“Apple opened its first San Francisco store in February of 2004, and now, nine years later, it’s planning an overhaul — by moving to a new location,” John Paczkowski reports for AllThingsD.
“Apple recently submitted plans to San Francisco’s planning commission for a brand-new retail store at Stockton and Post on Union Square — home to many of the city’s luxury retailers,” Paczkowski reports. “The new building (currently a Levi’s flagship store, which is moving to Market Street this summer) will be 24,819 square feet, about 45 percent larger than Apple’s current store at Stockton and Ellis.”
Paczkowski reports, “Apple figures it will require about 400 employees to operate, 50 more than its predecessor. And, as you can see from the embedded images, the store will boast a fresh design — big, open floors and lots of glass (imagine a massive, translucent Mac mini).”
More info and images in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ellis D.” for the heads up.]
Finally…..
No store for downtown los angeles. We’re a dump.
The current problem with Apple Stores has nothing to do with glass or design or even location.
The problem is the people staffing them.
Originally the staff were mostly Mac Faithful — or at least people who were extremely familiar with Macs and other Apple products. I’d meet staffers who had been using Apple products from the 70s or 80s. They almost always new as much about Macs or other Apple products as I did — sometimes more.
Now when I go into an Apple Store about 70% of the time I have to correct the staff person with whom I’m talking. I’ve even asked for specific equipment and had the staffer go over to a shelf and hand the the *wrong* item. I won’t even get into the fact that he had no idea why one item would work and the other (the one he handed me) would not work.
While I fully understand that the days of the Mac Faithful staffs are long gone. Apple could — at the very least — require everyone in the store to have some advanced level of knowledge of what Apple’s products do and what is required to make them interoperable. I’m not saying every single employee must be Genius Bar material. But not knowing the minimal (high level) advantages/disadvantages of Thunderbolt versus USB 3.0 is just not cutting it.
From my personal experience at *several* different Apple Stores in a few different states, this knowledge decline started a little over two years ago. It may have started happening well before then, but I had not noticed until about 2 – 2.5 years ago.
These days I avoid the Apple Stores. Yes, I still go in to get certain items or to lay hands on the new toys before seriously considering buying something. However, the frequency with which I go to the Apple Stores is way, way down — and my Apple related purchase are down too. (Many, many fewer impulse buys.)
For Apple to reinvigorate the Apple Stores it must upgrade its staff. Upgrading the physical stores is absolutely not enough.
I agree. Sometimes, I ask a question I already know the answer to, just to see how knowledgeable the staff person is (who comes up to me to see if I have any questions). I generally know more and sometimes I get the wrong answer (instead of the proper “I don’t know, but let me find out for you.”)
Recently, I asked a question which I really did not know the answer to, which was – With the new 7th gen iPod nano, can I still use the Nike+ Bluetooth shoe sensor instead of the built-in accelerometer to track my running stats. NO ONE seemed to know the answer. (FYI – The answer is YES, you have the choice; you can pair the Nike+ shoe sensor with the nano’s built-in Bluetooth.)
I think the Apple Store sales staff are mostly very nice people, and a cut above typical retail store staff, but they are usually not “Apple fanatics” like in the “old days” (not so long ago).
No Apple Store for the good folks of Pyongyang North Korea?
I really don’t enjoy going in an Apple Store. Associates are “hipster” dirty fingernailed twits. And there’s way too many people to associates. I have to jockey to get what I want. Which, this whole experience is very disappointing in the fact that I really love the product and services (not the brick/motar store).
I really love Apple stores too, but they really need to improve their customer service.
How’s that samdung store working for ya?
Unlike the majority of negative comments here, troll alert, I have always found the employees extremely helpful and shopping experience second to none.
And if I remember correctly, Apple stores make more money per square foot than any retailer in the world.
You don’t achieve success with clueless “hipster” dirty fingernailed twits. Get real.
Some of the Apple Stores are better than others, and more of them are any fun when they are packed with customers. I mostly stay away from them during the holidays – just walking by occasionally to witness people excitedly buying stuff. Go Apple!
Some of the employees are definitely more knowledgeable than others, but most are more than adequate for the everyday issues. If they are answering customer questions wrong rather than consulting with the Genius Bar or researching with corporate, then Apple needs to teach them to ‘Think Different.’ If they do not already have one, Apple should implement a support hotline for Apple Store employees to get the right answers in a hurry.
…none of them are any fun…
Today at my local Apple Store I received superlative service (and without my asking. So I had to look up how to spell that word just so I could make the appropriate compliment! And no I don’t work for Apple and any stock I possess is way long.)
Just getting better and better this.