This is a rant. I was in Manhattan today and decided to stop by the Apple store on 5th Avenue, the Cube, as it is called, to pick up a 3G case. It was about 2:30pm, just after lunch. A simple plan: walk down the stairs, find the cases, buy one, leave. The place was mobbed. Every Italian tourist, every alterna-nerd, every financial Bluetooth headset guy, was milling about in the deep pit they call a store. I fought my way over to the iPhone cases, picked one, and prepared to check out. I looked over at the line for the registers and it was a mess.
Now I understand success begets chaos - just look at post-Rumsfield Iraq - but this was horrible. I also understand that going into the Apple store near Central Park for something as pedestrian as an iPhone case is like trying to pick up some condoms at a porn convention - there are other forces at work there than the standard mercantile instinct. However, Apple is now less a constellation of devices than it is a destination, both physical and metaphysical.
Now maybe I’m reading too much into this experience. I ended up not buying the case and walking out, confused and bewildered. I know this situation is hard to reproduce at other Apple stores and I know I’m not used to crowds but has the Apple halo effect completely overtaken the quality of the shopping experience? Is the Apple store a destination or a showcase? At this point does it draw in customers or turn them away? Am I just coming at this like a jilted fanboy, angry that my favorite band has sold out?
Whatever the reasoning behind my malaise I can honestly say I don’t like the Apple store experience. I usually know what I want so I can usually pick it up online. The stores themselves are crowded, the Genius Bar is usually mobbed, and the selection is part boutique and part ill-stocked Best Buy. Ultimately, I’ll buy my case online and maybe frequent the SoHo store. At least I know it will be mostly empty because the people who shop in SoHo are impossibly thin and don’t take up much floor space.
Does anyone “like” the Apple store? Do you enjoy the experience? Do you consider it better or worse than the traditional electronics experience?
No. It’s full of people without an intention of buying Apple products, they just was to peruse and fiddle with the goods. I had to go online to buy iPod nano’s for my sisters, it was a mess in there (Wilmington, DE).
I’ll have to agree with you on that one - A trip to the Apple Store these days is more pricks than kicks. I’ve always been one to stop listening to a band once too many people dig their material (except for the Pogues… I’ll never leave them,) and I suppose that the same thing goes for my take on shopping.
After a whirlwind tour of the former Yugoslavia with the Canadian Forces back in the mid-nineties, I’ve been left with the ‘no’ feeling every time I am forced to wade into a crowd. I also don’t dig on sudden loud noises or open doors, but that’s another story.
When I heard tell that we were getting our own Apple Store here in Vancouver, I was thrilled: We have some decent vendors out here for Mac gear, but to have The Mother Ship within reach was just the cat’s ass. No more visiting the folks in Ontario with designs of destination shopping at the Toronto store while I was there.
The first week was balls-to-the-wall bat-shit crazy. Old love nor money would see you through the front door. The place was utterly packed.
I tried returning on week three, and the place was still nucking futs. the poor bastards working the floor where down to bloody stumps at the ends of their legs trying to see to everyone. I went in, got what I needed and got the hell out as fast as I could. It was not the experience I was looking for. Looking back, I didn’t even bother to comparison shop against similar products in the store. I just wanted to get the Hell out of there.
I picked up an iPhone 3G the other day and am seriously considering going without a case for the time being. I’ll throw it in a tube sock and keep my sanity - at least until Apple: The Three-Ring Meat-Puppet Circus returns to being Apple Inc. once more.
great report, seamus. I agree 100%, 150% in canadian.
Dunno John - the 5th Avenue store is the crown jewel of the Apple retail empire in the US, in a heavily trafficked touristy location, after the launch of one of Apple’s fastest-selling products? I see your point, but on the other hand you have to accept that you went to the busiest Apple store and then complained about it being busy.
I work next to the 14th St store and actually wandered in there during a late lunch, about the same time. Plenty of people available to help, not too crowded.
That said, there’s a bit of distance between Chelsea and 59th and 5th, so I can understand that not being a huge help, but I think that particular location is simply ALWAYS crazy.
I’ve been to the apple store in Fashion Valley mall a few times on trips to San Diego. I’m sorry to say that the place reminded me of Radio Shack. Well, a really nice Radio Shack. Maybe I just happened to be there at bad times (several times in a row) but there was always a 20+ minute wait just to buy something. People would stand at the register forever doing God knows what while I looked on dumbfounded. Product + Payment = sale. Am I missing something? My first two trips down there were pre iPhone, so that wasn’t the issue.
Anyone who has shopped at radio shack knows about trying to buy a watch battery with cash while the person at the register takes 25 minutes selling cellular service to the person in front of you.
The last time I was at the Fashion Valley Apple store I took one look at the line and decided to buy my iPod from a vending machine in Macy’s a short walk away. To me the Apple Store ‘experience’ is just another line. I’ll pass.
The Apple Store SUCKS. Even here in lil’ ol’ Nashville, Tn. It’s crap. The Geniuses? Oh, please. Don’t bother. And the last two times I go in to try and buy a Macbook for my business, I get them asking, “Do you have a business consultant?” I tried getting terms for my successful biz (we made the Inc Mag 5000), we were turned down, even though we are one of the city’s most successful new companies. I ask for a Mac and say I need a 4 gig memory upgrade and am told 48 hours by some inked-up kid with a nose ring. I go across town to another reseller and get one with an upgrade in 15 minutes.
And this phony-ass IP3G daily “shortage? Give me a break. You just know they’re controlling this for whatever marketing reason.
Apple Stores suck.
Kidd Redd… agree.
No matter which store I’m in.. there are so many “genuises” or over-zealous Apple nerds who landed a job that I feel like I’m about to be attacked. They glare at you when you come in, and as you leave empty handed. First of all, there should be a sign that reads “If you don’t have at lease $200 in your wallet, stay the hell out”.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to gaze at the shiny glory, but when a whole bunch of 8 yr olds are playing with the phones, or even the computers, it calls for a new dimension of shopping patience.
Kidd Redd… agree.
No matter which store I’m in.. there are so many “genuises” or over-zealous Apple nerds who landed a job that I feel like I’m about to be attacked. They glare at you when you come in, and as you leave empty handed. First of all, there should be a sign that reads “If you don’t have at lease $200 in your wallet, stay the hell out”.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to gaze at the shiny glory, but when a whole bunch of 8 yr olds are playing with the phones, or even the computers, it calls for a new dimension of shopping patience.