“One fresh face is the new Apple Store in Carousel Center. The bright, bright Apple store. The one that seemingly is designed like you were walking into a computer hard drive. While getting raves from many, the store caught some a bit off guard,” Bob Niedt reports for The Syracuse Post-Standard.
“The place is small,” Niedt reports.
“Daniel Canter, a self-described rabid Apple Computer fan and a graphic designer, writes that he recently moved back to Syracuse after living in Dallas for a decade ‘I was very excited to hear that Apple opened a store in Carousel. Having been in close proximity to the Apple store in Plano, Texas, I was looking forward to all of the glitz and glam, he writes. I went to the store yesterday and realized it was a mini format and was immediately disappointed,'” Niedt reports.
“An employee told him the Carousel store was the junior to the full-size store near Albany,” Niedt reports. “‘I am wondering why Apple would do this to their customers? I was used to seeing the Genius Bar and rows and rows of hardware and software, not a stark and limited selection of products,’ writes Daniel.”
Niedt reports, “From what I’ve gathered from Apple, when the company was looking at the Syracuse market, the sense was it wouldn’t support a full-size Apple store. So they went with the mini store, a format Apple has rolled out in more than a half-dozen other markets. It does have a Genius Bar, a place where you can talk to techies about your Apple wishes and problems, it’s just smaller. The response to the Carousel store has been beyond expectations, I’m told, and Apple insiders say they company hasn’t ruled out a full-size store at some point for Central New York.”
Full article here.
I wonder if there are going to have mini stores in Japan too. That would make a lot of sense here because space is at a premium.
They already have mini stores in Japan don’t they.
No. Only flagship stores have been built in Japan so far.
one thing that amazes me is how Apple can make the retail store work, and that Cow PeeCee went under with them…
Could it be because Apple makes better products ?
I think so…
On another note… Heres a great read on the story of Audion… one of the first MP3 players for the Mac…
I bet MDN will post this one later…stay tuned !!
After being in a full size apple store the mini is very disapointing. I’m just glad Apple has finally arrived in Central New York.
forget Syracuse, make the full sized store here in Elmira, NY!
I think the mini is great!
Aren’t most of the minis close to full size stores anyway?
I’m thankful for the Apple store in Buffalo. Head west Central NYers.
I’ve been to the Buffalo store. That’s why I think the mini store is disapointing. Thankfully I’m in Buffalo every other month.
The Gateway stores went under for a number of reasons but the most important is that almost everything they had could easily be purchased elsewhere (non-Gateway) and their branded stuff just wasn’t that compelling.
The Apple store is handling hardware and software that is, for the most part, unavailable at every Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. The iPod is a noteable exception.