Google isn’t just a company that provides e-mail service and a search engine anymore: they sell stuff. Actual stuff, like Chromebooks, Nexus tablets and smartphones, and Google Glass face computers. That’s recent reports that Google signed a lease on an 8,000 square foot retail space in the SoHo neighborhood aren’t at all surprising. What exactly will Google sell there, though?

It just so happens that Apple’s first store in New York City was around the corner, on Prince Street. Apple stores now dot downtowns and malls (okay, mostly malls) all over the world, and Microsoft has also started its own network of retail stores. Why shouldn’t Google join them?

The question is, of course, what would a Gstore be like? Could they sell enough tablets and Chromecasts to pay for such a big retail space in a posh neighborhood? Probably not. Fortune speculates that the space might be more like a flagship store or a museum: a store selling the Google brand, but not necessarily focused on moving Google products.

Google Hunts for Space in New York’s Soho for First Retail Store [Businessweek]
Greene Street turns to gold with potential new tenant [Crain’s]

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