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Apple Store at Washington Square in Beaverton (Portland) Oregon.

Just picked up a remote for my 4th gen iPod and applecare support. (I'm considering buying another remote because they are notorius for breaking and are no longer produced.....)

Anyway, it was great but crowded.

I had fun drooling at the 30 inch displays.....

(First post?)

Mayfair. A few days after Thanksgiving Weekend.

The store was full and sufficiently staffed. 2 lines of registers about 7-10 people in each line.

I'm in the trafford centre mac store. tying this on a quad with 30" LCD.
v cool

Regent Street, London, UK
The store was packed
Everyone was buying an iPod
Some people were buying macs... some were trying them out... To be honest I saw more macs at the genius bar than anywhere else. [NB a lot of non-macs in the demonstration-theatre using the free 'net access]
The store was sufficiently staffed, it was simply the fact that there weren't enough sales desks.
I didn't notice anything sold out...
My experience was marred by the fact that I couldn't get my Apple iPod in-ear headphones fixed/replaced without seeing a Genius, which was impossible because there were so many people in the place.
Also, there weren't enough demonstration models.

Well, I went to the Apple store in Austin TX and this big fat woman was blocking the door way. Once she got in the store she turned around and almost killed 10 customers with her big fat butt. She was looking for a Rio MP3 player. Then to top it all off she farted and the whole mall was closed for four hours. Can you believe it, it took the EPA four hours to declare the mall safe.

St. Louis
two stores
midday visit and evening visit
three cashiers each store
constant 6+ people in line
stores packed, buzzing with conversation
lots of red shirts waiting on people
iPod guys moving over 1,000 units a day
there is wicked commerce goin' on, brother

sorry, trafford store manchester uk. have it!!

The Apple Store in The Woodlands Mall (The Woodlands, Texas north of Houston) has been packed. They've run out of different models of iPods on various days but have restocked quickly. People are also buying computers. It was great to see do much business, but it made purchasing a bit of a hassle.

I picked up a new 20" iMac G5 plus a (free) printer and a few other software items along with another nano for a gift while I was there.

I believe 2006 is going to be a fantastic year for Apple!

Apple Store In The Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY.
The store was very crowded, and very well staffed. I think that the split between Macs and iPods was about the same. The experience was extremely pleasing. The staff were welcoming and helped you out and even gave you more info than expected.

the Apple Store was located in Miami, FL at the The Falls

It was very crowded, couldn't had to wait in line just to look at a mac or an ipod

when I left the store almost everyone had a small apple Bag, they most probably bought an ipod. and I would say 75% of the people in line at the register had an ipod to purchase

Were people buying Macs?
yes mostly those who already had an ipod.

Was the store sufficiently staffed?
Yes a lot of helpful employees

Was anything sold out? The free printers the come when buying a mac.

Anything else notable about your visit?
Well I got mad when I overheard an employee tell a customer that you would need virtual PC and windows Xp to connect to other windows PC through a network and I had to explain to the customer that the sales person was wrong and that you can do it for free with microsoft desktop connection.

South Denver apple Store (Aspen Grove)...

I was in there buying a 20" monitor last monday. The store was jammed.

I asked the gent helping me how sales were - he said Ipods flying off the shelves - they'd sold out of some models. Yet the interesting thing he told me is that the day before (Sunday) he said he could not tell me how many computers they had been selling......

Halo effect *IS* working!

Where was the Apple Store located?
Annapolis, MD

Was the store crowded?
Very... It is a small store, but boy was it packed

Were people buying iPods?
Many, they had that little iPod express thing. The store in Annapolis does not let anyone near the iPod, over 20 minis were stolen couple months ago.

Were people buying Macs?
Yes, I saw iBook after iBook.

Was the store sufficiently staffed?
Yes, there is one man that is a jerk, but I am friends with the rest of them. I am only 12...

Was anything sold out?
They had everything! For that little store it was amazing.
Anything else notable about your visit?
Nope

Apple Store Crossgates - Capital Region, Albany, NY

Extremely crowded yesterday. Multiple Macs being sold and wheeled out to cars. Other stores in Mall looked empty compared to Apple Store. Lines at Apple Store registers (all four going at once) were deep, but moving well.

Apple's hitting a grand slam in Albany, NY right now.

Sagemore, Marlton NJ.

Purchased three iSight cameras as gifts and a .Mac package.

Very crowded. iPods were "blocked off" you had to ask for one, them move into line to pay. Talked the lady in front of me of getting her 11 year old a iPod "video" instead of Nano....Nano would probably have been better for hte 11 yr old...but I covet the iPod "video" so I preteneded I was buying it.

Myst be an Apple store groupie! I was at Tysons Corner, VA, Towson, MD, Bethesda, MD (Montgomery Mall), and Christiana, Delaware. All stores were very busy and I doubt there would have ever been sufficient staff since everyone was purchasing stuff and it would have required many more terminals than staff. A good idea was having the iPods set up in a separate part of the stores with staff just for those purchasing iPods.

All stores had very friendly staff in spite of the stress of such crowds. The customers themselves were very calm. The genius bar staffs were very patient and helpful. And I appreciated that the stores continued the various presentations as scheduled.

I went to the Willow Bend (Plano, Texas) store last Saturday and the place was packed. The iPod express area was selling iPods right and left (with most models still in stock at that time) and the main register was quite busy as well. I saw one customer purchasing two 12" PowerBooks as I was walking out. All in all, business was booming and there were plenty of employees to keep the wait to check out from being too long. It was by far the busiest store in that entire mall.

Short Hills, NJ
Various times between Black Friday and last week.

Best Apple store we've been to. Every time we're there it's always packed. Looks like iPods and accessories dominate the shoppers' attention. I saw a few iMacs at checkout and iBooks. Lots of staff. People are generally more helpful and knowledgeable there than some of the other stores in the area. I have to travel 25 mins to get there versus 10 mins for another Apple store. I prefer the people at Short Hills. Also, it's the only store with a theater unless we trek into NYC. The GarageBand dude is awesome.

I was in Tysons Corner on Saturday - it was mobbed! They had individuals that wanted to buy iPods queued up and where bring them out in big plastic containers about every half-hour.

I have never seen the store so packed with so many people with purchases tucked so tightly under their arms.

should have bought apple stock at $12!!!

Merry Christmas!

Where was the Apple Store located?
McLean, Va.

Was the store crowded?
Packed with lines to check-out and buy iPods

Were people buying iPods?
tons

Were people buying Macs?
Powerbooks

Was the store sufficiently staffed?
barely

Was anything sold out?
i couldn't tell, it was too crazy

On Thanksgiving Day, I had the most unusual experience at an Apple store. We'd gone to see RENT at the Gateway Mall that morning in Salt Lake City. After, although the rest of the mall was closed, I wanted to take my sister by the store and show it to her, as it had just opened the week before.
When we got to the Apple store, the doors were wide open. We were surprised that they'd be open on Thanksgiving Day.
As we walked in and saw about 15 people milling about looking at products, a young woman told us that none of them worked at the store and they had just found the doors to the store open with no employees in sight.
All the lights were on and all of the computers and other devices were plugged in and on. People were just browsing, looking at products. Everything was secured to the tables and counters, so no one could have taken anything.
There were no alarms and no mall security anywhere in sight. We stayed about 15 minutes looking at stuff and then left.
Does anyone think the store was just broken into and there was no security paying attention on Thanksgiving Day or do you think Apple did it as a marketing gimmick to get people to talk about it??
What do you think?

Where was the Apple Store located?
Legacy Village Apple Store in Cleveland.

Was the store crowded?
It was packed. There were more people in the store on last Saturday and Monday than at the store's grand opening a few years ago.

Were people buying iPods?
Yes lots of ipod purchases. The store even had a special ipod station next to the Genius Bar for quicker ipod purchases

Were people buying Macs?
Definitely. Between the two times i was there recently i witnessed over a dozen ibooks, powerbooks, mac minis, imacs, and powermacs walk out the door

Was the store sufficiently staffed?
The staff was handling the crowd as well as can be expected. The extra ipod station plus employees with little hand scanners helped keep the lines moving. The Genius Bar was even moving smoothly for such a massive crowd.

Was anything sold out?
4gb Nanos were sold out when i first arrived on saturday but mysteriously appeared while i was there. on monday everything appeared to be in stock.

Anything else notable about your visit?
If my Legacy Village visits are indicative of all Apple Store crowds then the holiday sales numbers for the Apple are going to be astronomical! Go Apple!

I hate the SoHo store. A few weeks ago, I tried to buy a new iMac and first I was ignored, then when the purchase began the salesperson started helping someone else! Please, take a moment to help me with my $1800 purchase. TechServe on 23rd street is so much better - have someone who will sit down with you to figure out the best system. At the SoHo store, their attitude is always "No we don't have it and I have no idea when we're getting it." Rude and unacceptable - they're not doing me a favor by letting me by an Apple product.

Oh, and good luck trying to find where to voice a concern about a store at apple.com. They're obviously not interested in feedback on their retail stores. If anyone knows where to complain, that would be great.

PS - my experience was when the new iMac just came out (with iSight). So it was not attributable to the holiday rush.

Two visits to two Apple Stores in Chicago
1. Michigan Ave.
2. Old Orchard in Skokie

Both visits were during the day, afternoon. Each store had much higher than normal traffic, and would still be considered high for the season as well.

I purchased the 30gb iPod Video at the Michigan Avenue store and the 4gb Nano at the Old Orchard store.

At the Old Orchard store, I was looking for the 2gb Nano, but they were sold out. I bought a 4gb Nano instead. The 1gb Shuffle was also sold out. All other iPods were available but were in short supply. The Old Orchard store was adequately staffed but not staffed as strongly as the Michigan Avenue store. For instance, all the Apple Stores have a iPod Xpress section. The Old Orchard Xpress section wasn't staffed by a fulltime person. Someone would only come over if someone was there, but there were many, many people who obviously wanted to buy an iPod, but when nobody was there to help them, they just went up to the front counter or looked for a sales person. Kinda defeats the purpose and strategy of moving iPod customers through the store better.

Also, there was a customer ahead of me who was there for a Bose Sounddock which was sold out. She was very upset since she had called ahead and was told that they had ample supply.

People were buying Macs, primarily iBooks, PowerBooks and some iMacs. Lots of people were buying iPod accessories.

The Michigan Avenue store, which I'm in at least once a week, is very well-managed and is more than adequately staffed. It has a very, very, high volume of traffic and seems to move every item of merchandise from Macs to iPods to peripherals and software.

The Genius Bar has extremely high traffic and long wait times. I had to have my wife's iBook serviced there two weeks ago. The drive had died and it was fixed and returned within just 72 hours! Great service.

iDon't,
I was at the mall in Austin when that fat lady farted. It was like oh, sooo gross. Luckly I had a gas mask with me - otherwise I might have died. I called it a Weapon of Mass Digestion. I wonder if this will make the national news? I doubt it because if its not about George Bush, Texas gets ignored. You know what they say "Texas is like a whole 'nuther country." Lets get together and have tea. I just adore your pink cowgirl boots.

Where was the Apple Store located? Knox Street, Dallas, TX

Was the store crowded? Very

Were people buying iPods? No idea

Were people buying Macs? See previous

Was the store sufficiently staffed? Yes, lots of people in bright red Applet-shirts - almost a 1-on-1 ratio from what I could tell with the number of people in the store at the time (probably 60-70 total with red shirts and customers combined).

Was anything sold out? Didn't stay long enough to find out - but they had plenty of what I needed - iTMS Gift Cards.

Anything else notable? Despite all the hubbub, I must have gotten lucky - there was no line at the checkout counter and I was able to get my card and get out amidst all the chaos in less than 5 minutes.

Robert, I think the manager from the previous night probably "forgot" to close the store. I'm sure they have a new manager now.

NYC, I agree with you that the Soho store leaves bad tastes in my mouth. It never appears it's in their best interest to assist customers. BTW, you can always send snail mail to Cupertino. In my (and others') experience, a written piece of paper holds more weight than an email. Address it to "Retail Operations".

MW: nature. It's human nature to be slackers.

1GB iPod Shuffles are suspiciously missing from the Canadian Yorkdale store. All the other iPods are available including the hot 4GB Black Nano's.

I guess the rumors of a "new" 1GB Nano to replace the 1GB Shuffles were true.

There is a big hole in getting repairs done at the Apple store.

I found my G4 tower processor fan was making a racket. The bearing were going and I wanted to replace it. It is quite simple to do. I opened the case and with two screws, removed the plastic shroud, disconnected the power lines and it was resting in my hands. I checked online to see if anyone had one for sale and found one website. I figured I would check Apple's site since I was confident of who I would be dealing with. No where on Apples website can you buy this fan. I called customer care and there phone system disconnects you automatically when you come to the "calling for another reason". There was no options for what I was buying. I called and began to fib a bit to speak to a human and that person forwarded me to the disconnect line. This happened a total of about 9 times.

Finally I got someone who saw the problem and said they can't sell me the fan. He checked with his manager and said negative. He told me to go to an Apple store and ask them, that they should be able to get me a fan.

I made an appointment online and rushed over to the Braintree store. I waited 10 minutes and got called. I was told I would have to bring the machine in and they would test it and fix it. Meanwhile I had the fan in my hand and asked him for a replacement. He starting asking about it booting up and stuff. I told him everything was fine but the noise was so bad, I thought the vibrations would break the mother board. Give me the fan and charge me........no go. He told me I could probably get one online but that was not something Apple supported. Meanwhile, this machine is close to 4 years old and has been on the whole time. I am not looking for warranties or anything, just a fan.

As I walked out of the mall contemplating sucking up and having Apple do the work, I thought, hey, how much time would it take for the turn around and how much would it cost. I walked back into the store and had to make another appointment. After waiting 1 1/2 hours, I got called and they guy said it should cost about $250 bucks and take between 8 and 10 days.

I was bummed and in a bit of frustration said to the genius " Why the heck did they put the nice door on the side if they don't sell you the parts to work on the computer?" He gave me a you rasie a good point look on his face.

Two things to complain

Apple should hire people who indeed know about Macs. My experience is they don't know much. This includes the genius behind the bar. I am tired of curt answers. They should know their stuff and they don't.

Apple's policy of not selling internal components to the public is a plain mockery to the actual design of all their tower computers. Who is this beautful door for? The tech doing repairs. I thought the ease of access was for the owner? If so, let them as they so chose fill the box up and repairs the thing on their own after the computer is out warranty at least.

Went to the relatively new Apple Store at La Cantera in San Antonio last Saturday about noon. The store was jammed--2 or 3 staff manning the iPod Express lines with at least 5 people per line for the entire time we were there.

Don't know if anything was sold out, but people were all over the iPod stuff, many folks looking at Macs. Main cashier lines were always backed up with at least 15 people.

The Apple Store was without doubt the busiest in the entire open-air mall. Most stores in La Cantera had fewer than 5 customers, and there were at least 30-40 customers at all times in the Apple Store.

I visited the two Orlando, FL stores on Monday. The one at Millenia Mall was slam packed around 4PM. It's a small store though and they had lots of staff on hand (maybe 15 or so).
I then visited the Florida Mall location around 9PM. It wasn't nearly as full (It's a much larger store) Good thing because they were very much understaffed (probably only 6 or so)

Both locations had all the iPods. I'm not sure of the stock of anything else.

Both stores in the St. Louis region are out in the 'burbs in enclosed shopping malls. I seldom go out that way and when I do it is not to an enclosed mall. If they want my business in a store they'll need to do a storefront store in our loft district or other urban shopping streets.

Where: Victoria Gardens, Rancho Cucamonga, CA
When: Sunday, Dec. 18

The store was absolutely mobbed, but sufficiently staffed. The majority of shoppers were crowded around the iPod/headphone stations and the store had set up a special roped-off iPod buying area. The Nanos and Shuffles were sold out. People were buying iPods by the fistfulls and I saw a number of iBook/Powerbook/iMac purchases during my 30 minutes in the store as well. The iPod accessory section was too overcrowded to even attempt to browse. An absolute zoo.

Where was the Apple Store located?
Tyson's Corner
Fairfax, VA

Was the store crowded?
Yes. There was a considerable crowd. Not packed. But, crowded.

Were people buying iPods?
I saw two people walke witn the Nano in their hands.

Were people buying Macs?
My friend bought a 20" iMac with all the bells and whistles.

Was the store sufficiently staffed?
There 2-3 personnel that where standing by in different sections of the store. The Genius Bar was busy. There two people left standing in line at the bar before I left with my goodies.

Was anything sold out?
20" iMac. My friend bought the last one. But sold out did not last long. They had some within 48 hours.

Anything else notable about your visit?
Staff personnel were extremely helpful. They answered all the questions I had.

I was at the Oakbrook, IL. Apple Store the day after Thanksgiving. (The Feast after the Feast)
It was absolutely packed! I was using the sale to trade in my 17" iMac that I had bought a week earlier for a 20". The store would normally allow you to do a target disk transfer from the old Mac to the new Mac but they had absolutely no space to do it that day.

A couple of weeks before that I was at the downtown Chicago Apple store to pick up an Airport Extreme Base Station and it was loaded with people mid-day. Luckily, that store is a hug 2-story setup.

Store: Costa Mesa California, South Coast Plaza
Date & Time of Visit: Tues, Dec 20 @ 6pm
In Line Ahead of Me: a dozen or so (waited about 8 minutes)
Store Customer Load: Full, but not so crowded you couldn't move
Purchased: One 2GB Nano, black
Most Customers Seemed to be Buying: Nanos; during my 15 minutes there, no computers were carried out

Comments: The were out of 4GB black, but had white ones; I had called a half hour earlier, and the rep had told me that "unfortunately the lines are quiiiite long, sir." I jammed down there expecting to see wild-eyed losers yelling "Hey, that's MY Turbo Man, sucker!" Anyway, either the lines died down (which seems unlikely between 5:30 and 6pm, figuring that work for many ends around 5), or the guy was having fun at my expense.

I was in the Apple Store at the King of Prussia mall outside Philadelphia 2 weeks ago on a Friday night. The mall itself was crowded, but the Apple store was so packed that I literally could not get inside the door. I came back later and got inside, but it was too crowded to do any really serious browsing. So, I did what I usually do - set a few of the Macs on iTunes with Groove Salad (a radio station under the "Ambient" and "Electronica" sections in iTunes) cranked up and the visualizer kicking on full screen. That always gets people's attention and gets the store jumping!

Store: Peabody, Mass.

The people who work in this store suck. I stood at the register for a good 10 minutes, while associates walked by me, looked right a me, and not one said that someone would be right with me (probably because nobody was right with me). Finally, a dirty girl with greasy hair asked in an annoyed way "are you all set?". I said, no, I would like to purchase a 14" iBook. After a sigh and a roll of the eyes (seriously, not kidding), she angrily dragged me through all the questions like combo drive, or super drive, etc etc. I had a direct answer because I was prepared. She got on her little radio and a minute later, the fat guy out back brought the iBook to the counter. After the sale was complete, she never said thank you, or anything. She had a really bad, snobby attitude, like I was wasting her time, because she's an Apple employee. Fact is, she wasted my time, and she smelled. That was Peapody Massachusettes, sometime last June. I now order online. The Apple stores are for "technology civilians". I'll shop at the PX next time.

Don't even get me started on the "Genius" bar.

Century City in Los Angeles, last Sunday. I bought the LAST 1Gb Shuffle in the store.

Off-topic, but an indicator of how well Apple is doing across the board is their market cap compared to others in the industry.

As I write this Apple is within a billion dollars of exceeding the valuation for Oracle (ORCL), and is now under twelve billion dollars from overtaking Dell (DELL).

On the 16th February, Apple had a market cap equivalent to 35.9% of Dell's valuation: today, that figure is up to 84.6% and looking like it will exceed Dell's value at some point in the next quarter.

On-topic, I was at Regent St. London several weeks ago and it was already bedlam.

Mainly iPod purchases, but enormous queues at the Genius Bar and The Studio was also very well attended.

Probably needed more meet-n'-greet type staff, only thing that wasnt really in stock at the time were G5 Quads.

Cubert, so YOU're the one that did that. Expect a knock on your door at 3am one of these nights. We will make your our new manager of customer entertainment.

Roosevelt Field Long Island NY

Packed! You think they where giving something away the way this place was going. Lines out the door, people in red shirts running around like madmen.

Service was decent but understaffed. The staff seemed to have a good sense of humor and one guy with "Conan O'brien" hair as the person next to me called it, was really funny.

They where selling Ipods like crazy and one guy left with a huge tower and all the trimmings. A bunch of Imacs went too.

They had Ipods but where sold out on most of the accessories. I can't believe they sell something and don't have a case for it!

Worse thing about it was some people kept hogging the computers and where doing their mail or other stuff and not letting anybody try them out. And it was loud! So many people kept turning on different songs and walking away with the music blasting.

It was crazy but cool.

Woodcliff Lake, NJ store

Night before last, it took about 5 minutes to buy an 4 Gig Nano. Plenty in stock.

Store was crowded. Dedicated checkout for iPods. Also a lot of computers moving.

Also, just switched my neighbor over. He bought a 17" iMac for his family.

Westworld Computers in Edmonton: I was looking for an FM transmitter for my iPod, having been thoroughly disappointed with Griffin's latest dock-connector attempt. The salesman helped like a good buddy, even though I'd never seen him before in my life. He pulled a transmitter out of its case and suggested we head out to my car to compare it with the Griffin. Long made short, I bought it, and the salesman somehow convinced me to buy a $60 accessory kit that I had no intention of picking up. Overall, a good experience.

The Apple Store in Richmond Virginia last weekend and every weekend is loaded with people.
And it's not all ipod's they are getting Mac computers like mad. I only wish Apple would put another store in Virginia, Charlottesville Virginia the home of the University of Virginia

Also please note, I was also in another well known store "hint" Best and they may of had 5 people looking at computers the same day the Apple Store was packed.

I would like to visit an Apple store, but the nearest one is over 125 miles away. There are no retail outlets carrying Macs nearby. Best Buy did carry a Mac Mini for a few days, but last time I was there it was gone. Their sales staff didn't know what it was anyway. I am in a decent size city (~250K population). With only about 130 stores, there are huge chunks of the US (and the rest of the world) that must rely on internet for any access to Macs. iPods are a different story. Every corner gas station seems to carry them.

Where was the Apple Store located?
- Aventura Mall, Aventura, Florida, Tuesday night.

Was the store crowded?
- Absolutely packed. The mall overall was crowded, but no other store had so many customers... and I mean customers, as in people buying.

Were people buying iPods?
- Yes, myself included! (white 30 GB). The store had a special iPod station next to the Genius Bar, for quicker purchases, staffed with four employees.

Were people buying Macs?
- Yes, but they had to go to the normal checkouts at the end of the store, where the

Was the store sufficiently staffed?
Yes

Was anything sold out?
They ran out of iPods Monday night, but they reappeared yesterday by the truckload.

Anything else notable about your visit?
Yes. As always, I left the store several hundred dollars poorer, but smiling.

Around 12/15/05. Danbury, CT. They have one in the Danbury Fair Mall.

The store was crowded, but not as crowded as some other stores I've been in.

Most people, you could tell, were buying iPods. Many were playing with the computers, but only 3 or 4 groups looked like they were making a decision of buying it.

The store has many staff members, and an AMAZING genius bar. But the regular staff has many teenagers who I think are not qualified to reassure with the buying of a piece of equipment over $1000 $2000.

Nothing was sold out.

~Caleb

Store location in the Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, New York. My first experience with this store was trying to get my 12 G4 pwr book fixed about 2 years ago. The place was crowded even then. I was not familiar with the procedure of logging in to a console in the middle of the store before a genius from the bar would tend to you so I lost a good 20 minutes there. As there was some problem with my warrenty paper work I was not able to get my unit fixed there but I was able to get the paper work straightened out there. My next visit was recently to the same store. they seemed to have all manner of Mac laptop, ipod and accessory along with digi cam printers etc. As I had just bought the vid capable ipod I needed a new FM transmitter for my 5G ipod. I found one but they did not have it in a color that matched my ipod they only had it in black. I was able to get it from them the nex week. Business was indeed brisk.

Apple Store Toronto, Canada
I have no idea what it was like because the line went out the door, through the mall around the corner and back again. The wait (just to get in) was over an hour

I don't usually do the magicword thing...but "filled" seems pretty appropriate