Google scraps plan for flagship retail store in New York City

According to a report from Crain's New York Business, Google has scrapped plans for a flagship retail store in New York City. Google leased the 5,442 square foot space in New York's SoHo district and apparently spent $6 million renovating the building in preparation for the first-ever standalone Google Store, but now it plans to sublease the space to another tenant.

Google has many small "stores within stores" at Best Buy and other retailers around the world, and there's also a larger store inside Curry's PC World in London. Additionally, the company does pop-up retail stores in a few locations around the holiday shopping season, called "Winter Wonderlab." Google even once experimented with floating retail with the "Google Barges," which were meant to be showrooms for Google Glass and other gadgets. The barge plans were cancelled before they were ever completed, though.

The 5,442 square foot space would have been the largest Google retail foothold to date, more than doubling the size of the 1,937 square foot store inside Curry's PC World. With Android Phones, tablets, watches, set top boxes, Chromebooks, Chromecast, the OnHub, and Nest products, Google certainly has a large enough hardware lineup to fill a store. Google revamped its online hardware store this year with the launch of store.google.com.

Apple is, of course, the model of tech retail, with over 460 stores worldwide. The stores don't just sell Apple products—they are also a reliable place for tech support and speedy service plan fulfillment. Other companies have been struggling to replicate Apple's success, though, with Samsung notably closing its flagship London store last Christmas Eve after less than a year of business.