There’s lots of buzz about which other retailers will be selling the new Mac mini and iPod shuffle–Best Buy has added products to its Web store, and an official said they’d have the products in all Best Buy stores by the end of February. The AppleInsider Web site claims Wal-Mart has ordered 250,000 iPod shuffles, and the Straits Times newspaper says that fifty 7-Eleven stores in Singapore will sell shuffles. The Mac mini has already appeared on Amazon, and the devices will apparently also appear on the Target Web site. In stores, Best Buy will begin selling them shortly.
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Ouch! I won’t embarass the specific store, but when demonstration iPod shuffles arrived at one store, the staff quickly sold them to customers–leaving nothing to display in the ‘music’ section of the store. That’s right–no replacements from Cupertino! The only evidence of the new mp3 player is a large, green-colored poster with a photo of an iPod shuffle, which isn’t quite the same thing.
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The gang at mall developer Madison Marquette Realty Services is feeling pretty confident: they manage Bay Street in Emeryville, site of a current Apple retail store, and they’re close to signing Apple for a lease at Manhattan Village in Manhattan Beach (S. Calif.). Now I’ve learned they’ve proposed The Shops at River Park in Fresno (Calif.) as a future retail store site, and may get a bite from Apple. The outdoor mall on the city’s well-to-do north side is being expanded, and is home to a movie theater that’s among the Top 15 in the nation. The city is #35 on my list of potential future store locations.
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Attention Third Street Promenade store staff in Santa Monica! On your lunch hour this Thursday and Friday, walk a half-block down the street, where Microsoft will park a trailer to let passersby go hands-on with its "digital home on wheels." It’s all part of the company’s "Windows on Wheels" tour that has dates all across the country. Ahh…digital home? Sounds familiar.
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The Christian Science Monitor newspaper profiled Steve Jobs, and included an anecdote that describes his attention to detail. It perhaps explains the attention to detail that Apple’s products and retail stores receive from the Top Guy.
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Like many retailers, Apple tracks returned merchandise, not only to keep track of inventory, but to determine why it happened–which feeds back to the sales process, Genius Bar operation, etc. If you return a product, a store staffer will eventually fill out a form that includes several fields of information that include the yes/no questions, "Buyer’s remorse?" (a common retailing term!) and "Replacement requested?" The questions also includes the reason for the return, any LCD/pixel anomalies noted, any physical damage noted, and other stocking items. In some cases a return is as simple as an unwanted gift, but in other cases it’s the result of inadequate sales explanation, unresolvable problems with the product, etc.
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Apple’s Retail Web page now shows "workshops" instead of "presentations," although it’s not obvious how the one-hour, sign-up sessions are different from one another.
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Here’s the short end to a long story– Apple reseller MACadam is closing after 16 years. The San Francisco-based reseller has a long history with Apple, including a recent lawsuit that owner Tom Santos has filed against the company alleging unfair business practices. Download (pdf) his “goodbye” letter, in which Santos recalls his very first customer, and thanks a long list of people, or read the AppleInsider article.
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I’ve added several links to blogs, photo albums and news stories for the Nagoya Sakae (Japan) store grand opening.
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An article in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune includes quotes by Sr. V-P Retail Ron Johnson, who said he wants to use the so-called "iPod halo effect" to "persuade consumers to try out Macintosh computers when they browse in Apple’s stores for iPods." Read the entire story on-line.
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Johnson also talked to The New York Times about the Genius Bar concept, saying the Bars are the "soul" of the stores, and, "It’s the part of the store that people connect to emotionally more than any other." The story says the Genius Bar came to Johnson, "one night when he was thinking about the kind of environment Apple wanted to create in its stores. He said he was inspired by Four Seasons, the Ritz-Carlton and other hotels where service is paramount."
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The AppleInsider Web site says work will begin shortly on the previously-identified mid-town New York City store location, on Fifth Ave. at 58th Street, next to the CBS "Early Show" studios, The Plaza hotel and toy retailer FAO Schwarz.
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More feedback on the Nagoya Sakae (Japan) store grand opening last weekend: One attendee said the T-shirts were all distributed by noon, and that store staffers came down the line to announce that fact to those still in line, and that iPod shuffles were sold out. One man was so upset that he used "very strong" language to express his displeasure to the staffers, who bowed and apologized. Like my experience at the Osaka opening, there were some serious purchases (4 x G5s, 2 x Cinema Displays), and some very focused hands-on sessions–people were firing up specific applications to try them out, or consulting with staffers and asking specific questions about music, photos, video, etc. One customer even brought his guitar with him, and headed straight to the ‘music’ section to begin asking questions of the staff. "All in all, it was a very positive experience," the attendee reported.
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On this day in 1984 Steve Jobs pulled the very first Macintosh out of a black cloth bag at the Flint Center in Cupertino (Calif.) and introduced it to the world. Now a video of that event has been posted on the Web, including the standing ovation that Steve received from the crowd. If you want to know why there is an annual Mac Expo keynote, view the tape, and the smile on Steve’s face. (scroll to the bottom for the English links)
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Apple has posted small photos of 49 of their retail stores on individual pages, and I’ve collected them into album format so you can compare the various storefront designs side-by-side.
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