t B2C Nokia used to

slightwinder 2y ago

Google, M&Ms, Samsung, they all have stores I know about. Samsung even had one in my City. But it's true that they are rare. M&Ms for example has only 7 world-wide, and 4 seems to be in the USA. Usually, those brands are more likely to cooperate with other shops (online & offline) to sell their goods.

zeristor 2y ago
Isn’t it more advertising? I noticed this with the Olympics Chinese adverts on buses. I’m guessing the hallowed wealthy people who travel to the Olympic are very niche market. I’m guessing this circus is running rings around Paris as I type.