In contrast to rumors and speculation of product introductions or Apple store revamps on the 10th anniversary of the retail chain, Thursday’s birthday was observed quietly at the Tysons Corner (Virg.) store, the chain’s first store to open. There were internal company acknowledgements of the anniversary, but the company declined press interview requests or public comment, preferring to look forward and not back. At Tysons Corner just before 10 a.m., there were six people already inside for Genius Bar appointments, and only two men outside waiting for the general opening. There were no TV cameras, no crowd and no corporate executives to mark the occasion. The 20 or so store employees came outside briefly and took a group photo, and then went back inside to await the day’s opening. A few minutes later, the manager waved me inside early to tour the store and visit with employees, including Specialist John, the lone Day #1 employee still working at the store. The only visible indication of a celebration was a piece of birthday cake brought from back-of-house. At precisely 10 a.m., the doors opened and regular visitors began to arrive with the everyday problems and questions, make purchases—and the store’s staff began their workday. The other 324 stores around the world had similar uneventful openings, according to visitors. The rumors of a revamp now put the retail revamp on Sunday night, possibly including an updated iOS app and electronic product information panels. Read more about my 10th anniversary cross-country journey to Tysons Corner.
This poster was distributed by Apple’s corporate Retail team to the 325 stores to explain the company’s philosophy about looking forward and not backward. The structure, grammar, punctuation, wording and point-of-view is reminiscent of the company’s early advertising. Style-wise, it also follows up on the “5 down. 95 to go.” poster that appeared in some Apple store windows when the chain debuted in 2001, and that appeared on the retail stores’ first Web page.
E-mail this story
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This is typical. Apple hits a major milestone in their business within retail and the employees get nothing for gratitude or appreciation. For a company this successful this just blows me away that the Apple retail employees did not receive any major recognition for all their hard work. Once upon a time I was a genius for Apple but the overall focus has changed for the worse. Steve Jobs you are a lost soul plain and simple. Take care of your employees and stop being so damn greedy. I still have tons of friends who work for Apple and after their meeting today lots of them have just checked out. Hints of an Apple retail union going to happen…we will see
How do you know that we got nothing. Perhaps we all got free ipads or a bonus in our next paycheck or a raise. You don’t work for Apple so you can’t really say now can you. Nope, you can’t.
Since you don’t work for Apple at this moment you have no clue what is going on. What the stores are like for employees or anything that is going on. You know only what is rumored to be true or leaked to the blogs. Sorry that you had such a shitty time as an employee, sorry your friends have also. Perhaps it is your store that is the issue and not the company as a whole. Perhaps it is you and your gang and your clear sense if entitlement that is the issue. Maybe you signed on because you assumed you’d get paid $30 an hour and get free everything but not have to do any actual work. Which is, surprise, not the case.
ahh how sweet you must be new. give it some time you will see the light.
I am a current retail employee, and indeed all we got was a card.
The rumors of a union are very true.
{ 3 trackbacks }