Microsoft to close nearly all of its stores permanently Microsoft will close nearly all of its stores, it has said. The physical stores that are based across the world will be shut and the staff who worked in them will instead work either remotely or in Microsoft’s corporate facilities, it said. Microsoft will keep four of its stores open, in London, New York, Sydney and its home base of Redmond near Seattle. But they will be “reimagined”, the company said in a statement. More follows…