Technology giant, Microsoft, will open its first flagship store outside of North America, at Westfield Sydney later this year.

The store will be located next to Sephora on Pitt St Mall, covering 581sqm over two levels.

Microsoft has more than 110 physical stores in the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico, 17 store in store locations in China, and online stores in 189 countries.

The new Sydney store will follow the same model as overseas, featuring Microsoft products such as Windows PCs, Surface devices, Windows Phones, Xbox One, and Office.

It will feature an Answer Desk, similar to Apple’s Genius Bar, for questions, troubleshooting, repairs, and support for all Microsoft software and hardware.

Pip Marlow, MD of Microsoft Australia, said Microsoft is committed to being part of the fabric of the local community in which it operates.

“We will regularly donate volunteer hours, host community events, offer training workshops, support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and build deeper relationships with our customers, one person at a time.

“The space will be as much a place for engaging experiences as it is a retail store. It will complement our excellent retail partner network and be a natural extension of our existing online store.

“This is a significant development for our business locally as well as globally and is the latest in a series of Microsoft investments in Australia. Last October we opened our Microsoft Australia Azure Geos and just a few weeks ago we bought Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online to our local data centres.

“We also recently opened another Microsoft Innovation Centre in South Australia and we continue to support Australia’s not for profit community by giving A$50 million in software donations last year alone,” she said.