Bad idea UNLESS they have trained apple employees to manage the store...At the Best Buy near me they have Ipad and it's almost impossible to try and use one because they are all locked with passwords and it's a headache to find someone to unlock it so you can try it...They sell apple computers at fries and there's almost no one to man the "apple station" and they're usually almost impossible to try because programs are missing because customers doing who knows what with them and they won't restore the computer as you'll go back in the next day and there's next to nothing in terms of software on the computer. Several of the apple computers at fries have been that way for months...However, go into an apple store and they have loads of everything and everything works, it's easy to get help, and the employees know what they're talking about...Best buy and fires do have knowledgeable employees, but it seems fewer and further between.
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Apple Bringing Store-Within-a-Store Concept to Target?
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Apple's "store-within-a-store" concept is fantastic, and I hope they continue to spread to other electronics emporiums.
I love the Apple store-within-a-store at Bic Camera in Yurakucho, Tokyo. The place is well-managed, they've got everything in stock that I could want, and it's never too crowded. Plus, I can browse the rest of Bic for non-Apple merchandise. Makes it a lot easier to get my shopping done versus going to the madhouse Ginza Apple Store just two blocks away.
The Ginza Apple Store is absolutely beautiful, but it's always packed to the seams, and the employees are among the worst-trained (or managed) Apple Store employees I've ever encountered. (Much worse than the ones working in the Shibuya Apple Store, for sure.)
I love the Apple store-within-a-store at Bic Camera in Yurakucho, Tokyo. The place is well-managed, they've got everything in stock that I could want, and it's never too crowded. Plus, I can browse the rest of Bic for non-Apple merchandise. Makes it a lot easier to get my shopping done versus going to the madhouse Ginza Apple Store just two blocks away.
The Ginza Apple Store is absolutely beautiful, but it's always packed to the seams, and the employees are among the worst-trained (or managed) Apple Store employees I've ever encountered. (Much worse than the ones working in the Shibuya Apple Store, for sure.)
Yes, that happens in the UK too, stores like Tesco. Asda ( aka Walmart) have iPads and a small selection of Mac equipment, but it's bolted down. You can't actually try the product, the price is the same as you would pay at the Apple store, and none of the staff are trained or interested in actually helping.
The Stack em high sell em cheap approach just won't work with Apple products. The main reason I buy direct from them..... Part of the experience is getting the I of you need from someone who knows The product line inside out. One thing you can say about Apple sales staff ( and I know quite a few) is that they are on the ball, polite and a pleasure to deal with.
The kid in Walmart will say " do you want one?" and go and get a box....There you go an iPad, goodbye.
I really can't say I have ever had a single issue with any member of the Apple staff I have dealt with.
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I really hope Target will do a better job. Lately Best Buy is such a mess, can't stand that store anymore. Feel sad when I see messed up Apple section in Best Buy with all iPods' batteries empty and every other iPad pass-code locked.
Inception
But with the App Store it will be a store within a store within a store .......Whooooaaaah
But with the App Store it will be a store within a store within a store .......Whooooaaaah
Cleanliness
I hope they can maintain the displays in a nice clean environment ... Best Buy tends to leave a lot of devices in poor conditions or sometimes the devices are never plugged in ... apple better disclose that displays have to be in pristine order, or threaten to remove apple products from their stores.
17" 2.2 and 15" 2.4 MBP 8GB SSD, Iphone 4s, Ipad 2, Apple TV,
I hope they can maintain the displays in a nice clean environment ... Best Buy tends to leave a lot of devices in poor conditions or sometimes the devices are never plugged in ... apple better disclose that displays have to be in pristine order, or threaten to remove apple products from their stores.
17" 2.2 and 15" 2.4 MBP 8GB SSD, Iphone 4s, Ipad 2, Apple TV,
Not a new concept at all... there are setups like these all over the world. I bought my first apple product at a huge retail chain in Berlin, which had an Apple booth in one of it's floors, in 2007.
Agreed. I bought both of my Macs at the Apple shop in Best Buy. Target to me is a general merchandise store.
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When I worked for Target many, many years ago Target polled us and the customers. It got a resounding yes. But it never happened because Apple at the time was into pushing out it's own stores. My guess that back burner idea has now taken off and the stores that do get one will be in more rural areas were an apple stores are sarce.
As for knowledgable people most Targets have a electronic specialist. Which has to know all things electronic. Be it Mac or PC or some type of new gaming platform you had to have a fully working knowledge of all of it. You would be tested monthly to make sure you could make the cut. A normal employee is suppose to seek out ES if they encounter any customer that asks a electronic question they have no knowledge of. I believe Target will just back up the normal Apple hired and trained folks w an ES person.
When I worked for Target many, many years ago Target polled us and the customers. It got a resounding yes. But it never happened because Apple at the time was into pushing out it's own stores. My guess that back burner idea has now taken off and the stores that do get one will be in more rural areas were an apple stores are sarce.
As for knowledgable people most Targets have a electronic specialist. Which has to know all things electronic. Be it Mac or PC or some type of new gaming platform you had to have a fully working knowledge of all of it. You would be tested monthly to make sure you could make the cut. A normal employee is suppose to seek out ES if they encounter any customer that asks a electronic question they have no knowledge of. I believe Target will just back up the normal Apple hired and trained folks w an ES person.
They no doubt will tarnish it, as Best Buy already has. The Apple stores at Best Buy are a disgrace!
Here's just a few problems with the one closest to me (very high profile Best Buy)
1. Nonsensical mismatch of machines. Should be more logical with exactly which machines are on display.
2. Macs running out of date software, and worse, out of date OS! All but one of the Macs are still on Snow Leopard, and worse, like 10.6.4 or something close to that.
3. Most have never been maintained, so they're slow, and likely corrupted by poor handling + no maintence.
4. Dirty, greasy, stained machines.
5. Inconsistent software from one machine to the next. Poor, poor example of e Mac ecosystem.
6. Idiot staff!!! I've seen older folks looking at an iMac, think its beautiful, and ask why it's worth the price over a PC, and the answers are unconvincing and embarrassing. I've often stepped in and walked all over their employees by assisting their customer in understanding the Mac.
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To me Best Buy is a place to see a lot of things in person...but I rarely ever buy anything.
Apple is less concerned with it's image, and more concerned about getting the money. People rail against the idea of Apple being greedy. They post every excuse in the book "that's what corporations are for". Yet the facts are Apple is the Walmart of gadgets, so they've got to bring their products to the average Joe & Jane.
Wouldn't Xzibit fit it better?
"Yo dawg, I heard you like Apple Stores so we put a Apple Store into your store so you can have an Apple Store in your store!"
Not really the same thing, and we've had apple products in other stores longer than Canadians have had Apple products at all.
This also was the case when Comp USA was around too, and pre-Apple store, there were lots of mom and pop "Apple" stores... once upon a time, there was such a thing as a computer store, but they're kind of like records stores now: extinct.
Don't get caught in the hype about Best Buy. Cheap CD's and DVD's used to drive lots of weekly traffic into their stores... which had a halo effect of making people see things they want and buy them. With the death of the disc, that is where they take on the hurt. Now Best Buy is more of a destination than the place you just browse on new release Tuesdays, added to that Wal-mart and Target selling better electronics that compete steeply on price. Nonetheless, Best Buy is healthy and the only major player left on the national level. they could always get rid of their sales associates (since they just walk about in blue shirts looking pretty and acting pretty stupid) to save money, since customers need to google in their stores to learn anything useful about a product.
Yes, because the millions of Macs they've sold at Best Buy in this way have been such a failure.
Target, for one, attracts a higher end customer. They are seen as the premium cheap chic retailer for a reason. When you think Wal-Mart, what visions pop into you head? yes, frightful, aren't they? (I'm mentally blind. *Shudders*) Apple only has a couple hundred stores... internationally... which is NOTHING in the retail sector. Tens of millions of people live within a short drive to a Target, and no where near an Apple store. They can learn, play, and experience in a way they can't looking at a product online.
Would it have the crowds of an Apple store? Nah, but it wouldn't be staffed heavily and would turn out some good sales for them. I'd rather drive 5 minutes to my Target than 30 to my Apple store any day or wait for the UPS man.
Indeed. There was kind of giving Microsoft everything they needed to copy and paste the Mac OS... the dreadful leadership, and arrogance that nearly put them out of business, not just out of the market. That Apple made the come back they did is nothing short of a miracle. Had that first iMac not been the hit it was, there probably wouldn't be an Apple today at all.
i think this is a great idea. they can't have apple stores everywhere, and this is another place for people to buy apple products
Call me an elitist but this should only be an option if there isn't an apple store within X miles of a Target/Best buy.
Storeception perhaps?
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This reminds me of Inception. Store inside a store. Dream inside a dream.
It's funny to read so many concerns about the training of Target employees. Do Apple fans go to store to see the products or the staff? To me Best Buy is light years ahead of Apple store because in Apple store there are just about a dozen products and those change once a year (at best). No HiFi, no TVs, no satellite radios or computer peripherals to speak of. Why would one even go there more than once a year? Of course, Fry's and Micro Center are way better than anything else. Unfortunately few people have those stores around.
Good Move
The Big Deal with Apple has to do with making complex tech into everybody-tech. Target is a good match for that. And it certainly isn't the end of the idea.
Today's iPod Nano is tomorrow's $12 impulse buy, and you'll be able to get them (in their evolved form) anywhere a $12 sale is common.
Department stores of all kinds are Apple territory. Any store with a Lancôme counter, or similar, is a prime example of a store that may have an Apple counter eventually. Here's to you Macy's, Nordstrom, Neiman or Marcus, Saks, Harrods and so on...
The Big Deal with Apple has to do with making complex tech into everybody-tech. Target is a good match for that. And it certainly isn't the end of the idea.
Today's iPod Nano is tomorrow's $12 impulse buy, and you'll be able to get them (in their evolved form) anywhere a $12 sale is common.
Department stores of all kinds are Apple territory. Any store with a Lancôme counter, or similar, is a prime example of a store that may have an Apple counter eventually. Here's to you Macy's, Nordstrom, Neiman or Marcus, Saks, Harrods and so on...