New Apple Stores and Closings

[JCF]

Granted your story has two sides. One is a reseller that could have earned your business, maybe. And the reseller that probably had too many users using them for free services, being abused by those that shopped CompUSA or the web and want "free" local support.

I hope that customers that no longer get personal service from the smaller resellers once they are gone in the future get "bent" when the big box stores no longer have to care.

Well, this reseller will never know if they could've got my business or not, since they didn't even TRY. Not ONCE. That's kinda my point.

Here's a customer that walks in, off the street, who explains they have just moved to the city. What better way of winning them over then to tell them to basically F-off.

Listen, they had every opportunity to get my business. But in business, there are risks. You risk helping a customer who uses your shop as an internet showroom. That's life, and if you didn't want those risks, you shouldn't have started the business.

I just don't want to hear them whining that business sucks because of Apple. While I'm sure there's some truth to that, the fact in most cases is, business sucks because of the reseller, and cases like mine.

 

[billystlyes]

I hope Smalldog makes it they rock! I think the biggest problem is these dealers cannot get product from Apple in a timely matter.

 

[Mr_Ed]

I know I'm lazy, but couldn't they have put the new Orlando store about 15 miles further east...

Those two locations, the Florida Mall and the Millenia Mall, are fine for tourists, but they are near each other. I guess it's for product placement. Maybe they're looking to attract the attention of rich stock investors on vacation at WDW Resorts. I know that there are stores in the Millenia Mall that are basically showcases for expensive brands, like Tiffany & Co.

The shopping area that attracts the majority of tourists, especially ones who own euros (poor $), is the Belz Factory Outlet Mall. I recommend going if you visit here. Lots of good deals on clothing.

For now, the Computer Store at the University of Central Florida will serve my needs.

I would love a store on the east side of Orlando since that's where I work and live but I can also see they would get a lot more traffic in those 2 malls (Millenia, Florida) than any other mall in the area. Then again, "Waterford Lakes" always seems busy and it's on the east side . . .

I don't know if Orlando has ANY area where a stand-alone (ie. no shopping mall/center) Apple store would do well.

 

[Mr_Ed]

I'm kind of curious about what you expected. As far as I can tell the Millenia store carries everything and the staff seems friendly and knowledgeable. I'm be totally happy to have even a mini store over here in Oviedo. Not complaining, though; still only about 30-45 min. drive to all that Apple goodness. For those who care, this will mean that the only two Apple stores in all of Orlando are approx. 10 minutes apart. On the plus side, maybe this will mean the store isn't always packed.

The store does carry everything 'Apple' but not much in the way of accessories or software. I guess I was expecting something a little bigger with larger (more hardware) displays/demo areas for the different products. It seems a bit tight and it's not even one of those new "mini" stores. That said, I have not actually visited any other Apple store so my expectations might very well have been unrealistic since they were based on photos from other store openings. Heck, maybe I'm just complaining about feeling crowded in there

I also live in Oviedo so I would definitely not complain about a mini store at the Ovideo Marketplace

 

[visor]

so apple kills resellers...

... basically a consequent thing to do.
I've bought a lot of stuff online at the apple store - the quality of the products are basically pathetic. keybors keys are basely pressable on my ibook, i'm still waiting for my 200 euro mail in refound (5 month now, i guess i'll never get it. Delivery times are the worst i've ever seen in any store....
Killing resellers makes it probably easier to hide the lacking quality in the products - but it'll backlash, so much is for sure.

 

[ZipZilla]

Dayton store....

I WISH APPLE WOULD QUIT TAKING THEIR TIME ON A DAYTON AREA STORE. There are two possibilities, Dayton Mall and FairField Commons. Dayton Mall should not be called that since it is out of the way for most people in the Dayton area. I think FairField Commons would be a better location, it's right across from Wright State Univ., which has a significantly good number of Mac people. Plus, I need a job, a good job. I can't stand working for Wally World anymore.

Does anybody have any good advice for how I can make the transformation from that damn blue vest to the wonderful white apple?

I would love to see a store in Dayton...driving to Cincinnati sucks! I actually think that new upscale mall being built along 675 called "The Greene" is a potential Apple store site, although it might kill an excellent independent reseller nearby.

 

[analogkid]

Alright, now let's get one in Georgia south of Macon & east of Valdosta!

PLEASE!

Savannah?

hmnnn- couldnt see that. Speaking of resellers I went to AIS in Savannah and innocently asked about the price for a 1gb ram chip for my new ibook. I had to argue with the salesman for 5 minutes that you could, indeed, put a 1gb stick in it. Finally I got him on the Apple sight and showed him. He then insisted that must be brand new from the 768mb limit.
Mind you this was last week.

Anyways, New Egg was happy to sell me the ram for $186, but i did take pitty on the place and leave with a Airport Express... dont think Ill go back though when i get a 40gb ipod.

 

[ZipZilla]

Savannah?

hmnnn- couldnt see that. Speaking of resellers I went to AIS in Savannah and innocently asked about the price for a 1gb ram chip for my new ibook. I had to argue with the salesman for 5 minutes that you could, indeed, put a 1gb stick in it. Finally I got him on the Apple sight and showed him. He then insisted that must be brand new from the 768mb limit.
Mind you this was last week.

Anyways, New Egg was happy to sell me the ram for $186, but i did take pitty on the place and leave with a Airport Express... dont think Ill go back though when i get a 40gb ipod.

He just feel prey to Apple's marketing limits for RAM. Nearly every Mac with two RAM slots since the original iMac in 1998 supports 2GB of RAM. It's just a matter of getting the right chips.

 

[jaromski]

No, I named the 5 biggest states but 82% of our sales come from 11 states. The other 6 are PA, OH, MI, GA, NJ and NC.

The 80/20 rule is quite common in business and seems to hold true most of the time. That's why you see companies locate stores in clusters and people outside these areas bitching about where their stores are.

Retailers look at a lot of metrics in opening a store (population, income, mall traffic, mall sales per square foot etc.) in deciding on a location. I'm sure Apple also looks at the numbers of their authorized dealers in the area.

Yeah I was just busting your balls a little because you only had mentioned 5. But I agree the 80/20 rule has reared its head many a time to me as well.

-jaromski

 

[kingtj]

Most Mac resellers totally don't get it.... screw 'em!

I know this may not be a popular opinion, but frankly, I think most people getting into the business of reselling Apple computers are utterly foolish and misguided.

It seems completely obvious that Apple wants to sell their own products and services *themselves*, and the ONLY reason they even give so much as a nod and a second glance at "authorized Apple resellers" is because doing so furthers their profits. (Hey, if you can get a bunch of stores to stock up on your products, it's easier to sell 5 or 10 at a time to each of them than to do all the work yourself of selling them 1 at a time to end users. Besides that, you can pick up a little extra money selling expensive training courses to people that want to work as technicians for these places.)

But look at the facts for a minute. Whenever a new product comes out that Apple knows is going to experience an initial surge in sales from "early adopters", the Apple stores get first pick. They look out for themselves first. It only makes sense.

Knowing full well that there's very LITTLE profit margin in reselling new Mac products, I'm amazed how many people still take a shot at becoming an independent Apple dealer. Yeah, I know.... they just love the machines and are confident they can provide a better level of customer service than Apple can. But does it *really* work? I'd say typically no, and in a few exceptional cases, yes - but not to a hugely profitable extent.

Here in St. Louis, we had a place simply called "The Mac Store", and I never heard almost anything good said about them. They were patronized at least partially out of people's guilt. "Gee, I really *want* to support the little guy and help keep another Mac store in town!" But customer service was lacking (you'd call and always get a recording ... almost never a live human answering), and on occasions when I went in asking for an item, it was never in stock anyway. The old standby of "We can order that in for you." doesn't cut it nowdays. I can order it myself, thanks - and without your markup on top of it!

Now, they're out of business, and there's a newcomer on the local scene called "Mac HQ". They have a much nicer store and location, and friendly enough people working there -- but I'd have to say the jury's still out on whether or not they'll succeed where "Mac Store" failed. For starters, I think any indepdent Mac store that wants to succeed *HAS* to find a niche. Offering the same products the Apple Stores offer should be secondary at best. They need to comb the Internet looking for interesting accessories and upgrades that could otherwise only be bought online, and get them in stock. Offer unique services! (Macintosh case mods, maybe? I put blue LED lights in the port-holes of my G4 tower in the past, and it was quite cool looking. I think some people would pay a few bucks to have such things done to their machines.) Sell the vintage Macs and cheap, used Mac software too. But the key here is CHEAP! I can regularly buy fully working and partially upgraded PowerMac 7300/7500/7600 systems on eBay for as little as $25 or so each. I don't want to go to a local store and see the same thing going for $199 or more! Make purchases of older Macs so inexpensive that people will grab one just "for the heck of it" - and profit later on their return trips to upgrade it with things like Sonnet upgrade boards and ATA-133 PCI controller cards. (And yes, keep a full line of those upgrade goodies in stock too!)

 

[mymemory]

Apples stores are a nightmare when doing reparing services

if they were good stores they would stay in business, i know an particularly evil apple store near me that closed down soon after the london apple store opened, they sold old software at above RRP and they sold old macs that had problems with them at extortionate prices they gave apple a bad name

Ther are some good 3rd party Apple stores as bad, but let me tell you that the worst service I ever had was from the Apple Store in Soho, fisrt you have to make an appointment of a few hourse or days in advance to turn in your computer which have a problem and is under warranty.

Thne if you want to have better attention you would have to pay $100 for a card that can put you infront of the line with the other people that have the same card.

Then they take a look at your computer (several days later when your apointment is) and be sure that is Friday they will not send the computer to Apple next monday but in a week! so you may get it back in a month! But be sure you call because it can get lost like mine.

In a regular store you computer can get fixed by nex day for sure because they usually have all the tools and parts in stuck.

I mean, an Apple store is good to take a look to the computer and all devices but you get better deals in other stores and you bet faster service as well.

 

[inkswamp]

As a person who works for an Apple reseller I have to say not all of us are bad!

I realize that I'm in danger of painting with too wide a brush with some of my comments, but I feel that they are accurate in general. I understand that there are exceptions, and I have no doubt that those businesses will thrive. I can't believe that Apple could kill resellers like that out of simple greed. I can believe that Apple wouldn't think twice about competing with the ones not doing a good job... regardless of how long they've been around.

We have four Apple stores within a 100 miles radius of where I live and our local guys are thriving. I see a great contrast between them and many of the Mac resellers that I've dealt with in the past and that difference is primarily in service. On top of that, their stores are always clean, well-stocked and very nice looking inside. My wife and I are contemplating buying a 12" iBook and we went in to our local shop, were greeted, helped and given attentive service. The guy helping us gave us no salesman B.S. and was quick to offer info and help (and even left us alone when it became clear that my wife just wanted to futz around with their floor model for a bit.)

I rarely get service like that at any store--not just Mac stores. These guys have been so helpful with my past purchases and needs that I have a sense of being a valued customer there. Honestly, if an Apple store moved into town, I likely would still do all my business with our local guys. I contend that if Mac resellers were giving it their all, they would have nothing to fear.

 

[pubwvj]

two independent Apple resellers are shutting down and blaming Apple for their inability to continue.

It may be just as well. Our local Apple dealer is absolutely pathetic. The used to stock one or two machines. Now they stock none. They expect you to come in and order it at full price from them, they then place an order with Apple, charge you for shipping plus sales tax plus service fees. On top of that they offer horrible service and even sell things that are not compatible. I've run into several other dealers over the years that were like this dealer. Bad news.

Going through MacMall or the Apple on-line store is a Much better option.

 

[d.perel]

Maybe this will be a big cleansing process- The bad resellers will be wiped out, the good ones will keep in business. Maybe more apple stores in tourist locations will make people go home and buy from a reseller anyway.

 

[Paul O'Keefe]

Direct selling

Apple is slowing but surely starving some of it's strongest supports over the year out of business. It does sound like unfair trade practices if apple is not providing products to resellers in a timely fashion or are holding on to the products for themselves. And if you're a reseller and you complain, then you are biting the hand that feeds you.

It's quite obvious that Apple want's to move to a more direct purchasing business model. This works fine for the online store... but they are taking on huge risks when it comes to heavily investing into retail, brick and mortar stores.

Alienating the people who sell your products is a great way to get ahead.

 

[hayesk]

Apple is slowing but surely starving some of it's strongest supports over the year out of business. It does sound like unfair trade practices if apple is not providing products to resellers in a timely fashion or are holding on to the products for themselves. And if you're a reseller and you complain, then you are biting the hand that feeds you.

Except we not sure how much of strong "supporters" these independent resellers are. Most independent dealers I've known have been content to ride on the coattails of Apple's brand loyalty and have done nothing themselves to promote the platform.

As for not getting product, the question has been raised about the credit ratings of these dealers with their distributors, not directly with Apple. Some Apple dealers seem to be able to get products more than others - I wonder why?

 

[PretendPCuser]

Paramus Apple store - Peter for Genius!

Wow, an Apple store in Paramus NJ. That will make 4 stores within a 45 mile radius! Also there is a Compusa store in Paramus with a Kick-@ss Apple section and staffed with a really great Apple Rep ( Peter). Good News for us!

True that! An Apple store in Paramus would be great! Put it in where the old Gateway store used to be (though poor from a location standpoint) would be a funny thing. When it does get built, (I'm guessing at Garden State Plaza?!) Peter would make an excellent Genius! Apple, take note!

 

[PretendPCuser]

Hardware problems in NYC? Tekserve!

I've dealt with Tekserve in New York and they've been very good. (No, i don't work for them, but they saved my bacon a couple times!!)

Ther are some good 3rd party Apple stores as bad, but let me tell you that the worst service I ever had was from the Apple Store in Soho, fisrt you have to make an appointment of a few hourse or days in advance to turn in your computer which have a problem and is under warranty.

In a regular store you computer can get fixed by nex day for sure because they usually have all the tools and parts in stuck.

 

[Kinsella217]

True that! An Apple store in Paramus would be great! Put it in where the old Gateway store used to be (though poor from a location standpoint) would be a funny thing. When it does get built, (I'm guessing at Garden State Plaza?!) Peter would make an excellent Genius! Apple, take note!

I know I said this before, but I worked with Pete for a year in Pittsburgh, PA (if this is the same Pete I'm thinking of). Pete actually first told me about MacRumors... he's really got his stuff together, no doubt. I enjoyed working with him a lot.

Dan

 

[zwida]

I've dealt with Tekserve in New York and they've been very good. (No, i don't work for them, but they saved my bacon a couple times!!)

I can wholeheartedly second that. Fortunately, Tekserve is still doing a pretty good trade. I don't think they'll be going anywhere anytime soon.

Of course, if the other Apple retailers provided the same quality service and selection (in the same sort of market), they'd probably be OK too.

I wonder what percentage of NY uses a Mac. It's gotta be pretty darned high.

 

[macidiot]

The Sacramento store sucks. Bunch of liberals running the place with very little stock. Tried to get an antenna for my airport; they told me to try the web. Getting any attention from the staff is like watching molasses run from a tree and then you wait in line for the WONDERFUL cashier. The Apple store model is pathetic. You all bitch about Best Buy, well I am here to tell you the Apple store in the Arden Mall is a worse experience than any Best Buy.

The Apple stores here in L.A. aren't so hot either, at least at the Grove and Santa Monica stores. Getting help from an employee is an exercise in futility unless your either a gay man or a 20 yo girl with her thong showing. And in both cases, it apparently helps if your carrying some sort of rat-like dog. I sometimes end up resorting to dropping store items on the floor in order to get some sales help. I understand that the stores are usually crowded, but I shouldn't have to wait 20 minutes to talk to someone that works there.

As for independent retailers and Apple stock... all I know is that when new iPod models come out, Creative computers always seems to have a decent supply whereas the Apple stores are sold out. And Creative sells at a lower price than Apple...

 

[gopher]

Strange. I hear these complaints about Apple not shipping products to resellers in a timely manner, but our local Apple reseller always has plenty of inventory on the shelves. You're sure there's not more to this? Sounds to me that some of these resellers might not be forthcoming in all the details.

There is a point there. The Mac Mini was actually in stock the week it was released at one of our local resellers in Maryland at the same time Apple's own store didn't have any!

 

[coyote]

But for a credible store like Tom ran, many of you will never understand although his complaints and letters has everything making sense. I am a personal friend of Tom and I feel for him and his family and I wish him well.

I get the impression that 'personal friends' of Tom Santos were treated well at Macadam... no one else was. The store is notorious throughout the Bay Area for being appallingly bad. When you could get the sales people to look up from whatever first-person shooter they were playing, they would treat you with contempt. The sales floor was cluttered and it was impossible to find anything. Prices were often 10% *above* MSRP.

Really, I've warned hundreds of people away from Macadam, and it has nothing to do with an Apple Store opening in San Francisco. I recommended that they go to CompUSA rather than have the horrible experience they would get at Macadam.

And my experience is not unique. I only know one person who enjoyed going to Macadam, and she is a 'close personal friend' of Santos.

 

[steveh]

It's well known that Apple craps on resellers... from not giving them new products on time or enough, to not giving them price breaks when Apple drops hardware prices.

At least one of the now-defunct resellers, Macadam in S.F., has a long history of doing the same to customers. They've had a bad reputation locally for a long time, and being one of the very few dealers in the area is all that anyone can think of that let them remain in business.

 

[nichos]

I'm in Jacksonville - are they really opening up here? We were going to drive to Orlando next weekend just so I could visit an Apple store - do you know that for sure?

I'm not going to claim I "know know" for sure, but, I have 2.5 sources. One is this source here which points to this article here about the new mall across from UNF (where I work, and attend). That 1.5. The last one is a co-worker, who is in no way a mac user, nor an Apple employee, he must've heard it elsewhere, so, it seems almost definite. Send me a PM if you'd like to discuess. I think this thread is sick of FL stuff