Touring Google's NYC Pop-Up Store

Google's new pop-up space showcases all of its new hardware. We took a look around.

Apple has stores. Microsoft has stores. Now Google has one, too, but only for a little while. Google's new "pop-up" space in New York's trendy SoHo neighborhood is only open until Dec. 31, as a showcase for the company's new Pixel phones, Wi-Fi router, Home speaker, and Daydream VR.

The space lets you get your hands on all of Google's new products and, if you have a new Pixel phone, they'll help you set it up and give you tech support. In typical Google fashion, though, the store doesn't have any inventory. Instead, Googlers will help you buy things online with your phone, or will send you around the corner to the Verizon store or Best Buy.

We took an early tour of the store on opening day to see how Google wants to represent itself. The space is playful, open, and makes good use of white backgroundsâin short, very Googly. Take a look through our slideshow.

Google Store at 96 Spring Street

The new Google store, at 96 Spring Street in New York City, will be open through the end of the year. You can't actually walk out of there with products, but they'll help you buy things online with your phone.

Inside the Google Store

The store is divided into experiential areas around Google Home, Google Wifi, the Pixel phones and Daydream View.

Google's Shifting Wall

Google is also showcasing its playful design aesthetic. This wall of constantly shifting cubes reconfigures itself into various Google logos.

Google Home and Photo Sphere

The big sphere in the background helps to advertise Google Photos, Google's photo-storage service. (For more, check out 17 Tricks to Master Google Photos.)

Google Kitchen

If you want to use Google Home , walk into the kitchen. In there, you can issue voice queries to a Google Home speaker that it will actually answer.

Google Living Room

The living room shows off Google Home connected to a Chromecast Ultra . If you don't know what to ask Google Home, just look around. (For more, check out Google Chromecast vs. Chromecast Ultra: What's the Difference?)

Google Sample Query

In the living room, there are sample Google Home voice queries on a globe, on a tablet, and on a picture on the wall.

Daydream View Area

Google's comfy Daydream View VR headset is like sweatpants for your face. A half-dozen Google employees hang around here to help people do demos. You sit on a swiveling stool, which looks like a rock, so you can peer around.

Wearing Daydream View

Daydream View is very comfortable, and it fits over glasses. You use a little handheld controller to navigate.

Google Pixel Phone Area

This table lets people play with the Pixel and Pixel XL phones. If you need one today, they'll send you to the Verizon or Best Buy stores around the corner.

Google Dark Room

This dark room lets people test the low light photo capabilities of the Pixel against their own smartphones.

Google Store Shoppers

The store had a short line of shoppers when it opened at 10 a.m., but it wasn't that well publicized. The store will only remain open through the end of the year.

About Our Expert

Sascha Segan

Former Lead Analyst, Mobile

My Experience

I'm that 5G guy. I've actually been here for every "G." I reviewed well over a thousand products during 18 years working full-time at PCMag.com, including every generation of the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S. I also wrote a weekly newsletter, Fully Mobilized, where I obsessed about phones and networks.

My Areas of Expertise

US and Canadian mobile networks
Mobile phones released in the US
iPads, Android tablets, and ebook readers
Mobile hotspots
Big data features such as Fastest Mobile Networks and Best Work-From-Home Cities

The Technology I Use

Being cross-platform is critical for someone in my position. In the US, the mobile world is split pretty cleanly between iOS and Android. So I think it's really important to have Apple, Android and Windows devices all in my daily orbit.

I use a Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon X1 for work and a 2021 Apple MacBook Pro for personal use. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, although I'm probably going to move to an Android foldable. Most of my writing is either in Microsoft OneNote or a free notepad app called Notepad++. Number crunching, which I do often for those big data stories, is via Microsoft Excel, DataGrip for MySQL, and Tableau.

In terms of apps and cloud services, I use both Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive heavily, although I also have iCloud because of the three Macs and three iPads in our house. I subscribe to way too many streaming services.

My primary tablet is a 12.9-inch, 2020-model Apple iPad Pro. When I want to read a book, I've got a 2018-model flat-front Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. My home smart speakers run Google Home, and I watch a TCL Roku TV. And Verizon Fios keeps me connected at home.

My first computer was an Atari 800 and my first cell phone was a Qualcomm Thin Phone. I still have very fond feelings about both of them.

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