Google opens cafes, retail stores, event spaces

Google’s “Visitor Experience” center opened on October 12. According to Google real estate director Scott Foster, the project is designed specifically for the public, not Google employees or their friends.

The cafe inside Google's “Visitor Experience” Center. (Photo: CNBC)

Visitors are not allowed to enter Google’s workspace, but nonprofits and community groups can reserve the space for meetings and events. The space also includes a cafe and retail store. Google opened a retail store in Chelsea, New York, two years ago.

The Google Cafe serves sandwiches, soups, and desserts from local eateries. It’s Google’s first cafe open to the public. There’s also an outdoor plaza for events, as well as craft spaces and rotating boutiques featuring local retailers.

The center, which took several years to develop, comes at a time when technology is changing rapidly and demand for face-to-face meeting spaces has increased post-pandemic, according to Google executives. It also fits a trend among Silicon Valley tech companies like Facebook, which has banned outsiders from its campuses.

Facebook has redesigned its Menlo Park headquarters to include affordable housing, a grocery store, a drug store, and more. Google has been approved for an even larger campus that could accommodate 25,000 employees.

(According to CNBC)

Asia-Pacific is the focus of Google's global AI strategy Asia-Pacific (APAC) will be the new artificial intelligence (AI) market region of search giant Google.

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