Apple Set to Take On Microsoft with Expanded Florida Mall Retail Store

KindredMAC said:

I went back to DestinyUSA/Carousel Center in Syracuse for the first time in almost a year and a half since moving away and checked out the full sized store they added a few months ago. They were one of the first to have the MINI store concept back in the mid-aught's and you could NEVER step foot in there because it was always packed.

Now the new Syracuse location is beautiful and spacious with a huge selection of third party Mac stuff on the left side of the store.

I'm hoping our Albany location can start offering as much as the Syracuse store.

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Hey, that is my Apple Store!! Remember the Mini Store. It was almost unbearable the 2 years up to the new location. 1-1 sessions in the corridors on a bench!! Remember that?

Just my opinion, but I believe it took so long due to all the issues with the Mall Expansion. I think Apple wanted to go in the new section, but ran out of time to wait.

Personally, I love the location. In the new section would have been to removed from the main flow.

Even though it is 3X the size sometimes you still can barely get in.

I was in line for the opening of the Mini in 2004. Back then it was "cool." The size was perfect. Man, how things change, eh?

TWSS37 said:

Wow - this is beautiful. I can't believe Apple is moving away from the full glass frontage to an all black, opaque storefront. Bold move, but one I believe that will pay off and usher in a new era of modern architecture.

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Black is flatter

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macs4nw said:

Why does it always have to come down to "us against them". We all love (mostly) our APPLE products, and we all know those APPLE stores are quite nicely finished and a model of efficiency ($$ per ft2), but why do we have to gloat about it, and belittle the other guys.

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Xander: Who's a little fear demon? Come on. Who's a little fear demon?
Giles: Don't taunt the fear demon.
Xander: Why? Can he hurt me?
Giles: No, it's just tacky.

1/ Is the temporary store front a Jony Ive design?

2/ I can't believe the temporary wall hasn't been treated like a blackboard and written on in white.

.....

Meanwhile over at Microsoft...

Steve Ballmer "you know Apple built all these retails stores and their sales went up. We need to build Microsoft stores! And stock em with our brilliant Microsoft products so consumers can come in and play with them. And we'll have Microsoft geniuses. (Although do we really need a genius to tell people they need to reboot it) "

Microsoft management team in chorus "Yes Steve you're right!"

......

When I reflect on MS I can't help but really love pretty much everything that Apple has been to me.

ChrisA said:

These huge black cube-stores will not even need a staff, no inventory and not even interior lighting.

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I am going to wait for the next model of Apple cube-store. They always come out with a white version next. And if we wait a couple of more revisions, Digitimes is reporting that a cheaper, bigger version of the cube-store is opening...and that it will come in various pastel shades... oh happy days!

Its a bit fun we have the same kind of competetion in Berlin.

Just after Apple has opened that impressive Store at Kurfürstendamm the
evil empire strikes backl!.

I like this kind of flagship stores much more than mall-stores. Shopping malls just look the same all over the world.

Christian

macs4nw said:

Let them peacefully co-exist side by side, and people will decide what they wanne buy, and where they wanne shop.

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Quick anecdote. I was at Oakbrook Center mall (high-end, outdoor center in suburban Chicago) a few weeks ago. It has both an MS store and Apple in close proximity to each other. Now at the time, this was the only MS store in Illinois (they just opened a second last weekend). It was about 11:30 a.m. on a weekday. The MS store had about 7 customers, myself included, and the staff looked incredibly bored. The Apple store had at least 4 times that, with every employee dealing with at least 1-2 shoppers.

I will say, though, MS putting bar stools under the display tables so you can sit and play with the products is a nice touch. Otherwise, their store was completely underwhelming.

saturnotaku said:

Quick anecdote. I was at Oakbrook Center mall (high-end, outdoor center in suburban Chicago) a few weeks ago. It has both an MS store and Apple in close proximity to each other. Now at the time, this was the only MS store in Illinois (they just opened a second last weekend). It was about 11:30 a.m. on a weekday. The MS store had about 7 customers, myself included, and the staff looked incredibly bored. The Apple store had at least 4 times that, with every employee dealing with at least 1-2 shoppers.

I will say, though, MS putting bar stools under the display tables so you can sit and play with the products is a nice touch. Otherwise, their store was completely underwhelming.

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You know it, and I know it. All I was saying was, that there was no need to gloat over it.

macs4nw said:

You know it, and I know it. All I was saying was, that there was no need to gloat over it.

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Oh I totally agree. Let the volume speak for itself.

Cool! One of my Central Florida stores made the front page!!

One thing the article doesn't mention is that this particular location (Florida Mall) is slammed with tourists, many of which are from Brazil. These folks come in while on vacation and not only buy for themselves, but many times for friends and neighbors as well. Most times you can't even breathe in that store, it's so full of people...

Good to see its expanding!

I still prefer The Mall at Millenia location tho...

Glideslope said:

Hey, that is my Apple Store!! Remember the Mini Store. It was almost unbearable the 2 years up to the new location. 1-1 sessions in the corridors on a bench!! Remember that?

Just my opinion, but I believe it took so long due to all the issues with the Mall Expansion. I think Apple wanted to go in the new section, but ran out of time to wait.

Personally, I love the location. In the new section would have been to removed from the main flow.

Even though it is 3X the size sometimes you still can barely get in.

I was in line for the opening of the Mini in 2004. Back then it was "cool." The size was perfect. Man, how things change, eh?

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I was there for opening day too! And got two black shirts as well! I was on my wife to get out of the house early to get there but she didn't believe me when I said it would be busy. The look on her face as we came up the elevator and saw the line was priceless. We ended up getting in line at the Best Buy/Hallmark/Childrens Place hallway.

I agree that they probably wanted in on the DestiNY expansion but after touring it last week, I'm glad they aren't in there yet. Perhaps they'll move in a couple years when there isn't so much construction going on and the spaces are filled up.

jjblinky said:

Someone please tell me that's not M&Ms world they've taken over?

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I was just up there a week ago and your fine, M&M World (which is also a huge space) is further down. This is the space between MS Store and the Apple store.

Wow, this store is already huge. I visited it for the first time a week ago. It's going to triple? Holy cow. I can't wait to see the re-dec.

This is my home Apple store, love it. Cannot wait for it to open. I like to joke about how the Microsoft Store next door is setup the same way the Apple Store is, yet has a fraction of the foot traffic. You can dress a turd up to look like an Apple, but it's still a turd.

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TheRealTVGuy said:

Cool! One of my Central Florida stores made the front page!!

One thing the article doesn't mention is that this particular location (Florida Mall) is slammed with tourists, many of which are from Brazil. These folks come in while on vacation and not only buy for themselves, but many times for friends and neighbors as well. Most times you can't even breathe in that store, it's so full of people...

Good to see its expanding!

I still prefer The Mall at Millenia location tho...

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Brazilian women make it totally worth it.

TWSS37 said:

No, you had it right the first time. It's only a matter of time until Samsung kiosks adopt the all block frontage!

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and do it 20% larger, running jellybean!

macs4nw said:

Why does it always have to come down to "us against them". We all love (mostly) our APPLE products, and we all know those APPLE stores are quite nicely finished and a model of efficiency ($$ per ft2), but why do we have to gloat about it, and belittle the other guys. Let them peacefully co-exist side by side, and people will decide what they wanne buy, and where they wanne shop. No need to piss-off the PC crowd, with our gloating.

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Yep. And I highly encourage everyone, if you haven't taken a close look at the Surface tablet, go ahead and do so with an open mind. You might be surprised.

I was. Last Christmas I visited the Yorkdale Mall in Toronto which has an Apple Store almost next door to a Microsoft Store. The Apple Store was crowded with Christmas shoppers, of course. The Microsoft Store was much quieter, though not empty. So I went in, smirking, and expecting to gloat and laugh it up just like you guys are talking about. I picked up a Surface tablet, expecting to guffaw.

Well, it has its flaws, but I sat there for a good 30 minutes playing with it, and you know, I came away mostly impressed. I wouldn't buy one, yet, but I like that thing way better than Android tablets and there are a lot of good ideas built into it. This was my first exposure to Windows 8 and it was enough to make me seriously consider whether my next machine will be another Mac or iOS device or whether I will give Win8 a try.

macs4nw said:

Why does it always have to come down to "us against them". We all love (mostly) our APPLE products, and we all know those APPLE stores are quite nicely finished and a model of efficiency ($$ per ft2), but why do we have to gloat about it, and belittle the other guys. Let them peacefully co-exist side by side, and people will decide what they wanne buy, and where they wanne shop. No need to piss-off the PC crowd, with our gloating.
After all, globally, they still command, give or take, 90% of the market.

Judging by the posts on MR, many of us have already decided where we do most of our shopping, myself included.
I don't believe we need to rub it in. Just my .02

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Not gloating. Just observing how funny it is. Not poking fun at the PC users. Just MS. Hey, it's MS that said "Me Too" by trying to copy the Apple Store model. Let them suffer the embarrassment of getting their butts kicked in retail.

As far as the 90%, I would say that's corporate inertia and herd mentality that causes that. The retail stores are a clear indication of what the consumer chooses when given a choice.

Zune Guy is mad...

notjustjay said:

Well, it has its flaws, but I sat there for a good 30 minutes playing with it, and you know, I came away mostly impressed. I wouldn't buy one, yet, but I like that thing way better than Android tablets and there are a lot of good ideas built into it. This was my first exposure to Windows 8 and it was enough to make me seriously consider whether my next machine will be another Mac or iOS device or whether I will give Win8 a try.

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It's only real problem is cost and software choices they made. The RT has little software available, but the right cost. The Pro can have most Win software, but nothing comes with it, so already double the RT with potential for a lot more cost. They should have just bundled Office with both models, they can afford it, and not everyone has already got Office thru a corporate plan, or 365.

I need to play with the RT for awhile, see if I think it is viable. It's weird to say it, but Office is probably what makes or breaks the Surface line.

JAT said:

It's only real problem is cost and software choices they made. The RT has little software available, but the right cost. The Pro can have most Win software, but nothing comes with it, so already double the RT with potential for a lot more cost. They should have just bundled Office with both models, they can afford it, and not everyone has already got Office thru a corporate plan, or 365.

I need to play with the RT for awhile, see if I think it is viable. It's weird to say it, but Office is probably what makes or breaks the Surface line.

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Yeah, I'll be interested to see what happens when they make a Surface Pro with Haswell. It might still be a bit heavy, but if battery life is more inline with a tablet, then that might be what I pick up. It would replace my iPad and a little Win7 netbook I keep around for those rare instances I need to run Windows.

Bought my first new Mac there in 2006 while on Holiday. Stumbled across the store while roaming the mall and made a rather large impulse purchase!

I was at the opening whilst on holiday as well. One TShirt I didn't have to get off eBay!

JTR555 said:

There is a Microsoft store in Tyson's Corner (Virginia) and it is always nearly empty whereas the Apple Store there (one of the two original stores in the retail chain) is always jammed. Makes the Microsoft store look like a bad joke (which it is.) I still fail to see the logic behind a Microsoft store (except for suckers who want a Zune, I mean, Surface tablet.

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Apple is more organised and know what they are doing, you will get what you want in apple stor, while microsoft store don't have much to offer

Reopening this Sat at 10:00am