Now the rent a crowd has gone and Microsoft staff are left to talk to themselves as real consumers desert the store in droves.
A visit to the store today by ChannelNews revealed that there were more people looking for help with their Windows smartphones and notebooks than what was there was customers looking to buy a new product.
Two people that ChannelNews spoke to said that the only reason that they were there was because they were having problems with a Windows 10 migration.
The below image was taken at 10 55am today Wednesday 25th of November 2015.
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No customers, but lots of staff talking to themselves at the Microsoft store.
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Meanwhile at the nearby Apple store consumers were flocking around display cabinets to get a look at the latest Apple products.
Ironically the Apple Watch counter was deserted.
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Meanwhile the Apple store which is one street away from the Microsoft store was packed with consumers buying Apple products.
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It’s interesting that Apple staff have changed their T Shirts from their traditional blue to red to match Microsoft staff.
Microsoft staff have told ChannelNews that traffic is “slow” and that very few customers end up buying a product at the Microsoft store.
Ten days ago Microsoft spin doctors Ogilvy PR was trying to convince the Australian media that there was a need for a Microsoft store.
They even pulled in hundreds of people lured by the offer of free gifts, tickets to concerts. They saids the store would be as popular as the Apple store, they said there was a need for the store.
They even said that Microsoft products along with the new Windows 10 generated “genuine” consumer appeal.
It’s believed that Microsoft went out of their way to appeal to Asian markets with the bulk of those who turned up for their free Microsoft experience being Australian and Asian nationals.
Microsoft management are not saying how many people have been through their new store.
Another store that attracted more people than Microsoft was attracting was the nearby Samsung store, where people queued to talk to a Samsung sales assistant.
David Richards has been writing about technology for more than 30 years. A former Fleet Street journalist, he wrote the Award Winning Series on the Federated Ships Painters + Dockers Union for the Bulletin that led to a Royal Commission. He is also a Logie Winner for Outstanding Contribution To TV Journalism with a story called The Werribee Affair. In 1997, he built the largest Australian technology media company and prior to that the third largest PR company that became the foundation company for Ogilvy PR. Today he writes about technology and the impact on both business and consumers.