Alasdair Visits Glasgow's New Apple Store★
So I visited the new Apple Store on Buchanan Street in Glasgow this morning.
And that nicely summarises all I can say about the experience
I mean, it's a nice enough place and the staff, from what contact I had with them, seem to be pretty knowledgeable and friendly, which is more than you can say for a lot of places, computer stores in particular.
There were, unsurprisingly, a great many Macs scattered around, including various laptops and the newest iteration of the iMac (complete with new keyboards, but I'll get to that in a moment), all running various pieces of software that you could walk up to and play with. At a few places, staff were demonstrating OS X to users and there was one section, with curiously spherical “chairs”, running children's software. Well, they weren't really running it but the 4 iMacs did have a really nice looking rotating display of the boxart for about 5 different games. Which is nice, I guess.
The interior of the shop has been much talked about in reports, including that standard Apple minimalism combined with some flashy combinations of metal and glass, contrasted with the much older exterior of the building. The whole design wouldn't have looked out of place in, or as, a modern art gallery.
This, I think, is the problem. With all the emphasis on demonstrating stuff and looking cool, the Apple Store, at least here, has forgotten that a “store” is somewhere people go to buy things.
That glass spiral staircase looks really cool, but I'd appreciate some kind of sign indicating what items could be found on the upper level it leads to. Actually, I'd appreciate some signs anywhere, of anything. Something next to the product to tell me what I was looking at. The headphones all neatly lined up next to the different models of iPod tell me that they produce noise of some sort but should I want to know how much of that noise they can store or for how many hours they can play it back to me, I'm in the dark.
The same seems to go for everything else: MacBooks, iMacs, Mac Minis, (there wasn't a Mac Pro in sight, presumably because they're for the professional market) all were laid out, widely spaced, on big white tables with nary a label in site. Even outside, the only indication of the store is a large white Apple logo hung over the door.
Upstairs, software and cables were hooked to the wall roughly according to what they did, but again, nothing to indicate what this was. I was looking for one of the new keyboards and eventually found it, tucked in at the back of a shelf, though it wasn't the wireless model that I wanted*, beneath the more prominent old-style keyboards and amongst some AV cables.
Should I have decided to buy it anyway, there's no way of knowing how. It looks like the checkout is located on the ground floor, stuck under the stairs as an afterthought. As an aside, I have no idea how you would go about purchasing one of the computers. Presumably it involves grabbing a member of staff and discussing it with them.
Now, I've never been in any other Apple Stores so I can't judge anything but the Buchanan Street branch. What I will say about that, is that there's room for improvement, without a doubt. Personally, I'd start by labelling things but going further, I'd suggest putting things closer together. This seems like a very minor nitpick but as it is, the computers are very widely spaced, especially along the back wall of the ground floor, and it just looks very barren and dull. Nobody's going to complain if they can't straighten out their arms and spin around while testing the iMac, guys.
Next, separating out the shop and demo sections would be useful. I don't appreciate having to squeeze past the guy learning how to use a Mighty Mouse just so that I can grab a copy of The Sims 2 off the rack. But that's what I have to do as things are laid out now. In fact, the design of the shop even lends itself very easily to physically separating the two – move the accessories downstairs and let people do more extensive trials up above.
“More extensive trials” would also be useful. The whole place seems to be geared towards acquiring new users and showing them the wonders of OS X, which is all well and good, but what if I want to just sit down and try something out? I don't want to purchase the new keyboard without at least trying it for ten minutes. I've read much about the iLife '08 and the chance to try it out would have been great.
All this can hypothetically be done on the demo machines right now, but anyone who's ever tried just leaning over a desk and typing for more than two minutes will know how much of a pain this quickly becomes, figuratively and literally.
So, in the end, what do I think of it? Well, it's an interesting enough place to poke my head into for five minutes and I suppose it may well be useful to first time Mac buyers and those looking for tech support. I may use it some day if I happen to be walking past and remember that I need a cable, or if I find myself faced with a problem that can't be solved by applying Google and a Dummies book.
But until it tidies up a bit and becomes more practical for existing Apple users, I reckon that I'll stick to buying my tech gear, Apple and otherwise, online.
*while this might be an issue with supplies to the store, the Apple website is giving delivery times as 4-6 weeks so I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt and assuming that it's a company-wide shortage due to demand.
(MacNN has a brief article regarding this, but they have plenty of photos which may give you some idea of what I was talking
Labels: alasdair, apple store, glasgow
★ 3 Comments. | By Alasdair Corbett, Monday, August 27, 2007 6:24 PM | Links to this post
Gee Alasdair, your description of the Apple store makes me worry. It's evident they need to shape up a little.
I visited no end of Apple stores in Singapore while I was there on holiday, they were well spaced out, well designed and most importantly, clearly and simply sign posted. It was as if the stores all placed a big emphasis on that Apple design simplicity, and user friendliness.
I think you and I might have to take a trip down to Glasgow so I can get the lowdown and see it for myself, and so that we can take a few pics for our readers.
Who knows, maybe they just had the signs down that day ? We'll give them the benefit of the doubt shall we, and re-visit the store soon to arrive at a final verdict.
I also want to pick up one of those keyboards...
By: Skippy
G3 Creative Scotland
Al,
We visited the Apple shop and loved it. The chaps are far more friendlier and really know what they are talking about. A little like John Lewiss in that you have to register for a chat but apart from that - loved it.
We have had dealings in the past with another shop in the west end of Glasgow which sells Apple and they could not be any more unhelpful.
Davie Mac
G3 Creative
By:
Well I'll tell you what...
I just got back from a short trip to paris (I know, I really should have posted about it)... and while there I visited 2 Apple Retail outlets and one Apple Store (At least I think it was, because after all: my French isn't the best in the world).
They all were very similar experiences to the stores I visited in Singapore and Australia, expect a little more french. Well, a lot more french, and full of dangerously tricky AZERTY keyboards.
So either you got in on a bad day to the Glasgow Store Alasdair, or they've just plain slipped up. We'll have to settle the matter for any of our undecided readers by obtaining some photos of the store and posting them.
So just like the guys from G3 Creative Scotland (thanks guys), if you have an experience to share about an Apple Store, come on up and comment about it.
:D
Skip.
By: Skippy
