Rumor: Google Really Ready for Retail?
Rumor has it that Internet search giant Google is finally ready to square up against Apple in the competitive retail market.
According to published reports Thursday, Google will soon open its first retail store. And it will do so right in the heart of Apple country.
Crain’s New York Business reveals that Google is preparing to open a store on Greene Street in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. If that information is correct, Google’s shop would be just a hop, skip, and a jump from Apple’s popular store on Prince Street.
Retail experts say that deep-pocketed tech giant Google is near to signing a lease at 131 Greene St. for what would be its first brick-and-mortar store in the country. Some say its arrival could put Greene Street on shoppers’ maps, just as the arrival of another tech titan did for a nearby Prince Street 13 years ago.
“This could do for cobblestone Greene Street what the Apple store did for Prince,” Richard Hodos, a retail leasing broker at CBRE, tells Crain’s. “This is going to be an attraction that will generate excitement for Greene Street, that people will want to come and see.”
Google reportedly wants to open this store and many others soon as a means to showcase a number of forthcoming products ranging from Google Glass to a number of cutting edge smartwatches.
