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Apple's First Retail Stores Opened 25 Years Ago Today

MJedi said:
Wherever I go, if there is an Apple Store, I will visit it. I look around and notice how the store is decorated and how it's laid out, soak in the atmosphere of being around Apple products, play with a few of the products, and leave feeling good. Just me?
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If I happen to be nearby a store, say it's in the shopping mall or neighborhood that I'm in, I'll take a look. I've been to several international flagships and they are impressive.
 
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The stores are great and really make a difference to me. I use them to buy small parts right away, check new products especially for weight and feel (important before I buy) and monitor resolution and go to the service desk like when I broke my MBP screen. The staff is very kind and knowledgable and willing to help everywhere. Sometimes you even get a surplus connector for free or similar. For me this easy local Apple accessability makes the difference to some billion dollar "anonymous company monster" that can be reached via botline or similar only.
The stores, while looking simple and elegant, are very well thought out up to every detail and hidden feature like cash storage or hidden connectors. I know no other company with this sort of high quality profile store. Maybe some car companies like Porsche come close.
 
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Unity451 said:
They were cool then. It was fun to explore, learn, and just visit because each one had their own character. They're now sterile and soulless. If you've been to one, you've been to them all.
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They are stores, not your average museum. Apple wants the Store experience to be consistent and unified globally
 
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Mega ST said:
The stores are great and really make a difference to me. I use them to buy small parts right away, check new products especially for weight and feel (important before I buy) and monitor resolution and go to the service desk like when I broke my MBP screen. The staff is very kind and knowledgable and willing to help everywhere. Sometimes you even get a surplus connector for free or similar. For me this easy local Apple accessability makes the difference to some billion dollar "anonymous company monster" that can be reached via botline or similar only.
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The Genius Bar was a genius idea! (Pun intended.) I've used that service countless times. The fact that you can bring your Apple product into any Apple Store, and get it serviced is a great feature of the ecosystem. We've had to replace iPhone batteries over the years, and it still amazes me that it can be done on the same day. I can't imagine having to mail a non-Apple product to get it repaired, wait for "7-10 business days" and hope the repair works.
 
A successful contrarian decision by Jobs. Nowadays of course, most people buy online, but the brick-and-mortar Apple Stores remain a marketing tool for Apple, a status symbol for cities, and a hotspot for youngsters.
 
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Unity451 said:
They were cool then. It was fun to explore, learn, and just visit because each one had their own character. They're now sterile and soulless. If you've been to one, you've been to them all.
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I was always amazed how they managed to find a seemingly endless supply of humorless automatons to staff them.
 
I love the Apple stores and can’t imagine Apple without them. My only gripe is very rarely do you get any employees at the stores who REALLY know the products. They’re more there to be “relatable” and “personable” than anything. I don’t want a ‘friend’ at the Apple Store to hold my hand as I shop. I want someone to answer the hard questions if I ask one.
 
racerhomie said:
They are stores, not your average museum. Apple wants the Store experience to be consistent and unified globally
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They are now, but when they opened the vision was that they would be more than just stores. I guess you could say they wanted to "Think Different."

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Of their day. But that day has long passed.

I live in a city with an Apple Store and genuinely can’t remember the last time I went in. Pre-pandemic definitely.
 
Ron Johnson quit in late 2011, which was shortly after Tim Cook became CEO. Johnson was competent (unlike Cook) at his role in Apple, which was why Steve Jobs put him in that role.

One of Cook’s numerous incompetent decisions was in hiring Angela Ahrendts in 2014 to fill the position that Johnson left in 2011. Arhendts made Burberry a lot of money when she was CEO of it. Since Cook is an elitist who wanted to snobbishly make Apple look like a high fashion brand, and since Cook cares more about money than product functionality and taste, Cook hired Arhendts.

Arhendts dropped the name “Store” from the original name “Apple Store” in order to try to pretentiously sound like an elitist high fashion brand. Cook loves that kind of pretentious superficially. Arhendts and Cook were oblivious to the fact that in the many cities with Apple offices, dropping the word “Store” from the store name would be confusing to people trying to look up addresses and differentiating between which is an office and which is a store.
 
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The commentary here is weird and interesting.

I think the wide presence of apple stores is why so many people buy apple devices. Instead of having to call tech support or mail your device in, there are physical places in most major cities that can help you out with it.

That's huge.

I do agree about some other stuff though, like it was cool that they used to carry more interesting third party hardware. It would probably get me in the store more often lol.

As for the sterile look? They've always been that way. Back in the day they had those small peanut shaped white islands which were very uncomfortable to sit or stand around. And the metal walls lol.

I always disliked how crowded the places were lol. And at some point it seemed like you couldn't go to an apple store without hearing a grown adult yelling at an employee because they weren't getting a free new iphone to replace their broken one.
 
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Bring back the old stores. Now the stores are just a waste of time. It’s either kids playing and being annoying or an employee who knows nothing and is just trained reading from the script.
 
I remember how neglected Apple products were when they were sold alongside PCs. It's hard to sell the Apple premium when the employees couldn't or weren't motivated to explain what features were different from a Windows computer.

People still think a $700 Windows laptop with 1 HDMI output and USB 3 is just as good as a MacBook Pro that can support several external high resolution displays and has Thunderbolt 5. ... Enter the Macbook Neo. 🙂
 
ThomasJL said:
Ron Johnson quit in late 2011, which was shortly after Tim Cook became CEO. Johnson was competent (unlike Cook) at his role in Apple, which was why Steve Jobs put him in that role.

One of Cook’s numerous incompetent decisions was in hiring Angela Ahrendts in 2014 to fill the position that Johnson left in 2011. Arhendts made Burberry a lot of money when she was CEO of it. Since Cook is an elitist who wanted to snobbishly make Apple look like a high fashion brand, and since Cook cares more about money than product functionality and taste, Cook hired Arhendts.

Arhendts dropped the name “Store” from the original name “Apple Store” in order to try to pretentiously sound like an elitist high fashion brand. Cook loves that kind of pretentious superficially. Arhendts and Cook were oblivious to the fact that in the many cities with Apple offices, dropping the word “Store” from the store name would be confusing to people trying to look up addresses and differentiating between which is an office and which is a store.
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Two words: John Browett.

Angela was a saint in comparison.
 
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A long time ago and lot has changed since then. Very happy that an Apple store has opened in my country recently. Expecting to see more stores opening soon.
 
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MJedi said:
Wherever I go, if there is an Apple Store, I will visit it. I look around and notice how the store is decorated and how it's laid out, soak in the atmosphere of being around Apple products, play with a few of the products, and leave feeling good. Just me?
Click to expand...
I used to do that. I even purchased something so that I would have the receipt of that Apple Store.
Back in the day, I was in the line when the Apple Store in Amsterdam was opened, still got the dam orange t-shirt.

But, for a few years now, I cannot be bothered anymore. As others have already pointed out, the stores are “meh” now.
Simply put: for me the “magic” is gone. Maybe because they’ve been around so long…
 
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