New Google Store and ‘Visitor Experience’ center in Mountain View is now open [Gallery]

Abner Li | Oct 12 2023 - 5:00 am PT

The Google Visitor Experience center is now open in Mountain View, California. Besides a Google Store, there’s a cafe and spaces for the local community.

Google previously had a straightforward “Merchandise Store” in Mountain View that was located next to the Android statue garden. Both closed down in recent years, with the life-sized figurines moved elsewhere. As such, the only thing for tourists to do was take pictures of the Google logo between Building 40 and 43.

Now, you can go to the Google Visitor Experience. It’s located at the “Gradient Canopy” building that you’ll immediately recognize from the tent-like roof with large glass windows on all four sides. There are multiple parts to this big space.

Google Store Mountain View

After opening New York locations in Chelsea and Williamsburg, the Google Store now has a West Coast outpost. Wood is the prominent material with a long and winding “cabinets of curiosities” showcasing products. There’s also a literal “kids space” with a music experience running on Pixel Tablets.

Besides being able to buy Pixel and Nest products, there is company merch, which can also be found online.

Image credit (all): Mark Wickens

Cafe @ Mountain View

Right next to the store is Google’s first cafe open to the public with plenty of indoor and outdoor seating. It serves meals and drinks, with pricing quite affordable and meant to just cover the operating costs.

The Huddle

Connected to the cafe is a space that can be used (and reserved) by local community and nonprofit groups to host events. Google is hosting a Community Day on October 21 with “family-friendly activities, local food trucks, a makers market and live music performances.” A schedule will be available online.

Pop-Up Space

Inside The Huddle, Google is also hosting retail space for local businesses.

The Plaza

This outdoor space is home to events with a small stage and other programming. Meanwhile, you’ll find public art:

The Orb by Marc Fornes / Theverymany, LLC: “Developed using cutting-edge computational methods, this ultra-thin, self-supporting aluminum sculpture is made up of 6,441 individual flat pieces and 217,847 rivets, assembled by hand, piece by piece, from the ground up.”
Rockspinner by Zachary Coffin: “First patented in 1869 by a Parisian bicycle mechanic, ball bearings played a pivotal role in the industrial revolution, making the new machinery operate more efficiently by reducing friction. They also let you spin this multi-ton boulder with your fingertips.”
Curious by Mr & Mrs Ferguson Art: “More than 160,000 pennies were used to make the “fur” of this California grizzly bear, the official state land mammal of California. Once heavily populating this land, California grizzlies went extinct less than 75 years after the discovery of gold.”
Quantum Meditation II by Julian Voss-Andreae: “Inspired by the artist’s background in quantum physics, this sculpture is constructed from “wave fronts” — parallel slabs of stainless steel. Experience how an apparently solid figure virtually disappears when you cross the line of her gaze.”
Halo by SOFTlab: “Like oil or soap bubbles, the dichroic film on the crystalline interior of this artwork produces its beautiful effect through the principle of thin-film interference – selectively passing light of a small range of colors while reflecting others.”
[Not pictured] Go by Hou de Sousa: “Probably the world’s oldest board game, “Go” originated in China some 4,000 years ago. Flip the black and white discs to make patterns, or to ponder one of nearly 600 questions (just 0.000016% of the 3.5 billion asked on Google each day!).

The Google Visitor Experience and Google Store Mountain View are open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It’s located at 2000 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043.