However, "the market is saturated" with Microsoft products, he said, so locating a retailer that sells them is not very difficult. Carabelli said he'd prefer to go to the retail outlet closest to him -- whether it's a Microsoft store or not -- to find whatever he is looking for.

Whenever they appear, Microsoft retail outlets will at least have one less competitor. Circuit City, a major consumer electronics chain, began closing all of its remaining retail stores in January.

Another big question for the Microsoft retail stores is whether the company can pull off an appealing aesthetic design for its stores the way Apple has. Cutting-edge and user-friendly design for its products has never been the company's strong point, as evidenced by its Xbox 360 game console, Rosoff said.

"They were so proud of it but when I saw it I thought, it looks like a white-box computer," he said. "It wasn't the coolest design in the world."

Microsoft's Zune player, launched as a competitor to the Apple iPod, also has been criticized for its clunky design and so far has not been very popular with consumers.