Why Apple Stores Work: The Inside Story

$4000 x 6000 sq. ft. x 12 months = $288,000,000 per year.

Seems Robert was either:

a. correct (fact checking is rather weak), but off by $38MM, or;
b. the average store is a lot smaller than 6000 sq. ft., or;
c. Apple only has 4 stores

Ok Robert on fact checking regarding Apple’s store sales…

$4000 x 6000 Sq. Ft. = $24,000,000

Your only off by $226,000,000

This was a great article [read the whole thing and not just this exerpt]. What is interesting to me is that a lot of these tenents WERE part of the Gap culture in the early days of Mickey Drexler. It wasn’t until Gap/GapKids consolidated as a single division and they started cutting operational costs to the bone did training and passion suffer in the field. I love the Apple store and a lot of it [in my mind] has to do with the retail space emulating the brand’s culture. Across the board Apple strives to impact lifestyle and not be about utility and as a result likes to break those traditional barriers. Hence the ability to check out anywhere in the store without the cashwrap and receive my receipt via email as a friendly reminder of my new Apple toy. Again, Gap back in the day proposed a customer experience similar to what Apple has and sadly they never got there. I don’t know Paul Pressler’s reputation well enough but members of Mickey’s team [Ron Franks for example] did understand retail from the store up vs the top down and invested a lot of time and energy into training. I worked with some talented people during those years and learned a lot. Most of which carries me though my career today. I hope people working for Apple today are having a similar experience. I have to add that I love that Pret A Manger was mentioned as well. They are another great organization that I frequented in London. They always had the best service/products and felt that it did not lose too much in the way of it’s charm when it was brought to the US.

Apple stores do $4,000 per square foot per month? That would imply each store is doing over $250 million in sales per year (based on a 6K sft store). Sounds like they may have skimped on the fact checking.

I love Apple stores because the employees are always happy to demo or chat about any Apple product that strikes your fancy without ever feeling that you should be buying something. It’s a bright and friendly place and I never feel intimidated going in. And nearly every time — if I’m in for help, to buy or just kill some time while the family is shopping I get more than I expected.

Frank:

How in the world did you spend $600 when Leopard only costs $129 and iLife costs $79…that’s only $208 total…assuming you purchased iLife. Even if the staff did mislead you, it would have only cost you the additional $79…so I’m having trouble trying to figure out how you spent three times as much.

I’ve never had misinformation from any of the sales reps at the Apple store near me in Cincinnati…I’ve always found them to be really informative and helpful. Of course, they don’t know everything, but I can’t help but believe that wouldn’t know what came with the OS. Its also hard to imagine that three sales reps would say the same thing…unless you asked the wrong question…which would seem tough to do. You should have recieved the name of the sales associate when you made your purchase. And, I’m assuming you were at an Apple store, and not a reseller.

I would suggest you contact the store manager…they are usually very responsive as well. But, I’m still puzzled at how you ended up spending $600 for software that only costs slightly over $200.

Leopard requires a G4 running at least 867 MHz or faster, or a G5. Maybe you had an older computer that required upgrading…if that’s the case, you needed to know exactly what your computer’s configuration and specs were. I’m amazed at how many people don’t realize what version (G4, G5, or Intel) they own, much less the processor speed…all critical when doing software upgrades, especially the OS.

RE “Any suggestions what I can do about this?”
Yeah. Too bad. Explain and ask for a refund. But why would you pay $600 just to get an $80 package of programs for free? Also, if you were buying 5 copies of Leopard, why not just buy the family pack? and Family pack of iLife?
I think you need to take a bit more responsibility and be clearer. Judging from your story the problem may well have resulted from a misunderstanding (on your part?)

Frank, Are you sure you aren’t talking about iWork? iLife ‘08 does come with every Mac.

Why would you be paying 600? OSX costs 129 and ilife costs 79… 129+79= 208

With the level of quality and training that’s well documented at Apple Stores (this article being a good example), it’s a bit hard to believe that three Apple salespeople could be so wrong in answering such a simple question. It’s even harder to believe your story when you throw in the fact that this misinformation cost you $600, since Leopard is $129 and iLife is $79. So something’s a little screwy here. My advice: Enjoy Leopard as it is well worth the price. And enjoy iLife ‘08, as it is an absolute steal for $79 (any one of of its included applications is easily worth that).

Frank,

Go back to the store and talk to the manager. It always helps if you know the name of the salespeople that tell you this … and if you don’t get satisfaction, of sorts, there is a feedback weblink on your receipt that you can voice your opinion. How did you spend 600 for missing out on a product that cost around 100.00 ?

Interesting observations but more importantly the layout and feel to these stores to me really is a key, there is no other store like it. And most important the products sell themselves whether it be Ipods, I phones or Imacs. To me the salepeople are the icing on the cake.

The staff at my local store convinced me that upgradeing to leopard would also mean that I would get iLife08 included (not a 30 trial but a full blown iLife08). I checked with 3 sales people on the floor and all of them agreed that iLife08 would be included. I wound up spending $600 dollars as a result of this mis information. Any suggestions what I can do about this? If iLife08 was not included I would not have made these purchases.

Typo: first paragraph where you typed “merchanise” instead of “merchandise”.

That aside, interesting article.