“Whatever it is (Radio Shack for rich people? The Sharp-est Image?), the Apple Store isn’t what it used to be, even a year or so ago. The initial thrills, the feelings of i-comfort and i-belonging, still await you behind its translucent facade, especially now, in the gizmodic spree of the Christmas season. But somewhere along the way, the zendo quality of the Apple Store changed,” Hank Stuever writes for The Washington Post.
“The demi-privacy of it, the clubby feeling — I know that you know that I know that we know and love Macs like nobody else does — is fading away. Too much commotion. The ethereal, tranquil, spa vibe (the bath of white light, the polished concrete floors, the glint in the happy eyes of the geniuses at the Genius Bar) has been pierced by the sheer popularity of the place. The TV commercials worked. Mac Guy, even with his non-arrogant arrogance, is your real friend, and then he gathered too many friends, and suddenly he doesn’t have time for them all,” Stuever writes.
Stuever writes, “Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO and bodhisattva, got what he wanted: the people. (A hundred million customers were lured to its stores in fiscal 2006-07, according to Apple, adding up to more than $4 billion in revenue.)”
Stuever writes, “Apple shoppers are more than people, more than customers — they are seekers. Those Apple marketing guys said all along they were building not just stores but serene communities of true believers and new converts. And so they did, and here we are, just 6 1/2 years later.”
Stuever continues, on and on and on, in his overwritten, messy complaint-fest here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “RadDoc,” “citymark,” and “Whit” for the heads up.]
Because he writes like a freshman Lit student (most likely, California State University-Chico) without an editor, it’s tough to tell just what the heck the italics-lovin’ Stuever’s point is, besides making up new compound words, coming across as a royal A-hole, recounting a handful of anecdotes that are supposed to put Apple in a bad light, and bemoaning the fact that Apple Stores are welcoming in new Apple product users with open arms. Apple should bar non-Mac or new-to-Mac users at the doors to placate Hank Stuever-types, we suppose.
We know things are bad in the newspaper business, but sheesh! We’re embarrassed for The Washington Post.
again, bitter
+50% market share has to start somewhere-let it be via overcrowded stores
It’s like the saying:
“Be careful of what you wish for, because it just may come true.”
The author does make a point.. Our Mac “club” is getting bigger, and some of the new members are of a different class…
What is this article trying to say? I was at the Apple store in Orlando yesterday and it was as thrilling as ever. Place was jammed, plenty of courteous help available and everyone buying Apple stuff (I hope I’m not just reacting as a stockholder with my enthusiasm).
I don’t get his point….or is he just missing the Christmas spirit thing? You know the bustling activity, the shoppers frenzy and joy to the world…..
Well heck, I guess they’ll need to start charging a cover charge, and get some bouncers out front and turn people away at the doors.
Crowded stores during Christmas shopping season? Say it ain’t so!
Meh.. some people will find something to cry about and find a dark cloud in every rainbow.
While generally agreeing with the MDN take, I know what the Post means. I stuck my nose in the San Diego Apple store on Saturday. Unbelievable crowd. It was by far the busiest store at UTC. I LOVED it for my Apple shares, but was, at the same time, a little nostalgic for the old quiet days. Just a little. As far as I can see, the tipping point is behind us.
If Apple would ever want to thin the crowds a bit, I would suggest getting advice from M Dell.
he prob owns a bunch of dell, ms and palm stock
Clearly, this Stuever character wants to be the next David Pogue.
Yeah, Apple Stores are crowded… at least the Manhattan Stores are (I’ve not been to the 14th Street Store yet). I suppose that Manhattan isn’t the best gauge, since they’re in must-avoid tourist areas. Yeah, SoHo USED to be cool, but who ARE all those people?
But hey, why complain? There’s always mail order!
MDN,
r u insinyou8ing that meye skool iz a partee skool? Hiccup….
What a damn idiot!
The Apple Store has high quality products that more and more people want and demand.
How hard is that to figure out?
Apple Products: REAL Intelligent Design.®
Build more stores.
I know a few dozen, empty CompUSA stores that Apple could claim and refurbish.
It is patently manifest that the wordsmith’s thoroughgoing compeer is his thesaurus.
Or maybe he is just that much smarter than the proletariat.
I guess some Mac users are arrogant, smug a-holes. This guy and anyone who agrees with him proves it.
Just goes to show the quality of reporting in the left-leaning Post.
Umm, let me see – Christmas holiday shopping season and you go into an electronics store. Um, yeah – it’s going to be a little busy!
Apple stores are usually busy year-round, at least that is my experience in big cities. I wouldn’t personally set foot in one until at least January.
Where else would you go? CompUSA? Oh wait..they went out of business. What about Best Buy? Uhhh..gross. I’ll stick with a busy Apple Store.
“MDN Magic Word” = Speak; as in Speak the truth.
Think different, MAC lemmings. I spent a good 2 hours at the Dell kiosk at my local mall this weekend. It’s between the Sunglasses Hut and Dewey’s Hot Dog Experience. It was great. The kid in the denim shirt with the Dell logo listened politely as I lobbied to have the Ditty reinstated (a few more Ditty colors wouldn’t hurt). I’m a regular so they don’t ask me to finish or get rid of my Jamba Juice before touching the machines anymore. Do you get that kind of camaraderie at an Apple retail store? I doubt it.
And another thing, Dells are real computers for real computer users. Dell representatives wear collared shirts, not dopey t-shirts like I see the Apple toy store employees wearing. Hey Apple, if you want people to take you seriously you have to look the part. Dorks.
It was at a Dell kiosk in a mall that I first saw Vista and was mesmerized by the Aero interface. It was like magic, and I didn’t have to put up with the smug, snobby MAC sheep like I would at an Apple retail store.
Your potential. Our passion.™
As poorly written as this article is, I would have to agree a bit with the writer. The stores have become somewhat victims of their own success.
Granted, the atmosphere of the store will change this time of year from cool hip technocenter to mob ridden iPod dispensary just because of the Holidays, but even so, I think just the fact that the stores now stock more warm bodies masquerading as employees and fewer true believers who will bend over backwards to get you to switch, is enough to change the feeel of the stores from when they first opened.
I don’t get the “MDN take” attitude towards this article. Do they think of it as apple criticism? I don’t think so. It is quite a poetic and true description of what is going on. And I like what is going on: Apple is broadening it’s “niche” with a lot of success. Am I right?
‘been in two recently – Louisville, and LA.
Still fun. Still magical.
He’s basically saying that Apple can’t build the stores fast enough.
There’s a stark contrast in the Apple store experience, YEAR ROUND, between today and, I’d say, pre-iPod nano. It’s too crowded and noisy, it lost the sense of intimacy from all the new and potential customers Apple has gained. This is to be expected and of course I’m glad to see it but I prefer the quieter days when I could roam all through an Apple store with freedom. Now I avoid my local store.
They need more so they can spread these assholes out. I hate people, with their sweaters and their Oxfords and shampoo. Who do they think they are? Go back to Walmart you bastards.
I agree with this guy SO MUCH. Mac users arn’t this little group any more. We arn’t the outcasts any more, if so many people are becoming them too
Basically, it’s an article complaining about the lack of Apple zealots. Okayyyy….
um. i don’t get it, why is this reporter being attacked? he is right, especially in the DC area. used to be, you walked into the apple store and found open space, well tendered demo units and people to help you.
now you have to fight through all of the ipod and iphone buyers. maybe i am biased. i am a macintosh user. yes i have an ipod, but OSX first, ipod second. it upsets me to find myself a second class citezen in an apple store to someone purchasing speakers for an ipod they are going to sync with a windows machine.
the welcoming feeling of the store is gone. i see the crowd, and don’t want to go inside. and this is NOT just the holiday. this has been months. when i am there, i get in, get what i want and leave. if i can get it elsewhere, i probably will.
ever been to the store in Manhattan? try to get a seat there. they may look different, they may be run different, but the feeling of being different is gone. apple stores are just another store, they are just another shrine to consumerism.
magic word: average
ps. MDN better remember who also leans to the left.
Nobody goes there anymore… it’s too crowded.
This weekend was a perfect example. I lost my shuffle and needed it replaced ASAP. I can’t workout without it! Normally this would be an excuse to run to the Apple store, especially since I didn’t want to wait for it to ship. Instead a feeling of dread came over me and I ordered it through the Apple store online with NextDay shipping.
My iPhone, my latest iPods, all items I would’ve normally ran to the Apple with glee to buy have been purchased online. The Apple store is no different today than Best Buy or Circuit City.
BUT, I think maybe that special feeling could be regained if they’d build more quicker and spread all of these new customers out instead of packing them into one or two stores. It was cool before Apple became a consumer electronics company.
Might the fact that this is the holiday shopping season account for at least some of the crowding? I was at the Tysons Corner center in Falls Church, where the first Apple Store in the DC area is located. It *was* crowded, as was much of the center, but there were plenty of people offering help.
Couldn’t get hands on an MBP – all in use – but did check out the “glossy-ness” of the iMac. It *is* more reflective that I’d like, but I could say the same thing about my Pioneer Plasma. And I live with that just fine.
If you want that “old time” experience, without the crowds, pick a less hectic time.
I live in the DC area and the Washington Post is my local paper. The writer is right. DC area Apple stores are jammed. The original Apple Store, at Tyson’s Corner, is at the heart of Northern Virginia gridlock, and when you finally arrive, it’s very deflating to see the place so crowded. If I need to go there, I try to get there first thing in the morning or right before closing. The genius appointments always run significantly and understandably late. A friend of mine, under deadline pressure at work, had to go to the Apple Store because his iPhone was a dud. It had a happy ending, but even though he had an appointment, he got stuck there an hour longer than he’d planned because the store was so crowded.
The problem is that Apple can’t build the stores fast enough. Apple needs more stores in Northern Virginia to take the pressure off Tyson’s, Clarendon, and the Pentagon, all of which are close in. I’d put one in Springfield Mall (not the Simpsons’ mall!) and Fair Oaks Mall–but I’m have no experience siting stores. There need to be more in the Maryland suburbs, too. However, Apple is a global company, not a DC company; it has to be concerned with all of its locations, not just us.
When a company is as wildly successful as Apple is, it is hard to keep up with the customer demand. Even if they are oozing money (which they are) there are real-world limitations on how fast they can hire and train employees, sign leases, build stores, and manufacture and distribute products. I’m sure they are expanding as fast as they can, but until demand reaches a plateau, they wont’ be able to catch up.
All this means is that Apple should build a few more stores to handle the crowds. If the crowds persist after the holidays, it’s time for SJ to review the retail expansion schedule and accelerate it.
But the most pathetic whine on this thread has to belong to R2:
“I hate people, with their sweaters and their Oxfords and shampoo. Who do they think they are?”
Jeeez, shampoo offends you?!? At least that confirms the image I have of you–blech!
besides making up new compound words, coming across as a royal A-hole,
Don’t just make up a compound word after complaining about making up compound words. The word is “asshole.”
To paraphrase Yogi Berra:
“Nobody goes to Apple Stores anymore. They are too crowded.”
Addendum:
To cover Northern Virginia completely, they’d also need a store in Reston, where they have an office by the way.
I don’t know what Tyson’s is like during the Winter Festival of Retail Spending; my experience of crowds is on normal days.
” . . . there are real-world limitations on how fast they can hire and train employees . . .”
I think you may have hit on the Macworld keynote, “One more thing”, surprise announcement.
Apple Store iRobots with A.I. and credit card validation. They could all be tied into a vast, global network monitored by satellites.
What’s this article trying to say? What’s the point of the MDN take? What’s going on here?
“What’s going on here?”
The article in a nutshell:
Did I leave my lights on? What’s for lunch? What do you mean I already ate? Will you bring me my pills? Did I leave my lights on? Why is it so cold in here? Will someone please tell me what’s going on? Can we eat now? Are you sure I didn’t leave my lights on? Don’t bother. I’ll get it myself.
That article was completely pointless…and long. Really long. How did he write so much about so little? You could have summed up the whole article in a paragraph or less.
MDN: … it’s tough to tell just what the heck the italics-lovin’ Stuever’s point is, besides making up new compound words, coming across as a royal A-hole, recounting a handful of anecdotes that are supposed to put Apple in a bad light, and bemoaning the fact that Apple Stores are welcoming in new Apple product users with open arms. Apple should bar non-Mac or new-to-Mac users at the doors to placate Hank Stuever-types, we suppose.
somebody’s got a case of the mondays …
Grigori,
The article’s saying that Apple stores have lost their sense of intimacy after the newfound growth from the iPod halo effect. MDN took it as an attack on Apple and struck back in its take while many of us agree with the author’s message if not so much with the way he delivered it.
Yesterday, shopping at the Norfolk, VA General McArthur Mall, I watched at least a dozen people carrying iMac boxes through the mall (away from the Apple Store). Lots of people buying them. I didn’t go in, but walking past the Apple Store, I noticed it was very packed. I’m sure that Apple views this as being a good thing. Stores aren’t there to look pretty and be empty.
I order my Mac stuff online. The mall is like that in every store just about.
I’d take a lagging server over a christmas mob anyday.
“Stores aren’t there to look pretty and be empty.”
“Oops.”
– Michael Dell
“Dammit.”
– Roman Ross
“Yeah. I thought something was wrong.”
– Ted Waitt
“Huh?”
– Victor Alhadef
When I was a noobie I visited a very nice Gateway store. It was large, spacious, and beautifully de-cored. It was well-staffed, in that the four salespeople outnumbered both customers. As a customer service professional I recognized the staff had a distinct disadvantage in their jobs, being that they didn’t really believe in their product.
The store has gone through several evolutions since then. . . . I think they sell computer games there now.
It reminds me of the famous line attributed to Yogi Berra.
When asked about a restaurant in NYC, he’s said to have replied: “Nobody goes there anymore … it’s too crowded.”
“Apple shoppers are more than people, more than customers — they are seekers.”
Wow, didn’t know Harry Potter switched to Mac. Or is he using an iBroom for Quidditch?
The stores are more crowded. The “club” is growing. That feeling of the “cult of Mac” is shrinking.
So friggin’ what?
This writer is correct, but for the wrong reasons. Market share is exploding. Many others that would never give a Mac a look a couple of years ago are buying now. There’s a reason why the stores are crowded – The Mac is just better, period, and people are getting it.
Yeah this guy IS a royal asshole.
Another Yogi quote…If you don’t set goals, you can’t regret not reaching them.
Apple’s goals was to fill their stores do I do NOT think they have regrets about lack of the ‘Experience’. So what if there are more bodies in them? An empty store is a good thing? This guy is a total waste of DNA.
@calpundit
See my post about a dozen up from yours.
Okay, peep this:
I still haven’t gotten my iPhone rebate yet. Why is this? Well, I’m not sure.
After dutifully printing out the coupon, I first tried to use it to order Leopard at the online store. I was told by the machine that my rebate didn’t have any credit on it, and I was to call Apple for help.
I did this. I was told by a woman who only seemed to speak Portuguese that I had to take the coupon into an Apple retail store and they would issue a gift card. This had been part of the process all along, I was assured. Okay, I don’t remember reading that, but I can stop by there. No problem.
Now, at the University Village Apple store in Seattle, I talked to Amy (and some guy who’s name escapes me) about my problem. Amy was very helpful, and the manager guy told her to put my name, phone number, and other info into an email and send it to someone at the mother ship. She told me that they would contact me (through email, I presume?) about my rebate within a few days. I knew, at that moment, that I would never ever see my 100 dollars.
That was 3 weeks ago. I have heard nothing at all. Another call to Apple got me a “go to the retail store” suggestion.
Thanks Apple! Maybe you can just take 100 bucks off my next Mac or something. Because you kinda screwed me on this deal.
-c
I don’t know… Sometimes I miss the old days.
Boohoo! It’s great that the Apple Stores are busy IMO. The more the better, because that means more software will eventually come to all users.
From MacNN:
“Some 40 new Apple retail stores will open in 2008, a company executive says. Speaking at a press event for the 14th Street store in New York City, senior retail VP Ron Johnson has said that Apple will expand with an international focus in the new year. The first Brazilian store is in fact opening this month in the Shopping Iguatemi mall in Sao Paulo, and the city will get a second store within 2008, located inside Shopping Marketplace. Apple is meanwhile rumored to be negotiating for space in the Torre Mayor office complex in Mexico City, a structure that includes 33,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
Three new stores are planned for the United Kingdom: one is in the Westfield London mall, opening late next year, while another is set for London’s Convent Garden area. The last will be founded in a northern city, but which one it might be has not been leaked or announced.
Apple already operates some 204 stores worldwide, though the vast majority of these are in the United States. Internationally, there are 13 in the UK, seven in Japan, four in Canada and just one in Italy.”
Yeah, when i’m looking for an intimate, cozy day out, the first place I head for is the super-mega-mall on a holiday shopping weekend.
Sounds as if he is pining for segregation.
My mother told me that in a recent trip one morning to Northpark in Dallas, she noticed a store that was packed, and saw that it was the Apple store. She was going to stop at it on the way back just to look, but it was even more crowded. She said it was the only store in the entire mall with that much business that early in the day.
Harvey
I haven’t been to Reston since I moved from there in Nov of ’89, but when I heard Apple was building stores, I figured they would get one soon. I can’t believe they still don’t. Beautiful place.
great job at insulting the 15,000 students who go to csu chico. mdn = snob
To Harvey:
From ifoapplestore.com:
Fair Oaks Mall – Fairfax, VA – An enclosed mall with 1.5 million s.f. leasable space at the intersection of I-66 and Rte. 50 with 180 shops and restaurants, including Hecht’s, Sears and Macy’s. Has one of the highest average household incomes for Apple store territories. It will be the 9th store in the D.C. region. Appeared as a job location on Jan. 19, 2006. Set for 2007 grand opening.
I Fo Apple dot com?
I’m all fo that….
Hey MDN, lighten up! This is what the victory you’ve been forseeing looks and feels like.
Ooops. Macs are going mainstream. If you wanna be a rebel… Linux?
Will we love our macs less when they have a 25% share? (which might mean a >50% consumer share). We will feel less special… those of us who were “mac when mac wasn’t cool” (of course unlike country it was always cool).
In fact this surge in demand is a real challenge for Apple. The kind of challenge every business dreams lives for: overwhelming retail crowds at FULL PRICE.
One of the many drivers of Apple’s growth is this question: Just how many stores can they profitably open? What about Europe and Asia (which have almost none)?
Meanwhile, technologically, with handheld devices, Mr. Jobs is going to use his iPod momentum to sell handheld OSX devices and FLANK MS.
This story is simply describing stores that are BUSY. This is victory, MDN. Just crack open a brew and… savor it. =)
@Spark.
Sorry. Scrolled thru too quickly.
You know there are no checkout lines at the Apple Store, yes? If you need to buy a bloody Shuffle, just find one of the employees who’s standing around and tell them. Any one of them can scan your credit card on their little gizmo. What could be simpler? So what if the store is crowded?
This author sounds like a Fake Apple Fan who wants to make us all sound like a$$holes. As more and more people become Apple folks, idiots like this offend more and more people with their retarded generalizations.
WTF? and what’s the point?
@ChrissyOne
Whoa, slow down and have a decaf. I ordered an item from the Apple store on line and was unable to enter my rebate number at check out so I called customer service and they entered the credit for me. No Problemo
Try it again. If at first you don’t succeed……..!
Gee, I wonder how many retailers in the country wish they had the problems that Apple Stores do. Sheesh.
Where does the right-leaning Post get these goobers? I suppose the same place they get Charles “let’s bomb ’em all” Krauthammer, David “lying about Iran intelligence is a non-story” Ignatius, Richard “the war-supportin’ Liberal” Cohen, and Fred “I never met a Bushie I didn’t like” Hiatt.
The Post has become a parody of itself, with the exception of cartoonist Tom Toles and columnist EJ Dionne.
Oh, and it ain’t just tech they can’t cover–the Post’s latest ‘hot story’ is about Hillary Clinton’s pant suits, I kid you not.
….suck until you do suck seed? No?
I totally get what the author is saying… every time I go into an Apple store now, its crowded… even at 10 am on Tuesday here in Atlanta. And service is suffering because of it… I typically have to wait 15 – 30 mins to buy anything at the Apple Store in Lenox mall.
It great to see the tide is turning where so many new people have an appreciation for macs… but some with each passing year of record breaking sales… macs are becoming less special.
BMW & Mercedes were are able to keep their cult appeal once they went mass market with 3 series and C-Classes selling at almost Honda Accord like numbers… lets hope Apple is able to do the same with Macs.
I love going the the Apple Store when it’s busy. The employees are attentive without acting like “sales” people. But I love it even more that when I buy something when it’s busy; I can still leave the store in about two minutes by walking up to any of the “Mac Specialists” (or whatever they are called now) carrying the handheld “checkout” machine.
I tried to buy something at CompUSA a few days ago. The store was somewhat busy, and there were plenty of employees milling about, but there was exactly ONE guy running the checkout register (there were four other closed checkout registers). I was waiting there for about 20 minutes thinking, I’m NOT very surprised CompUSA is being bought out and closed up.