“Retail experts say the arrival of Apple – where takings are a remarkable £60 million a year – acted as a catalyst that allowed Regent Street to throw off its spinsterish image as Oxford Street’s tartan clad maiden aunt,” Prynn and Prigg report. “The glass-fronted 28,000 sq ft store opened on 20 November 2004 by Apple’s chief executive Steve Jobs, now generates sales of £2,000 sq ft, almost three times more than Harrods, making it London’s most profitable store.”
Prynn and Prigg report, “The ‘Apple effect’ has also had a dramatic impact on rents, which have risen around 25 percent since then compared with 0 to 10 percent in the West End as a whole.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake. – David Goldstein, Channel Marketing Corp. President, remarking on Apple’s launch of retail stores, May 21, 2001
[Attribution: MacNN. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]
I love the MDN Take.
Very nippy.
Any relations to Laura Goldstein?
Is Mr. Goldstein is amongst the employed?
We have all seen the MDN take before, has he ever been asked to comment on his comment recently, love to hear what he has to say now
It is interesting that not only has an Apple Store made an impact on businesses in the area, but so too as iTunes Store.
The now defunct Tower Records was located in Regent Street.
I wonder if anyone ever goes back and asks these people what they have to say now when reminded of their asinine quote?
Hotinplaya,
Great minds think alike.
Hotinplaya,
Great minds think alike.
“Hotinplaya”, and “Great minds” should never be used in the same sentence.
@jeff:
Zing! Yow.
When finally tracked down for comment, the first words out of Goldstein’s mouth were, “You want fries with that?”
CompUSA, Circut City, … kept pushing that cheep crap right up to the end.
The MDN take could easily be applied to the Microsoft store(s).
@Fred Mertz: Brilliant! ROFLMMFAO!
Apple has created a closed and growing eco environment. Apple created the OS, designed and controls the manufacturing of the computers and devices, sells them on line and in the stores they own and run, created and sells the software and media data used in them.
NO MIDDLE MAN … MAXIMUM PROFITS AND CONTROL!
I recall hearing that the Apple Stores were part of the Marketing budget, that they really were not expected to earn large sums on their own (nothing like $3,000/sq ft) so much as give all those PCs out there a chance to see just what it is they have been missing.
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This was in a time when PC stores were starting to fold. Much like the iTunes Music Store. And were not the sales of both, initially, rather tepid? Though on the green side of the balance? As word got out, though, the markets for each grew, as did the content. Today? Everybody is at least thinking about copying them.
And AAPL is 10X what it was.
Why MDN, instead of providing quotes from the misguided, like Mr. Goldstein, don’t you get quotes from them about their original stupid statements? “Hello Mr. Goldstein, this is MacDaily News. Back in May, 2001 you made the following statement about the Apple retail stores: “I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake”. Would you please provide us with a statement about your views today?” I’d be far more interested in their back tracking or hang-ups or “I don’t care to comment” comments. People are allowed to make these kind of statements and their feet are never held to the fire later. I think that would make far interesting reading.
MDN does not report.
MDN is an aggregator with an attitude.
That is why it works and what makes it unique.
Apple should get a discounted rent for being an anchor store.
“I give them two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake. – David Goldstein, Channel Marketing Corp. President, remarking on Apple’s launch of retail stores, May 21, 2001”
Too bad the MDN archives don’t go back that far. It would be interesting to read the comments on his article.
The headlines should read “CRAPple a bigger rip-off than Harrods”. I wonder is this yield the highest of any CRAPple store? Checkout the UK online store with a currency converter beside you and you’ll see what I mean.
http://www.bing.com When it comes to decisions that matter, Bing & Decide