At Friday’s grand opening of the new Google Store on Newbury Street, a steady flow of visitors made their way inside. That’s good news for Google, which is looking to move beyond its core online search business and become a major vendor of electronic hardware.
The Boston store is only the fourth for Google, which opened its first in New York City (Manhattan) in 2021. There’s also a second New York site in Brooklyn and a third store in Mountain View, Calif.
“They’re a dedicated space where customers can experience our hardware and services in a helpful way,” said a Google spokeswoman. “While customers can continue to visit any of the great retailers we work with to sell our devices, our stores are an opportunity for them to hear straight from Google.”
The Google Store at 153 Newbury Street isn’t trying to match Apple’s massive three-story retail site a couple of blocks away on Boylston Street. It’s more like a gadget boutique, with Google’s latest phones, tablets, watches, and earbuds displayed on tables and shelves of beige wood.
Some visitors to the store just happened to be in the neighborhood, with no particular plans to buy.
Malvika Miller of Cambridge was pushing a baby stroller and shopping for shoes when she wandered into the Google Store. “I think it’s a good way to have people interact with the actual products,” Miller said. “It’s helpful to come and see and check it out.”
Besides, Miller added, “they gave free donuts.”
Shingi Bvunzawabaya arrived early, but not for his own sake. “My mom is an Android fan, and I am an Apple fan,” said Bvunzawabaya, a data engineer at real estate firm Concept Properties. “Being part of the Apple ecosystem just sort of locks you in.” But Bvunzawabaya said he planned to buy a Pixel phone for his mother, and take it with him during an upcoming visit to his homeland of Zimbabwe.
Another shopper, Bernard Villegas, is a retired cardiologist who used to work with the Chicago Cubs. “I was just wandering by and I saw the store was opening,” Villegas said.
Villegas is that relatively rare being — an avid Pixel loyalist. “I’ve had Google phones for an extended period of time,” he said. “All my family does, and I was planning on trading this one in when the Google 9 comes out.” That’s the Pixel 9 phone, due for release this fall.
Besides, he’s no fan of the iPhone.
“I detest Apple because they have you by the throat with their little ecosystem.” Even his wife, a one-time iPhone loyalist, has switched to Pixel, Villegas said.
People like Villegas are helping Google gain a respectable following among US smartphone owners. According to research firm IDC, Google’s Pixel phones captured 4.6 percent of the US smartphone market last year, up from 3.6 percent in 2022 and just 1 percent in 2021. By comparison, Samsung, the leading maker of Android phones, held 22.4 percent of the US market. Both were dwarfed by Apple’s 52 percent market share.
There’s nothing in the Google Store related to the company’s bread-and-butter search business, or its recent forays into adding artificial intelligence features to search. Instead, the store is a bet that Google’s array of gadgets can make the company a major force in consumer electronics — if it can just round up enough consumers.
Hiawatha Bray can be reached at hiawatha.bray@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeTechLab.
