Microsoft Weighs Opening Showcase In San Francisco

Microsoft Corp. wants to open a showcase for its products in the city’s new Yerba Buena retail complex where it would share space with top draws including a Discovery Channel store and a Sony Entertainment complex.

The showcase would not be a retail store where customers can buy software. It simply would exist to raise awareness of the company and its products as the public becomes increasingly aware of the Internet.

The concept would be “more of a brand-experience and product-experience venue” than a store, said Mike Losh, director of end-user marketing. “The interesting part is to have a controlled experience where people can see a wide range of products actually in use.”

“Microsoft has no interest in becoming a software retailer,” Microsoft spokeswoman Heidi Rothauser said.

Discussions are only preliminary and details of the space are sketchy. The complex, located across the street from Moscone Center, is slated to open in the fall of 1998.

The center’s developers like the idea.

“We would like to have someone like Microsoft in the project,” said John MacLeod, senior vice president of Sony Development. “But nothing has been definitively set at this point.”

Other attractions expected to be developed at the complex include a 3D Imax Theater, the Sony store and Discovery Channel flagship store, restaurants, retail shops and family play areas geared to themes from children’s literature.

Microsoft is considering other showcases in 10 to 20 locations around the United States, Losh said.