Google Introduces an Enthralling Visitor Experience Café, Retail Store, and Event Space

Google
is now offering the general public access to a part of its main campus.

The company officially opened its “Visitor Experience” center to the public on Thursday, following a ceremony attended by Google executives and local leaders at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

Google’s head of real estate, Scott Foster, expressed, “We have always prioritized the experiences of Googlers and their acquaintances, but this project was specifically designed for the general public.”

Ruth Porat, Google’s President and Chief Investment Officer, was also present and assisted in cutting the celebratory ribbon to the space.

While visitors cannot access Google’s actual office spaces, the new visitor center offers a dedicated room that community groups or non-profits can request for meetings or events. It also features a cafe and a retail Google store. This opening comes two years after Google’s first public retail store in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood.

The visitor center’s cafe serves dishes like sandwiches, soup, and local desserts, sourced from nearby eateries. This marks Google’s first cafe open to the public, albeit with a lighter selection compared to its large campus cafeterias. The center also offers an outdoor event space called the “plaza,” as well as a small craft area and a rotating selection of local retailers in a small shop.

According to executives, the Visitor Experience center, which has been in development for several years, is opening at a time when technology is advancing rapidly and there is growing demand for in-person spaces after the pandemic.

“Innovation is progressing so rapidly that having a place to come together has become even more crucial,” stated Michelle Kaufmann, Google’s campus research and design director, in an interview with CNBC, highlighting the importance for fields like artificial intelligence and cloud computing. She added, “It’s a step towards breaking away from the closed-off ivory tower and hopefully serves as a blueprint for greater community involvement.”

This move by Google aligns with the current trend among tech companies in Silicon Valley, including Facebook (now Meta), to create more open and accessible campus designs. Traditionally, these campuses were closed off to the general public. However, companies now face pressure to cater to both the top talent they attract and the non-tech communities around them.

Facebook has also joined this trend by revising its Menlo Park campus plans to include affordable housing, a full-service grocery store, a pharmacy, and other amenities.

Google, on the other hand, has received approval for an even larger 80-acre mixed-use campus in downtown San Jose, ten miles away, to accommodate 25,000 employees. Despite some economic concerns and cost-cutting measures, Google remains committed to the long-term development of this project.