Apple Opening Store-Within-A-Store Inside London's Harrods Department Store?

MacRumors · Jan 19, 2012

Apple is planning to open a new store-within-a-store concept at the legendary Harrods department store on Brompton Road in London, according to 9to5Mac.

Harrods boasts more than 1 million square feet of selling space across 330 departments -- plenty of room for an Apple Store of sorts. The store-in-store concept will feature wooden tables and signage but won't have the signature feature of any standalone Apple Store: the Genius bar.

9to5Mac claims the store will be smaller than the typical standalone Apple Store, but will be larger than the standard store-within-a-store at Best Buy or the new pilot program at Target stores in the US.

The richly detailed interior of Harrods

Harrods is perhaps the best-known department store in the world and is visited by more than 300,000 customers on its busiest days. The store is owned by Qatar Holdings, the nation of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund; it was sold by Mohamad Al-Fayed for £1.5 billion in 2010.

(Images courtesy Flickr/sonewfangled and Flickr/Herry Lawford)

Article Link: Apple Opening Store-Within-A-Store Inside London's Harrods Department Store?

Shrink · Jan 19, 2012

If they put it near the Food Court - heaven!

kenzbud · Jan 19, 2012

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1 million square feet? That's absurd. That's like the size of a shopping ma out here.

blue22 · Jan 19, 2012

fancy that...

I guess Harrods needs the extra foot traffic boost that only :apple:

can surely provide.

rmwebs · Jan 19, 2012

This is getting silly now. I'm all for expanding the mac user base, but store-within-a-store gives the Mac a bad name. You try going up to one of the staff members there and asking a details mac related question. The words ones are the ones in PC World shops. They shy away and recommend some HP or Toshiba black plastic laptop running Win 7...

They need to get Apple staff, or at very least require that the staff are trained by Apple Store trainers.

----------

blue22 said:
I guess Harrods needs the extra foot traffic boost that only can surely provide.

Sarcasme?

bommai · Jan 19, 2012

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The store within store has apple specialists.

nagromme · Jan 19, 2012

rmwebs said:
This is getting silly now. I'm all for expanding the mac user base, but store-within-a-store gives the Mac a bad name. You try going up to one of the staff members there and asking a details mac related question. The words ones are the ones in PC World shops. They shy away and recommend some HP or Toshiba black plastic laptop running Win 7...

They need to get Apple staff, or at very least require that the staff are trained by Apple Store trainers.

They do: there are very few actual Apple “store within a store” programs, and those are staffed and/or trained by Apple.

The bad ones you’re thinking of are likely not Apple programs at all; just stores that have sections that happen to sell Apple stuff. Often not a good experience! (Although some do it pretty well, like MicroCenter.)

Ubuntu · Jan 19, 2012

rmwebs said:
This is getting silly now. I'm all for expanding the mac user base, but store-within-a-store gives the Mac a bad name. You try going up to one of the staff members there and asking a details mac related question. The words ones are the ones in PC World shops. They shy away and recommend some HP or Toshiba black plastic laptop running Win 7...

They need to get Apple staff, or at very least require that the staff are trained by Apple Store trainers.

I've seen it work quite well, although if the people you mentioned are suggesting PC alternatives for you then I guess they are just PC World employees wearing an Apple shirt or something? I don't really go to PC World so I wouldn't know. Anyway, I represent another technology brand within a department store (there are also Apple reps and actual Apple employees), and as long as you train the store staff it works quite well and doesn't really give Apple or the company I represent a bad name. In fact it's good because it means that Apple can get to those customers who are incredibly loyal to Harrods - and they are most certainly out there. Plus, look at it. Do you see a Microsoft store in Harrods? Or an HP one, etc? That's a solid statement in itself, and it would work very well.

It's great for the store I work in to have an Apple expert in store, but even when he's not around his influence is most certainly noticed because the knowledge of the store staff increases dramatically. Think in-store trainer.

EDIT: Not sure why I said Microsoft Store... I've never even seen one in the UK. Ah well.

ConnorTurnbull · Jan 19, 2012

We've had these kinds of stores in the UK for a long time. Most high-end department stores have mini Apple stores in them.

Ubuntu · Jan 19, 2012

ConnorTurnbull said:
We've had these kinds of stores in the UK for a long time. Most high-end department stores have mini Apple stores in them.

I think this means something bigger. I know what you're referring to but the ones I've seen tend to be about 2-3 tables in a designated area that Apple has paid for. I imagine this is something significantly larger, or perhaps Macrumors doesn't know how advanced we are in the UK.

kolax · Jan 19, 2012

ConnorTurnbull said:
We've had these kinds of stores in the UK for a long time. Most high-end department stores have mini Apple stores in them.

Just because a retailer sells Apple products or even has an Apple display, does not make it a mini Apple Store! This store-within-a-store concept is not what you are thinking of at all. Why do people keep getting this wrong?

Apple would have some floor space which displays their products, and is run by Apple employees. The people working there (probably 2-5 people at once) will be official Apple employees. You buy something, it goes through Apple, not Harrods.

Westyfield2 · Jan 19, 2012

Fortnum's > Harrods.

Just sayin'.

rmwebs · Jan 19, 2012

Kilamite said:
Just because a retailer sells Apple products or even has an Apple display, does not make it a mini Apple Store! This store-within-a-store concept is not what you are thinking of at all. Why do people keep getting this wrong?

Apple would have some floor space which displays their products, and is run by Apple employees. The people working there (probably 2-5 people at once) will be official Apple employees. You buy something, it goes through Apple, not Harrods.

The stores he mentioned carry an 'Apple Store' logo along with their own on the outside of the building, and have an entire area sectioned off as an Apple store with full branding and everything, right down to taking payments on ipods with tills mounted in the wooden tables...they are Apple 'store-within-a-store' things, and they are all over the place in the UK. Harrods getting a slightly bigger one isnt really a 'wow' its a 'huh....thought they would have already done that'.

Shrink · Jan 19, 2012

Westyfield2 said:
Fortnum's > Harrods.

Just sayin'.

I guess if you want to buy Apple stuff in Harrod's you are forced to have contact with the that type of people.

Fortnum's would never allow that type in the store.

Ubuntu · Jan 19, 2012

rmwebs said:
The stores he mentioned carry an 'Apple Store' logo along with their own on the outside of the building, and have an entire area sectioned off as an Apple store with full branding and everything, right down to taking payments on ipods with tills mounted in the wooden tables...they are Apple 'store-within-a-store' things, and they are all over the place in the UK. Harrods getting a slightly bigger one isnt really a 'wow' its a 'huh....thought they would have already done that'.

Which store in the UK does this?

nick_elt · Jan 19, 2012

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The worlds best shop got better. My idea of heaven is the Harrods food hall!

roadbloc · Jan 19, 2012

Could we then have a store within a store within a store?

rmwebs · Jan 19, 2012

Ubuntu said:
Which store in the UK does this?

Off te top of my head, our local John Lewis, the PC World / Currys in Thurrock. We did have one in BestBuy too but they shut down.

fabian9 · Jan 19, 2012

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rmwebs said:
Ubuntu said:

Which store in the UK does this?

Click to expand...

Off te top of my head, our local John Lewis, the PC World / Currys in Thurrock. We did have one in BestBuy too but they shut down.

I'll believe it when I see it.

None of the pc worlds and currys I've been to that sold apple products in a designated area took payments through iPod touches or had any official apple staff around...

shotts56 · Jan 19, 2012

The Dixons in Heathrow T5 does.

Ubuntu · Jan 19, 2012

rmwebs said:
Off te top of my head, our local John Lewis, the PC World / Currys in Thurrock. We did have one in BestBuy too but they shut down.

Fair enough. I know a few people who work for Apple in such setups but none of them can actually process payments - they simply hand it over much like a typical rep would do so. But I'll take your word for it, that it does exist!

paulsdenton · Jan 19, 2012

Terrible Idea

Harrods has the worst customer service on the face of the earth. Any American shopper who enters its hallowed halls is immediately struck by how little concern there is for the customers' needs. Unless there is some RADICALLY different approach taken in an Apple sub-store the brand will be seriously tarnished in London. Unless, of course, the locals are so inured to the lack of concern for the customer that Harrods' employees habitually display that it makes no difference to them.

LondonCentral · Jan 19, 2012

Fortnum & Mason do great hampers. Harrods beats it in every other way though. Harrods' Food Hall is widely believed to be the most luxurious in the world.

I've never had any problem with Harrods staff or customer service. Given that over 300,000 people pass through their doors on a good day, it would be a miracle if all of those people left feeling 100% satisfied. You can't please everyone etc.

The Apple store within a store will be positioned in the relevant tech/audio/visual department. Placing it anywhere else wouldn't make sense and would not be in keeping with the stores layout. Understandably, this isn't a situation where Apple gets to call the shots. They're probably happy enough having their own spot in the store.

KPOM · Jan 19, 2012

Harrods is primarily a tourist destination. I think Selfridge's on Oxford Street may be a better destination if they are looking for the high end domestic crowd. Selfridge has perfected the store-within-a-store concept.

That said, there's plenty of money to made from tourists in London.

snebes · Jan 19, 2012

KPOM said:
Harrods is primarily a tourist destination. I think Selfridge's on Oxford Street may be a better destination if they are looking for the high end domestic crowd. Selfridge has perfected the store-within-a-store concept.

That said, there's plenty of money to made from tourists in London.

Tourists spend money too. Apple goes where the money is, and lately it seems is tourist spots. The grand central terminal/station store is a good example.

Apple Opening Store-Within-A-Store Inside London's Harrods Department Store?

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