If not for the Windows logo outside, people walking through the glass entryways at Microsoft’s new stores might be surprised to find Windows PCs, not Macs, on the large cedar tables inside.

The similarities to Apple’s stores are tough to miss: open layout, employees carrying mobile checkout gear, a dedicated children’s area, an “Answers” counter in the middle, a training theater in the back.

Those elements and others have drawn more than a few guffaws in the technology industry, reinforcing Microsoft’s reputation for copying Apple. It’s a store that “only a serial copier could love,” declared news website MacDailyNews.com.

But some retail experts say the typical computer geek’s reaction misses an important point. Imitation isn’t mere flattery in the retail business, it’s tradition. And in this case, they say, it looks pretty smart.

“Do we beat them up because they didn’t come up with a creative, different approach? Not in retail,” said analyst Jeff Roster, vice president for retail-industry market strategies at the Gartner research firm. “If something works and you can leverage it, fine. That’s how retailers do it. And, as a matter of fact, that’s the right way to do it. Why re-create the wheel?”

The first two Microsoft stores opened in October in shopping malls in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Mission Viejo, California. The initiative is an attempt by Microsoft to connect directly with PC users and improve its image at a time when it’s trying to build interest in the new Windows 7 operating system and overcome the struggles of the earlier Windows Vista. While the stores aren’t expected to be immediate moneymakers, the company says the long-term goal is to generate profit and brand awareness with the retail network.

Microsoft’s biggest risk in following Apple’s lead would be if it can’t match the quality of the Apple experience, making it more obvious that it’s falling short, Gartner analyst Roster said. But that’s a lesser risk than trying to start fresh with a unique retail blueprint of its own.

For the record, Microsoft doesn’t think it deserves the copycat label. Mika Krammer, general manager of merchandising and marketing for Microsoft’s retail group, points to a range of unique “Microsoft experiences” in the stores—including eye-catching video displays that wrap around the interior, a dedicated videogame section, and the ability to customize the exterior and interior of the specially configured “Microsoft Signature PCs” sold there from a range of PC makers.

Microsoft has “chosen best practices from across the industry,” Krammer said. “There are best practices applied by companies like Apple, by companies that aren’t even in the consumer-electronics area, and we’ve tried to draw from all of those.”