Microsoft to open Manhattan flagship retail store

Microsoft on Monday said it has signed a lease to open its first flagship store in Manhattan.

The location at 677 Fifth Avenue is in the heart of midtown, just a few blocks from Rockefeller Center and not far from rival Apple's Fifth Avenue flagship store.

Microsoft said that in addition to retail, there will be "experiential" areas in the store where the company can engage with customers.

In a blog post, Microsoft's retail VP David Porter called it an important milestone for the company. "This is a goal we've had since day one – we were only waiting for the right location." Porter said.

Microsoft opened its first retail store in 2009 in Scottsdale, Ariz. It now has 104 physical stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. The company says it will open 10 more locations before the holiday selling season this year.

It offered no details on the timeline for the opening of the Fifth Avenue store.

The stores feature Microsoft products like the Surface Pro 3 tablet, Windows Phones and Xbox One. There's also an "Answer Desk" for tech help and in some stores a "Community Theater" space for seminars, demos and the like.