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Apple Shows New Mini-Stores

Doctor Q said:
Is the "Miniature Mac Genius Bar" staffed by less smart geniuses?
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"In addition, the stores will offer third party products, on-site repair on all Apple products, and a miniature Mac Genius Bar."

I've never seen a miniature Mac Genius before. Little people can be smart, though, too! 😛

The distribution of the stores is a mystery. I am lucky enough to have two within 30 minutes' drive from my house in Dallas. My parents are lucky enough to have two within 45 minutes' drive from their house in Detroit.

-Aaron-
 
The closest Apple store to me is in Caimbridge, MA. Does anyone in the nothreast know if Apple is really planning to put stores in the South Shore Plaza or the Providence Place? That would be more convinient than driving into Boston.
 
Actually in my country, there's a number of Apple Store carrying only Apple products and their accessories. They are not that big, just about the size of those mini stores but they are not own by Apple although they are certified by Apple and they carry the name "Apple Centre". I am not too sure if this is the case for other countries as well.

http://www.asia.apple.com:81/buy/singapore.html

Edit: oops, a quick search on the web brings up a number of Apple Centres as well.
 
phreakout13 said:
The closest Apple store to me is in Caimbridge, MA. Does anyone in the nothreast know if Apple is really planning to put stores in the South Shore Plaza or the Providence Place? That would be more convinient than driving into Boston.
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Providence Place is planned, but Apple is waiting for the prime spot. I must say, it is a pretty nice mall.

I'm hitting 3 Apple Store Openings on Saturday!
Christiana - Full Store
Rockaway - Mini-Store
Bridgewater- Mini-Store
Who else is going to hit all 3? I Don't think anyone is, except me, my little brother, and my uncle. I've hit King of Prussia and Menlo Park on the same opening day, I'm setting the record with 3! Anyone already beat 2 in one day?
 
Yeah, in Australia, there are MAC1 stores that call themselves Apple Centres. They only carry Mac related products. Nextbyte is bigger, but they're just called NextByte. 😉

Canada is a vast wasteland devoid of stores like the ones in the US and Australia. Too bad, because it would be so great to find a chain of Apple stores in decent areas.

If Apple had any sense, Toronto would have one. Its one of the 5-6 largest cities in North America, I think.
 
Okay, this explains it. Since the summer I had seen the signs in Oakridge Mall talking about the Apple Store coming in the Fall, yet the corner shop location looked far too small to be an Apple Store to me. Now I understand how it is all going to work. I have the day off on Saturday, so I'll be making the 3 mile trip to the mall to check it out instead of the 14 miles to the Santa Clara store.
 
Man, this self checkout seems iffy. Whats to shop people from walking off with stuff, I can't think of a good solution.
 
I think New York desperately needs at least one more. There is only one in all of New York City, and it's always packed. Sometimes it's hard to walk around in there.
 
brianrubinton@m said:
I think New York desperately needs at least one more. There is only one in all of New York City, and it's always packed. Sometimes it's hard to walk around in there.
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And what's with the SoHo Apple Store closing at 8pm?!?! I went to New York last May and I was so excited to get to the SoHo store, and when I got there it was five minutes past 8pm and was turned away!! 😡 😡

I was completely depressed for the rest of the night, absoultely horrible. 🙁

I think this is great news because I can see one of these mini's coming to a mall in my town. Even though it's been said before that these stores are meant to be Satellites, here's a snipit from the MacWorld article:

MacWorld said:
...the new store size will allow Apple to serve both smaller markets that currently have no Apple retail presence, as well as high-traffic areas that are somewhat close to established Apple stores.
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So here's hopin'!

Also I think the self-checkout idea is great! I use self-checkout at department stores, grocery stores and basically any other store that has it available. I'm curious about the shoplifting aspect too, but I'm sure they have a way to prevent it, it would be stupid if they didn't.
 
zakee00 said:
you guys should feel LUCKY to be 25mins away from the closest apple store. i'm about 3 hours away, and thats on a PLANE. yeah, i live in alaska. and WTH is up with all of the stores in CA?!?!? i think they should expand and build an apple store in anchorage 🙂
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YES! The Alaska Mac Store's service section blows! Their sales people have always seemed friendly and helpful but I will never do business with them ever again. Avoid them like the plague.
 
I think Apple should use this mini store model, and franchise it. I would love to open my own Apple mini store. I think it could be a great success for Apple! More markets more money.
 
"Alongside Jobs at the conference was Apple Retail vice president Ron Johnson, who at one point noted that the new store design was roughly the same size as retail outlets in airports, suggesting that future airport-based Apple stores could become a convenient for traveling shoppers.
"

I just don't see how mini Apple Stores can fit into an airport. Sure, the plus side is that they get to be accessed by many people from all around but most people just aren't going to buy a computer at an airport. They can't count on complete impulse purchases to suffice.

And I agree about the CA Apple Stores statements. I live in San Diego, which is by no means the largest metropolitan area, and I have two, both within half an hour away.
 
narco said:
I live in California, roughly 30 minutes from a few Apple stores and every time I go to one they're PACKED. I mean, this is Hollywood where there are tons of film students, musicians -- and then there's San Francisco with all their designers, musicians, etc. I'm sure there are the same types of creative people in other cities, but maybe they don't have money.

.narco
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I know what you mean.

Glendale: ~ 15 min. away
Pasadena: ~ 25 min. away
Northridge: ~ 40 min. awy
The Grove: ~ 40 min. away
Third Street Promenade: ~ 1 hr. away

And they're almost always full of people. From this, I can understand why Apple have so many stores in California.
 
sw1tcher said:
I know what you mean.

Glendale: ~ 15 min. away
Pasadena: ~ 25 min. away
The Grove: ~ 40 min. away
Third Street Promenade: ~ 1 hr. away

And they're almost always full of people. From this, I can understand why Apple have so many stores in California.
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Tell that to the people who have to drive the next state over to get to get to an Apple store. Apple should really consider 1 mini store in every state.
I consider myself blessed that we now have three in MN. But I think its critically stupid that two of those stores are within a 15 minute drive of one another. Did Apple just use a dartboard with picts of each selected state when they decided on the locations? 😕

retailmap012104.gif
 
SiliconAddict said:
Apple should really consider 1 mini store in every state.
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I was thinking the exact same thing.

Even though I'm bitter that California has so many Apple stores when the nearest one to me is Portland, a good 6-8 hour drive, I understand why there are so many stores there. First, there's a lot of people in that area so they need more stores to accomodate the people. And second, the stores are obviously doing well or Apple wouldn't continue opening new ones in the areas.

I would absolutely love an Apple Store in my town, but until that time comes I'm just happy that Apple is doing well enough financially to be able to open all these stores.

More stores will open in the coming years, and we'll all get ours eventually. 🙂
 
SiliconAddict said:
Did Apple just use a dartboard with picts of each selected state when they decided on the locations? 😕
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I think you're on to something. It's a friendly competition at the Apple headquarters where 50 of their staff get one state each. Unfortunately for some of the states, they got the staff people who can't even hit the board and California got a semi-professional dart player 😉
 
SiliconAddict said:
Tell that to the people who have to drive the next state over to get to get to an Apple store. Apple should really consider 1 mini store in every state.
I consider myself blessed that we now have three in MN. But I think its critically stupid that two of those stores are within a 15 minute drive of one another. Did Apple just use a dartboard with picts of each selected state when they decided on the locations? 😕

retailmap012104.gif
Click to expand...

Heh. Did you read what he wrote? All those stores within such a short distance of each other...AND THEY'RE STILL PACKED! Hmm...seems to me that they could use another store in that area (which would be cheaper to do than putting it in an area with fewer stores.....)...
 
mms said:
"Alongside Jobs at the conference was Apple Retail vice president Ron Johnson, who at one point noted that the new store design was roughly the same size as retail outlets in airports, suggesting that future airport-based Apple stores could become a convenient for traveling shoppers.
"

I just don't see how mini Apple Stores can fit into an airport. Sure, the plus side is that they get to be accessed by many people from all around but most people just aren't going to buy a computer at an airport. They can't count on complete impulse purchases to suffice.

And I agree about the CA Apple Stores statements. I live in San Diego, which is by no means the largest metropolitan area, and I have two, both within half an hour away.
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I think, personally, that mini-stores in airports will be for business travellers mainly - because:

i) whenever my dad was flying around, he always used to bring me something back - a small gift. I can see businessmen going and buying iPods/mini's for their kids on the way back from a long business trip...

ii) Hopefully they stock little cables and things like that - It's a nightmare when you realise that you've left your powerbrick somewhere or you've left an important cable at home..i think these stores would be perfect for that.

iii) lastly, mini genius bars would be cool - if you're leaving for a store that doesnt have an apple store, and your laptops been playing up, just take it in and get it sorted before you leave..

iv) and lastly again, (and i dont know if this is true in the US, but it is in the UK) TAX FREE SHOPPING!!! 😀
 
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