Google Opens Pop-Up Shop in SoHo to Sell New Pixel Smartphones

SOHO, NY — If a pop-up shop is good enough for Kanye West and Future, it's good enough for the most powerful online brand in the world, too. Google announced it will be opening a handful of retail shops on Oct. 20 — but it appears for a limited time only.

The shop in New York City will open at 96 Spring St. on Thursday. The shop will push all manner of Google products, but first and foremost will be its new smartphone, the Pixel and Pixel XL. It's certainly not a coincidence that the release date for the Pixel will also be Oct. 20. Pixel is the first phone made entirely by Google — hardware and software. PCMag notes the shop will be selling Google Home "smart" speakers as well.

Google offers very few details on the pop-up shop, little besides a location, and doesn't even including hours it will be open (though we don't suggest dropping by at 2 a.m.).

The chosen SoHo location puts it just over a block away from Apple's SoHo store at 103 Prince St. Google is referring to them very clearly as "pop-up" shops, however, so don't expect permanent competition with Apple just yet.

Google will also be opening a pop-up shop in London on Thursday.

If you were unaware, everyone on Earth currently breathing has opened a pop-up shop in SoHo in the last couple months, including rapper Future, pop prodigy Shawn Mendes, citrus enthusiast Dev Hynes, outdoor retailer Lands' End, cereal sailor Cap'n Crunch, and teen chef Flynn McGarry. West bucked the trend by heading all of a few blocks south to set his shop up in Tribeca.

Photo Credit: Robert Scoble via Flickr/Creative Commons