Apple Store Experience

[maflynn]

Just a mini review of the (fairly) new Apple store in Massachusetts. Apple closed the Peabody Apple store, and moved it down the street to an upscale outside shopping plaza.

The store is large, no genius bar, but an odd sitting area (square blocks to sit) and wait for a technician. I came into the Apple store early Sunday to see if they can replace my daughters screen which sadly cracked. Luckily I got there early enough that the wait was fairly short to be seen (the work still stook a couple of hours).

One thing that I noticed was the lack of (non-apple) products, just a sample of stuff.

Another observation was the high number of apple store people, most stores only staff a handful of people, but the Apple store had a lot and that's just all overhead (from a business perspective). The place was hopping, people were buying iMacs, MacBook Pros, iPhones, left and right.

I'm fairly impressed with my experience, and shocked at how busy it was on a beautiful and warm Sunday morning.

I'm happy with how they repaired my daughter's phone and hopefully she doesn't drop it again

 

[bigjnyc]

Well if there were so many people buying stuff up like you describe it then the amount of employees is justified.... These Apple stores make an insane amount of money so the retail store employee wage they pay the employees is a drop in the bucket. Most of the stores in NYC are the same way, there is a large amount of employees... but customer foot traffic is insane so it works out.

 

[I7guy]

Just a mini review of the (fairly) new Apple store in Massachusetts. Apple closed the Peabody Apple store, and moved it down the street to an upscale outside shopping plaza.

The store is large, no genius bar, but an odd sitting area (square blocks to sit) and wait for a technician. I came into the Apple store early Sunday to see if they can replace my daughters screen which sadly cracked. Luckily I got there early enough that the wait was fairly short to be seen (the work still stook a couple of hours).

One thing that I noticed was the lack of (non-apple) products, just a sample of stuff.

Another observation was the high number of apple store people, most stores only staff a handful of people, but the Apple store had a lot and that's just all overhead (from a business perspective). The place was hopping, people were buying iMacs, MacBook Pros, iPhones, left and right.

I'm fairly impressed with my experience, and shocked at how busy it was on a beautiful and warm Sunday morning.

I'm happy with how they repaired my daughter's phone and hopefully she doesn't drop it again

This is exactly the layout you describe that's in the Apple Store in the oculus (world financial center). The boxes to sit on were odd, but on a beautiful weekend day the store was packed.

 

[Fancuku]

I've only been in an Apple store 3 times (all 3 times for repairs) and my experience has been very positive each time.
Short wait (maybe I was lucky?) and quick repairs. They did not charge me for an out-of-warranty MBP that needed a couple of new keys for the keyboard. They replaced the iPad Air 2 that had a cracked screen with a new one instead of replacing just the screen (was within warranty) and replaced the delaminating rMBP screen of a late 2013 15". They were efficient and friendly.

 

[maflynn]

Well if there were so many people buying stuff up like you describe it then the amount of employees is justified.

I'm not making any judgment or saying its not justified but rather just pointing out that they had a large presence.

 

[Cineplex]

It is a nice looking building....though looks expensive to heat.

When NorthShore first opened it could be run by 3 people. 1 Manager, 1 Sales Person, and 1 AppleCare or 1 Genius. Before it closed I counted 15 employees out front and there were likely 3-4 out back. That is a lot of wasted money spend on poorly skilled labor. You can walk in the stores and never be approached by staff when the ratio is like 1 customer to 10 staff.

It's kind of pathetic that it takes serveral interactions to buy a product. You get asked by the greeter if they can help. You say you want to buy an iPhone. Then they tell you to wait in the corner for someone to come over. 2-15 min later another person comes over and you have to explain yet again what you need. Sometimes you get a reverse sales pitch.( I watched one day as they convinced a friend of mine that he probably didn't need a MacBook Pro and he should probably take a day or two and weigh the options. He went to BestBuy.)Then you both wait until someone else brings out you product. That seems a bit convoluted. In 2003 I could by a G5 in less time. I was out the door in 5 minutes with that. The last time I bought an iPhone it took 30 minutes.

Market Street is a perfect place for the Apple Store. It's an overpriced douchey shopping center for all the Marbleheaders and their first world problems. Rich housewives walking around in Yoga pants with their privileged disrespectful children sipping on the latest trendy Starbucks drink. Everyone treating everyone else like dirt....especially when having disagreements about parking their Mercedes SUVs. Constant abuse of store workers and waiters. The Starbucks is the center of it all where the customers demand ridiculous things and treat the staff like dirt. The place is always a mess from all the kids running around while the parents ignore them. The rest of the shoppers are newly arrived H-1B visa holders looking to spend their $90k+ a year on things to impress their friends while the American workers are on unemployment. I encourage everyone to visit that place and see all of what is wrong with our world today.

 

[maflynn]

It's kind of pathetic that it takes serveral interactions to buy a product.

That was not my observation, and my personal experience was I able to walk up to someone and ask questions and get help. I also observed people able to ask and buy Macs. Like I said I noticed a number of people buying, and did not over-hear any sales staff trying to dissuade a customer from buying. I'm not sure any company would survive too long if kept telling prospective customers to wait and not buy.

It's an overpriced douchey shopping center for all the Marbleheaders and their first world problems

I thought it was an excellent place and will go back, my kids thought so as well, quite a difference from the North shore mall which appears to be dying a slow death.

Constant abuse of store workers and waiters

I found the sales people in a number of stores to be friendly and inviting.

. The rest of the shoppers are newly arrived H-1B visa holders

You know this how?

I encourage everyone to visit that place and see all of what is wrong with our world today.

Good advice because it was a nice place to visit. I think there's more wrong in this world then an upscale shopping plaza.

 

[Cineplex]

You know this how?

I deal with hundreds of them in my current line of work a month. I interact with them everyday and have a very close view of their lives. Once you spend time involved with these people you can recognize the signs very very easy. Most people won't notice and think they are normal folks going about their days. But I can usually spot them with high accuracy. I get confirmation of my theory when I meet them shortly after. It's more prevalent in our neck of the woods than you think. There are large apartment communities with 500+ units with 80-95% filled with visa workers. They just blend in really well and since you don't ever have a reason to go to these places you never notice.

 

[maflynn]

Most people won't notice and think they are normal folks

They are normal folks, just because they're from a different country doesn't make them bad.

This thread isn't about the good or bad about H-1B visa holders, you have some strong opinions about that, but we will be venturing more into PRSI territory and this forum is not for that type of discussion