Apple Retail Stores

Apple retail stores in 1976

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Jobs and McKenna had dinner and talked about what the future of Apple could look like, and McKenna signed on. Eventually McKenna drafted an eight-page marketing plan in December 1976. Lo and behold, what was written under “Distribution Channels”? Apple stores.

WSJ’s ridiculous claims about Apple retail

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The Wall Street Journal has proven it can find fault with just about anything—this time it’s Apple’s retail operation. WSJ says that Apple retail—one of the most successful and different operations in the world—is suffering.

But then they have lines like this:

Sales at Apple Stores in the recently reported third quarter slipped to $4 billion, down slightly from a year earlier…

Most retailers would love to “slip” to that.

It [Apple] raked in $5,971 per square foot in 2012, up 17% from the $5,098 per square foot the year before, according to retail consultancy Customer Growth Partners. By comparison, Tiffany & Co. had sales of $3,453 per square foot in 2012, and popular yoga-clothes retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. pulled in $2,464 per square foot last year.

Why not worry about Tiffany?

I wonder how much Microsoft makes per square foot? I know that’s a silly question for WSJ to ask.

Apple retail gets top scores in UK

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Over 11,000 UK consumers responded to the survey, with Apple coming out on top with an 85% satisfaction score. Apple Retail Stores were praised specifically for their “unique look and feel” and “great customer service.”

No surprise, but good to see.

Design and business

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Doug van Spronsen writing about Ron Johnson and JCPenney:

I am not suggesting that great design isn’t effective, quite the contrary. But if the root cause of the issue is deeper, it might be better to start the strategy process a few layers back.

Great article and I agree. Selling iPhones, iPods and iPads is fairly easy because they are great products — the business side of things was working. Couple that with well-designed retail stores and you’ve got a winner.

Moron

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A few years ago, consumers needed to touch and feel devices, but these days they can often get the information they need to make a purchase decision by talking to friends and reading reviews.

“They don’t have to go in the store and feel it anymore,” Rubin said, during a roundtable with reporters at Mobile World Congress on Tuesday.

That’s absolutely true. Nobody goes to Apple retail stores to get some time with the new products, nobody at all. Those stores are basically empty all the time. Rubin is TOTALLY right.

Moron.

Apple store heist

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Armed robbers broke into a central Paris Apple store on New Year’s Eve, stealing goods with an estimated value of one million euros.

That’s a lot of product.

Appreciating nice things

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What Apple understands and its critics did not (and still do not) is that many people, from all walks of life, simply appreciate nice things. They accuse Apple of pretension and elitism, but it’s they, the critics, who hold that the mass market for phones and tablets is overwhelmingly comprised of tasteless, fickle shoppers who neither discern nor care about product quality.

I think Apple and the buying public have proven Gruber right. People do want nice things and they are willing to pay for quality.

Apple’s new Causeway Bay, Hong Kong retail store

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Eric Slivka:

The new store will cover three levels and has been reported to encompass approximately 20,000 square feet of space, with the facade including 30-foot tall glass windows currently covered by the curtain graphics. Playing upon the large facade, Apple’s tagline for the premiere is “An opening you simply can’t miss.”

Wow.

Mismatch

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Horace Dediu:

If stores did not show any effect of poor management, then why was Browett fired? I suspect it had mostly to do with a mis-match of understanding of the job the stores are hired to do by consumers and by Apple itself. The company treats the stores as a sales channel but also as a communications channel with its customers.

A complete and total mismatch.

Apple Store opens in Halifax

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Halifax has never seen anything like it. Hundreds of people lined up to see Apple launch its latest retail store, screaming and clapping, as excited as you would expect people to be on Christmas morning before opening their gifts. […]

Memoirs of an Apple Genius eBook

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The Apple Store is the place where those experiences are made far better or far worse. Being on the front lines means gathering some great war stories. Stephen is here to share a few of his.

Woman sues Apple after walking into glass doors

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Paswall claims that she didn’t realize that she was walking into a wall of glass as she approached the store, and says that she broke her nose as a result of the collision.Her suit claims that “the defendant was negligent … in allowing a clear, see-through glass wall and/or door to exist without proper warning.”

Don’t blame your stupid on someone else.

War at the store

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JP Mangalindan:

Strolling around the Microsoft Store in Santa Clara, Calif., there’s no getting around the fact that you’ve seen this all before. Like, across the street — where a brightly lit, glass-paneled Apple Store stands.