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A new kind of Apple Store is opening on Saturday.
Across the street from the iconic San Francisco store, Apple is opening a new flagship aimed at being more than just a store. The trademark 42-foot glass doors will open to a kind of Apple-designed public forum, with a conference room, advice for small businesses, concerts, and a layout that blurs the line between inside and outside.
"This is not just a store," Angela Ahrendts, Apple's senior vice president of retail and online stores, said in a Thursday press release. "We want people to say, 'Hey, meet me at Apple.... Did you see what's going on at Apple?"
Apple is not the first business to engaged in an aesthetic revamp for physical store locations. More and more large companies have taken a designer's eye to rebuilding or in some cases building stores to for greater aesthetics, layout, and convenience.
What would you do if you had $100 billion in cash sitting in the bank?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday May 24 2016, @04:04PM
Unlike most americans, I don't have a contract phone and haven't for maybe a decade. Save fat stacks of cash that way, I don't need a 75% APR subprime loan to scrape up the cash for an unlocked phone, so its not like my phones are any cheaper, they're just enormously cheaper to finance.
Anyway from my contact with contract people, it sounds like hanging out at a phone dealer, other than when the contract is up, is about as appealing as hanging out at the local Honda dealership other than when your lease is almost up or its otherwise time to buy new.
It just doesn't sound very fun.
Another good analogy would be my dentist. The plan pays for 6 month checkups and he's a really nice guy but I feel no need to hang out in his office every week or whatever.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday May 24 2016, @04:09PM
But your dentist hasn't set up a public forum in the waiting room or held any concerts!
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(Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday May 24 2016, @05:00PM
That is a fair point, but car dealerships, especially the service waiting area, are just a thin layer beneath that. Big screen TVs, free wifi, free coffee, free coke/pepsi, free donuts, free fresh fruit, free cookies, and a new one at the recently remodeled Toyota, is free freshly popped popcorn.
On one hand I'm not cool with the $20 oil change for $10 worth of filter and oil, but.. on the other hand I can eat a "free" sickeningly unhealthy breakfast and chill out for an hour in relative luxury, vs going outside in -10F weather and doing it myself. I suppose from their point of view $10 is worth more to them than a donut and a cup of orange juice.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 24 2016, @05:25PM
Get a fumoto oil valve, so you don't have to spend much time outside when you change your oil. I've been using them for years and everyone I've recommended them to love them.
(Score: 2) by Marand on Tuesday May 24 2016, @08:15PM
Anyway from my contact with contract people, it sounds like hanging out at a phone dealer, other than when the contract is up, is about as appealing as hanging out at the local Honda dealership other than when your lease is almost up or its otherwise time to buy new.
Sounds like you haven't encountered many hardcore Apple fans. The company has a sort of cult of personality built around it, to the point I don't find the idea surprising at all. Hell, I've gotten the impression some of them already do it with regular Apple stores.