Microsoft to open its holiday pop-up retail stores on October 26

Microsoft will, indeed, open its 30-plus holiday pop-up brick-and-mortar stores on October 26, the day that Windows 8 and the Surface RT tablets go on sale.

It seems obvious this would be the case, doesn't it? But back in early September, when Microsoft announced the list of pop-up stores it will be opening "this fall,," officials refused to confirm they'd be open by October 26.

Luckily, eagle-eyed Microsoft watcher @steveymacjr spotted a mention of the New York store opening on October 26 on Microsoft's own Microsoft Stores web site.

I checked some of the 31 other pop-up store locations in the U.S. and Canada and they also list October 26 as their opening dates.

Microsoft Stores sell Windows PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft and third-party software, games, peripherals and more. Microsoft also is going to sell its recently announced Surface PC/tablets through its Microsoft Stores in the U.S. and through select online Microsoft stores, as well.

In the summer of 2011, Microsoft officials said that Microsoft planned to open 75 new Microsoft Stores in the subsequent two to three years. There are curently about two dozen Microsoft Stores. Apple currently has more than 300 retail stores worldwide.

Microsoft will have 44 permanent retail stores in place by the end of its fiscal 2013, which means by the end of June 2013, company officials said during Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference in June of this year.

Pop-up stores are coming to a number of cities in the U.S. and Canada, including Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Vancouver, and yes, Beachwood, Ohio, too. (That Ohio shout out is for one of my readers who felt I slighted his hometown on a recent episode of Windows Weekly.) Microsoft still is not commenting on plans for holiday stores in other countries that are not mentioned on the list it shared on September 10.

Microsoft is holding its official Windows 8 launch in New York City on October 25.