intoDetroit: A lot of downtown retail is designed around tourists or visitors, but a store like this is something locals and downtown workers would visit.
Tech journal editor Brian Ambrozy of the Woodbridge district, who sparked speculation with a Jan. 24 post at intoDetroit, acknowledges it may be too soon to pop the bubbly -- though he lays a foundation for optimism:
The job posting claims the location is Detroit. Sometimes, this means metro Detroit, but I think in the case of Microsoft Careers, they actually mean Detroit. They list other Michigan cities specifically, such as Southfield in another job search. It’s reasonably safe to assume that a retail store opening at Somerset Collection would say Troy, MI.
Furthermore, a listing of other Microsoft retail stores around the country, shows that in other large metropolitan areas -- such as Los Angeles -- the individual cities are indeed shown on the listings.
Sherri Welch connects the dots at Crain's:
Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and his team have been working with the Detroit Planning Commission, Detroit Economic Growth Corp., Downtown Detroit Partnership, local developers and architects to develop a strategy to bring retail back to the city.
Ambrozy, the 35-year-old who started the buzz, thinks Detroit's emerging IT business corridor on lower Woodward is a good fit for Microsoft:
The developers, entrepreneurs, engineers, and others who are coming downtown to work or live are all going to be interested in a store like this. . . .
