Microsoft Store

Cure your inner geek. My last review of this place was about 4 years ago when I was a fresh Unilocaler. I think I should write a better review. This store is full of all kinds of gadgets and gizmos. You will find plenty of desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, game systems and games along with all of the accessories. It is fun just to go in and look around. I like to browse and sometimes find a helpful employee and ask him or her their opinion on the products, new products and dig out the information that they normally don’t give up. I think the prices are far better here than across the hall at the Apple Store.

What… an amazing staff of tech support and education experts. Excellent store management for the last 2 years has created an overall staff who are comfortable genuine very well trained and gracious.
I am in the process of creating my own small business so plunged in over a year ago in self education. WONDERFUL educators. I also own an older Sony laptop which needed suddenly extensive work. They had it for a month but now 8 months later, absolutely no problems.
The walls have active promotional large screens, very well created, but I find distracting and sometimes overwhelming. But the layout is spacious well planned providing many areas for more intimate one-​on-​one product examination — more relaxed less «crowded» feeling when honing in on studying a new product for purchase.
I have felt 100% welcome by this more «relaxed» –in-​attitude staff. No hype. No pressure and very very well trained. If they «don’t know» they don’t hesitate to scoot over to a more seasoned staff for advice — witnesses this many times. There is no high-​tech-​experience posturing nor condescension — very nice when you are a serious student. They can repair ALL computers and phones.
Mathew, Dede, Collin and Brady (who just moved on) have been ESP outstanding !

Hey Microsoft, Apple called and they want their store back. Not only is this store a pathetic attempt to capitalize on their competitor’s success, but they actually positioned their store across from the Apple Store.

I recently purchased an Asus Notebook from a local big box store. Along the way my computer picked up a virus (pop ups and keyboard issues). After checking with friends, I resorted to calling the Microsoft Answer desk over the course of a week and talked to 5 different folks who ran several virus scans and found/​eliminated some threatening viruses. But the keyboard still had a glitch, so rather than call the line one more time (which already felt excessive), I set up an appointment and took the computer into the store yesterday.
I was immediately greeted by a friendly woman who walked me back to the counter and offered me a beverage. Next, I was approached by Oscar L., who manages the store. He wanted to be sure I was being helped and when I told him that Marc G. was on his way out he said, «Marc is one of the best, he seen everything,» which may be true for everyone that works there, but I felt very assured that my computer was in good hands with this pro.
Marc ran virus scans and exhausted all tests on the keyboard (which took a little more than an hour) before agreeing that a full system restore should (hopefully) take care of the glitch. I was prepared for this — I backed up my files and brought them on an external hard drive along with my copy of Microsoft Office.
He and his colleagues happily answered all of my questions, they set my expectations regarding length of time this would take and that I might need to return to the box store — depending. I ran out to caffeinate and window shop and when I returned 90 minutes later the restore was just finishing and the keyboard function was working. Marc got my files set up and made sure everything I needed was easily accessible on my start screen. We also discussed virus protection and he got me set up with something new.
I am not someone who frequents the MOA, so I didn’t know this store was there. I am so glad I went — such a relief to be back up and running on all cylinders today. I will purchase my next computer at this store. I watched everyone get great customer service during my time there. And the employees seem happy — so the company is doing something right.
This is cool: They offer ‘summer camps’ for kids in addition to training on all kinds of products. This store is a fun place to be with friendly, happy staff on hand to troubleshoot and answer questions.

I bought a laptop here two years ago and have taken it in to get repaired twice since then. The most recent repair, replacing a hard drive, went horribly. I got my laptop back TWO WEEKS AFTER they’d promised they’d have it done, brushing up against the day I was leaving town to go back to college. They gave it back with NONE OF THE DATA they’d promised to save and they BROKE MY KEYBOARD, which is now warped and cracked.
This is not a complaint about Microsoft products or my computer itself. This specific store in the Mall of America has left me with a worse-​off computer after two extra weeks of repair, during which they were unresponsive to any inquiries about its condition. Please, take your business elsewhere.

OK, I’ll admit it I am way more of an Apple guy and not at all a fan of PC based stuff and the visit to the store at the Mall or America reminded me why.
Now I know, to each their own and everyone has a reason for liking what they like, I just don’t like MS stuff. I admit I bought my daughter a Tablet though for Christmas and of course that is what brought me to the MS Store. Now she’s 10 so despite the fact she loves my iPad she has seen the adds for the MS Tablet and is convinced this is what she needs for school and doing homework (of course while watching videos and listening to music while playing games). It’s not the Tablet i blame the store for its actually a better device then I was expecting, although I just know its going to freeze up and cause some unneeded stress over the holidays. My beef was swinging into the Store to pick-​up a keyboard for it and they don’t have stock! Really, it fits all the tablets and you’ve been selling those, why wouldn’t you stock the f’in keyboards for it?
OK, dear Microsoft Store manager or sympathizer: I get it, the Tablet has been selling well and they cant keep the keyboards in stock. Now, look across the mall and see that Apple Store. They have sold 1000 times more iPads than you have tablets and if I want to get a wireless keyboard (why the hell the Tablet one cant be wireless is lame) they will have one on the shelf or they will get me one. The answer from the person here was «we’re out of them». Pretty much what I would expect from a store that is only ¼ full on a Sunday afternoon two weeks before Christmas.
On the 25^th after Santa has made his visit the true test will begin! I know one place I wont be driving across town to visit when there are problems!
KT

I’ve purchased 2 things from this store. An ASUS Zen ultrabook and a Microsoft Surface pro.
I had a problem with both — I cracked the screen on the Zen. I purchased the fancy warranty and they replaced the computer without any hassle. More importantly, they upgraded me to a better model AND they took the HD out of my old Zen and put it in the new Zen so I didn’t have to spend hours of reloading software/​files, This was done efficiently while I waited, Too bad they don’t carry the Zen anymore, but I’ll try not to break the one I have!
I also bought a Surface Pro that had a problem — for some reason the keyboard response slowed down. They replaced the Pro without question. While it worries me a little that the Pro might have a hardware problem — it kind of seems like they’ve seen this issue before — there was absolutely no hassle with the replacement. Plus, the warranty starts again with the replacement, so essentially extended coverage. Having a Microsoft account means that much of the software is automatically replaced (the ones you bought from the App store and MS Office 365) so a little less hassle than having to reload everything. But still had to reload other applications that weren’t purchased through the store — Acrobat ProXI, EndNote, etc. Still, the MS account was a big timesaver.
I realize that you can buy a lot of things on the Internet and not pay sales taxes. For some items, you probably will never need customer service. But for electronics, the odds of something going wrong is not zero. My 5 star rating is because of the post-​sales service. I have to say that the low ratings from other reviewers who didn’t purchase anything really don’t address the full customer experience.

I have been using Microsoft products my whole life and was shocked by how unfriendly and rude Microsoft sales associates are in the Microsoft Store. Now I now why so many people like Apple and their products.
Walk in a Microsoft Store and an Apple Store the same day and you will see an unbelievable difference

Really great new store. Was just passing through St. Paul so I didn’t have much time to see everything in detail, but I made a stop in here. The store looked great from the outside, and the style continued to look great as I continued inside. Then, I took a bing vs. google challenge and for participating they gave me a $ 25 voucher for anything in the store, no minimums.
The in-​store selection looked great, covering a number of products. I was a bit disappointing that there was no Zune accessories, but aside from that everything else from computers, to windows phones to Xbox paraphernalia all had good selection.
The sales personnel here are both very friendly and knowledgeable, and can help with any questions that you may have for them.
My only complaint here is how the free flowing layout of the store results in a tad bit of ambiguity at times. When I wanted to check out, I couldn’t find where to go exactly as checkout was done by tablets which all store workers carried out with them, but only specific ones could do check out. Definitely check the store out though if you are a microsoft fan.