The Apple Retail Store^[1] is a chain of retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc., dealing in computers and consumer electronics. The stores sell Macintosh personal computers, software, iPods, iPads, iPhones, third-party accessories, and other consumer electronics such as Apple TV. Many stores feature a Theatre for presentations and workshops and a Studio for training with Apple products; all stores offer a Genius Bar for technical support and repairs, as well as free workshops available to the public. Under the leadership of Ron Johnson, the former Senior Vice President of Retail Operations, the Apple Stores have been responsible for "[turning] the boring computer sales floor into a sleek playroom filled with gadgets".^[2] As of January 2012^[update], Apple has opened 363 stores worldwide.^[3]

Description[link]

Many stores are located inside shopping malls, but Apple has since built several stand-alone "flagship" stores in high-profile locations. Flagship stores have opened in Amsterdam, Palo Alto, Boston, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Osaka, London, Sydney, Perth, Montreal, Munich, Frankfurt, Zurich, Paris, Beijing, Glasgow, Honolulu, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. The largest Apple Store in the world is in New York, Grand Central Station.

Entrance to Apple's subterranean flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan^[4]

Each store is designed to suit the needs of the location and regulatory authorities. Apple has received numerous architectural awards for its store designs, particularly its midtown Manhattan location on Fifth Avenue,^[5][6] whose glass cube was designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.^[7]

Several Apple Stores feature glass staircases,^[8] which for multi-level stores was originally intended to attract customers to visit the upper floors, and some even feature a glass bridge. The New York Times wrote that these features were part of then-CEO Steve Jobs' extensive attention to detail. The first glass staircase received a design patent in 2002 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office with Jobs' name first, followed by several others,^[9][10] while the staircase design itself received a design patent, and the complex glass and hardware system received a separate technical patent.^[11] Apple worked with architect Bohlin Cywinski Jackson and engineer Eckersley O’Callaghan Structural Design in designing the staircase.^[12][13]

The Apple Store in Regent Street, London, was the first to open in Europe in November 2004, and is the most profitable shop in London with the highest sales per square foot, taking £60,000,000 pa, or £2,000 per square foot.^[14] The Regent Street store was surpassed in size by the nearby Apple Store in Covent Garden, which was surpassed in size by the Grand Central Station Store in December 2011. Ron Johnson, Senior Vice President of Retail Operations until November 1, 2011, was responsible for site selection, in-store service, and store layout, however he had had no control over the inventory in the stores. Instead, inventory is done company wide by then-COO and now CEO Tim Cook who has a background in supply-chain management.^[15][15]

History[link]

Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, returned as interim CEO in 1997. According to Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson, Jobs began a concerted campaign to help sales by improving the retail presentation of Macintosh computers. Even with new products launched under Job's watch like the iMac and the PowerBook G3 and an online store, Apple still relied heavily on big box computer and electronics stores for most of their sales. There, customers continued to deal with poorly trained and ill-maintained Mac sections which did not foster customer loyalty to Apple and nor did they help differentiate the Mac user-experience from Windows.^[16]

Jobs' first priority was ending almost every big box retailer's ties to Apple, except for CompUSA which retained its Apple contract by agreeing to adopt Apple's "store within a store" concept. This required that approximately 15% of each CompUSA store would be set aside for Mac hardware and software (including non-Apple products) and would play host to a part-time Apple salesperson. However the "store within a store" approach was not successful in part because the Apple section was in the lowest-traffic area of CompUSA stores. Jobs and his executives saw that they didn't have enough control over the presentation of Apple products so they decided on creating an Apple retail store.^[17][18][16]

In 1999, Jobs personally recruited Millard Drexler to serve on Apple's board of directors, Drexler was the CEO of Gap Inc. whose explosive growth had been attributed to retailing environments and marketing rather than its products or competitive prices. Drexler was one of the few directors who supported Jobs' retail stores initiative, the others on the board were skeptical as this would compete with their third party retailers, and also as Gateway, Inc. had struggled with its own stores. In 2000, Jobs hired Ron Johnson from Target, where he had been vice president of merchandising responsible for launching the Michael Graves line of consumer products that raised Target's image beyond that of just an upscale K-Mart. At Drexler's suggestion, Johnson then built a mock-up of an Apple store inside a warehouse near the company's headquarters in Cupertino.

On May 15, 2001, Jobs hosted a press event at Apple's first store at the Tysons Corner Center mall in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Jobs led a group of journalists from a hotel in Tysons Corner, Virginia, to Apple's first store in the second level of Tysons Corner Center for a commemorative press event.^[19] The first two Apple Stores opened on May 19 in Tysons Corner and the same day in Glendale, California at Glendale Galleria.^[20] The first Apple Store with the current layout and hardware (wood tables and stone flooring) opened in Pasadena, California.

Expansion and changes[link]

Several publications and analysts predicted the failure of Apple Stores, based on sales made per square foot which was a standard metric in computer retail at the time. It was thought that because of the stores' diminutive size and non-aggressive sales team, Apple would succeed in presenting the Mac but fail in making a significant number of sales, despite the huge turnout for the Virginia store (7,700 in the first day purchases). However, Apple proved its critics wrong and by 2007 it ranked among the top retailers in the world. Apple opened its 200th store on October 26, 2007 in Gilbert, Arizona, 2,251 days after opening its Tysons Corner store.^[21] According to Fortune Magazine; "and not just the architecture. Saks, whose flagship store is down the street, generates sales of $362 per square foot a year. Best Buy stores turn $930 - tops for electronics retailers - while Tiffany & Co. takes in $2,666. Audrey Hepburn liked Tiffany's for breakfast, but at $4,032 per square foot, Apple is eating everyone's lunch".^[18]

Apple has since re-established ties with major big box retailers like Best Buy, as these chains have considerably more geographical reach than the existing network of Apple Stores. The relationship with Best Buy calls for the company to send Apple Solutions Consultants (ASCs) to train Best Buy employees to be familiar with Apple's product lineup and how Macs work.^[16][22]

Originally, Apple Stores contained a dedicated point of sale station. However, in 2006, Apple began introducing a new store layout and design with surgical-grade stainless steel walls and backlit signage. The new store design replaced the dedicated point of sale station with the handheld EasyPay system. A dedicated point of sale station still exists in most of these stores to facilitate transactions not paid for by credit card.^[23][24] The Regent Street store has more point of sale terminals than any other store. Only flagship stores and a few older locations have a dedicated point of sale; all other stores have a POS behind the Genius Bar. Apple has recently changed their EasyPay systems to operate on iPod Touch instead of the previous Windows-based system. The iPods feature a custom housing, the Infinite Peripherals Linēa-Pro barcode scanner and card reader, to allow the same transactions on the iPod.

On May 22, 2011, Apple replaced their acrylic displays that had information about the product with interactive iPad 2 displays, which add more information about the product like information about the specifications, comparisons and extended warranties.^[25] This transition from paper to intuitive touch displays was dubbed "Apple Store 2.0" by online blogs such as Engadget and Gizmodo.^[26]

The successful experience that Apple had with its retail stores has been applied to Disney stores, since Jobs was elected to that company's board of directors in 2006.^[27]

Genius Bar[link]

The Genius Bar at Apple Store Regent Street, London.

All Apple Stores feature a Genius Bar, where customers can receive technical advice or set up service and repair for their products. The Genius Bar provides software support for Mac OS X and hardware service on products that are not classified vintage or obsolete. However, in most cases the Geniuses will at least attempt to assist customers with older hardware.^[28] Originally, visitors to the Genius Bar were offered free Evian water. Apple dropped this amenity in February 2002.

To address increasing numbers of iPod customers at the Genius Bar, some new stores also feature an iPod Bar. First seen at the Ginza store in Tokyo, then at the New York locations, the iPod Bar has become a common feature at newly built stores.^[29]

Most new stores feature a station called The Studio, a Genius Bar-like setting where customers can meet with a "Creative" and receive help with projects ranging from organizing a photo album to music composition to film editing. Some of the older stores are being considered to carry a Studio in a future remodel, in some cases replacing the older theaters.

Store openings[link]

Store openings have become special events among avid Mac users.^{[citation needed]} Opening day attracts thousands of customers who line up early in the morning or even the night before.^{[citation needed]} Most openings are accompanied by giveaways of prizes such as t-shirts and "lucky bags" at flagship store openings.^[30][31]

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  A line at the opening of the first Apple Store, in Tysons Corner Center on May 19, 2001

• Apple Store Boylston Street Opening Day Crowd.jpg

  A massive crowd gathered on the sidewalk of Boylston Street, Boston, MA for the opening of the new store on May 15, 2008

• Boylston Street Opening Day T-Shirt.jpg

  A man holding up his commemorative T-shirt given out at the Boylston Street Apple Store opening day

• Apple Store Tokyo.jpg

  Apple Store in Ginza, Japan

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  The London Apple Store on Regent Street at its opening at 10am 20 November 2004.

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  Apple Store on Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Illinois

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  Apple Store in Downtown Montreal, Quebec

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  Apple Store in Westfield Doncaster, Victoria, Australia

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  Apple Store in Bath, UK

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  Apple Store in Churchill Square, Brighton and Hove, UK

• HK Apple Store Opened Exterior.JPG

  Apple Store in ifc mall, Hong Kong. It is the 100th Store outside the United States.