In a bid to build some buzz around its upcoming retail locations, Microsoft released a few shots of the storefronts on its official Twitter feed. There's not much to show - basically, you're looking at some drywall with logos for Xbox, Windows 7 and the Microsoft Store stamped along the front - but it's something more official than the PowerPoint slides that leaked a few weeks ago. Here's the first, from Scottsdale, Ariz.:

And here's another, from Mission Viejo, Calif:

These are the first two retail stores to open this fall; Microsoft spokesperson Kim Stocks previously referred to both locations as "hot markets." That Mission Viejo location is placed near an Apple Store, making good on Microsoft's promise earlier this summer to challenge Apple head-on by opening its own retail locations in close geographical proximity to those of its rivals.

In a sign that Microsoft plans to make its retail expansion an aggressive one, the company hired George Blankenship, a former Gap executive who helped launch Apple's retail arm in 2001. Blankenship will likely do for Microsoft what he previously did for Apple, i.e., choose the best locations for stores. Heading up Microsoft's retail division is David Porter, once a top Wal-Mart executive, which suggests that the tone of Redmond's storefront effort will be closer to box-store than boutique, appealing to the cost-conscious Laptop Hunter more than people wanting to shell out hundreds for the latest touch-screen device.

According to that leaked PowerPoint, early concepts for the store included a store-sized wraparound screen, an Answers or Guru Bar reminiscent of Apple's Genius Bar, and tables and kiosks loaded down with various Microsoft products. As one slide states, Microsoft's goal here is to provide "a transformative customer experience" that will alter "current perceptions of the brand." Not to mention sell as many copies of Windows 7 as humanly possible. And maybe even a Zune or two.

As to whether Microsoft will succeed...well, we'll have to wait for the drywall to drop.