Microsoft has announced that it is going completely digital, exiting physical retail and closing all of its stores permanently.

Some stores, like those in London, New York, Sydney, and Redmond, will be reborn as Microsoft Experience Centers and "spaces to serve all customers," while others will close completely. It is not clear if jobs will be lost, but apparently retail staff will either move to other facilities or work remotely to continue providing customer support.

According to Microsoft, the company already serves more than 1.2 billion people a month through its online store and will, of course, continue to invest in digital retailing. Microsoft has continued to invest in digital retailing since March, when it closed all of its stores due to the coronavirus. It has not reopened since then and had not announced any plans until today. [Microsoft Vice President David Porter said, "As Microsoft's product portfolio has evolved into digital products, sales are growing online as well. We are very grateful to our Microsoft Store customers and look forward to continuing to serve them online and with our Microsoft Corporate retail sales team."

The Microsoft Store has been around for a little over a decade, with the first store opening in the United States at the launch of Windows 7 in late 2009. Today, there are more than 100 stores worldwide.