“Apple will be opening new store-within-a-store locations in select Target locations later this year, enabling the company to expand its retail reach into smaller metro areas,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider.
“According to a source familiar with Apple’s plans, the company plans to begin operating Apple-branded areas within 25 larger Target stores in locations which can’t support a standalone Apple Store,” Dilger reports. “The initial opening would be a small start, given that Target, the second-largest discount retail chain in the US, operates 1752 stores in the US. Apple has opened 359 of its own retail stores globally, 245 of which are in the US.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
If anyone is going to have a store in store, it’s likely to be Starbucks inside of Apple. That’s my take
Like Russian dolls? Starbucks within Apple within Target?
…and the Genius Bar would have Baristas that take your order.
I can see the Samsung commercial now… 😉
It’s just crazy enough to work.
I hope that the Target SWAS approach works a lot better than the CompUSA version, which sucked. The Apple Stores combine easy access to the latest Apple products with helpful and friendly employees who have at least some understanding of the products they are selling. And one other little thing – the computers and iPads and iPhones and iPods on the tables are actually functioning.
CompUSA’s Apple SWAS had none of these things. I used to reset the Apple computers every time I visited CompUSA because they were screwed up in some way – bizarre control panel settings, etc. Let’s hope that the Target SWAS approach is fully supported by both companies.
Well, everything at CompUSA sucked though. The SWAS (really more just an “Apple section”) inside the Best Buy stores I’ve been in have been pretty well done and maintained, so I’d expect the same, if not better, at Target. I think this is a good move.
Why not inside JC Penny?
my thoughts exactly
Me too.
Because there’s no such store. It’s JC Penney.
Not to mention, inside JC Penney sounds a lot less inappropriate.
Will they replace my frayed power cord for free like the Apple Store?
bad idea
check out Best Buy’s Apple store-in-store operation
bad idea
bad idea Apple
I don’t think Steve would like this at all
cache is worth something and is getting harder to find
Certainly it’s hard to find, that’s the definition of “cache”.
cache – noun – a collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place
I think the word you couldn’t find is “cachet”.
cachet – noun – the state of being respected or admired; prestige
wtf?
“cache” is the correct spelling but it has an accent on the e that is not easy to type without me looking up a bunch of codes
its a french word
look that up buddy
and why not comment on something important?
take it that you much love Best Buy’s Apple department – well you’re the only one
I think it’s a bad idea. On the one hand you increase the number of ‘touch points’ you have with the public in which you expose your wares for sale but on the other you dilute your brand equity by not controlling the end to end customer experience and store ambience.
When people come to associate Apple with a downmarket image that will ultimately hurt its brand perception as the BMW of computing devices, one that gives customers a unique experience not found anywhere else by a combination of wonderful easy to use software and cutting edge hardware. It’s a combination that’s hard to beat but the buying experience adds to the aura of exclusivity. You don’t want to water that down by making your products too available. It goes against the grain but Apple is not seen to serve the mass market. Its cachet is exclusivity and high end computing.
Agree. Don’t like this idea at all.
BLN misses the point. Again.
Apple is already selling some products in Target. This rumored plan is to UPGRADE the Apple sales experience.
PS. Apple is also selling some products in WalMart. Now that’s downscale, but it’s also where the customers are.
Selling iPods where the level of assistance required to explain a product is on a different level of expertise required to sell a Mac dilutes the Apple experience for a new buyer. That was my point in case you’re deficient in English.
I think it will entirely depend on the sales staff, how they keep the displays and demos, if they are experienced with the computers.
I recall when Sear carried Apple computers several years ago. While it was nice to see some Macs actually on display somewhere, the salesmen were absolutely clueless. It was no surprise when Apple disappeared from there.
I’d imagine that the Target SWAS will be manned by Apple Solutions Consultants ( http://solutionprofessionals.apple.com/asc/ ), like the Best Buy ones. They should have as much of a clue as the average Apple Store employee (which I admit, at times is not that much).
I remember when the Performas were in Sears as well, and you’re right, the people there had no idea what they were supposed to be selling.
I’m going to second that as a bad idea.
You may think it is a bad idea but look at how the iPod took off once the distribution network increased. Every electronic outlet sold them and it helped provide easy access for purchasing. Apple could not have controlled that market without that.
The same for the iPhone. Plenty of people buy from their phone stores. The more distribution site (i.e. carriers) the better.
Macs can work that way too. Granted they will need to have dedicated assistants to drive customers towards Mac but it will be a good thing.
I live in northern California about 15 miles from Cupertino. The nearest apple stores are about 10 miles to the south in Santa Clara and the same distance over a bridge to Palo Alto.
We have 2 targets within 6 miles and all in the normal shopping area. Imagine all the potential customers who never go to those malls that could end up buying a Mac, iPhone, iPad or iPod if there is a small store in those Target stores. The uptake from impulse buying could be huge.
I agree. Target already sells mobile devices for Apple. The halo effect is real, so exploit that here by offering iMacs too. If it worked at Best Buy, it should work better at Target.
I wonder if this ‘store within a store’ will be located near the TV’s area of Target? Do they have a TV section? Their website has three pages of TV’s though…
Yes they have a TV section, or more correctly, TVs in the electronics section.
I can’t determine if you do all your shopping at Nieman-Marcus or Dollar Tree.
pretty rude, not everyone can shop in or has ever heard of Nieman-Marcus and acting like Dollar Tree is crap is pretty rude – check yourself before you…
how about some decent comment from you today that advances the discourse? or do you just want to annoy people?
This sucks! Here in my town I was soooo hoping for a complete Apple Store to go into a new retail development that is currently under construction. That same development just opened a large new modern Target store. While I like this Target store I want our own Apple Store, and I fear that Apple is going to shaft us and decide to put a dinky Apple SWAS inside the Target instead. In the same 1/2 mile radius, we already have a Best Buy that has an Apple section, and a Fry’s that has an Apple section, and I doubt the Target SWAS will be any better stocked or better employed. I want a REAL Apple Store with REAL Apple employees (not Target, Best Buy or Fry’s retards) using REAL iPod Touch handhelds and a REAL Genius Bar.
Given their tendency to follow Apple’s retail approach, how long before MS announces store-within-a-store locations in “select” Dollar Tree outlets?