Bloomberg: Google opening store in Dublin

According to Bloomberg, a filing by Google indicates that the company will be opening its first stand-alone Google Store at its European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. In a filing in a local planning application, Google's Irish unit said, "The Google Store would be open to the public and sellunspecified Google merchandise." The store would be located in Dublin’s Montevetrooffice block, and would measure 1,323 square feet of space with an added mezzanine floorextension. Google already has a store in California that sells Google merchandise, but that store is not open to the public. There is also a web site, www.googlestore.com, that sells Google products with the company's logo.

Prepared by consultants JohnSpain Associates for Google Ireland Inc., the planning application was approved by theDublin City Council on Jan. 23. The document also reveals astaff swimming pool in an area designed for use as a restaurant. Google's office in Dublin is its largest outside of the States, according to the filing. The Montevetro site was purchased by the company in April for 100 million EUR ($133 million USD). The documents state that after its existing headquarters are refurbished and the company moves into the Montevetro location, Google will have more than 3,000 employees in the city.

Back in Mountain View, Google said that it hasn't yet reached a decision about whether or not it would open a store. "While we do have the option to open retail space, we areexamining all potential uses,” Google said in an email, "No finaldecision has been taken." Google has said that it is standard procedure to have the option to build store space in a new location. Opening retail stores would be another way for Google to compete with Apple. The latter has 361 stores where customers can buy devices like the Apple iPhone, Apple iPad and Apple iPod. Google, whose Android operating system has the largest marketshare globally, will soon have a division that manufacturers handsets after it closes on its $12.5 billion acquisition of  Motorola Mobility.

source: Bloomberg