Apple readies new retail store design in Arizona
Apple has chosen Scottsdale, Ariz., to showcase its latest retail store designs. The new Apple store is opening Friday night and features some firsts for the company.
Pictures of the Scottsdale first appeared on The Loop late last night. With its cube-like structure, the store, which is set to open at 6 p.m. local time, is reminiscent of the company's in Manhattan. The difference is, in Scottsdale, the cube is the store, instead of just one of its architectural features.
When looking through the wall of windows on one side, you can see straight through to the other side of the store and out another wall of windows. If that wasn't enough to give you a feeling of space, the Scottsdale store also has a 75-foot long skylight.
While design is important to Apple, there are some enhancements to help customers in the new store, too. Like most stores, the new location will have a Genius Bar to assist customers--but this Genius Bar is 50-feet long.
With so much space, Apple will use some of it to train customers, offering free courses on its professional photography, music, and video editing applications.
In May, Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail, said the company was going to continue to renovate its retail locations through the recession. He said the company plans to remodel a total of 100 locations this year and continue to open new stores.
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. A guitar player for 20 years, Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to write and record songs on a Macintosh with Logic Pro and Pro Tools. Jim is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
And I hate to close the place at night even with the bar net cage closing the doors people watching you from the out side count cash and watching what customers pay with cash or charge. Not to mention the cost of cleaning supplies for all that glass cause you know people will be pressing up on it to see whats going on inside.
Creative I will give it but for security reasons I will have to say not well thought out, then again I have been wrong before but that's just what I think about it.
Also, they probably have a vault located in another area of the building.
How do I know this, you may ask?
Because I've seen it for myself at another location.
You can pay cash, you need to go the counter.
Otherwise, I order online from the Apple store website.
Better? Dream on troll. Define "better".
know because they sell so much more of it than the fine furniture store does. Why would I pay a fine furniture "tax" when I can get furniture made out of the same stuff (Wood, material, etc) from Walmart for so much less. And the fine furniture store is all controlling because the cushions are hand made and not removeable. With the Walmart furniture, I can put cushions on it that I got from Ross or have my great aunt Betty sew it. And I can put my cushions on my friends couch just fine. The fine furniture cushions only fit their own furniture! My friend has a couch from the fine furniture store. He says he never has to worry about stains. He is so snobby. I don't have to worry about stains on my Walmart couch either because I apply stain guard to it every day and I put my couch behind a layer of clear plastic. He thinks he doesn't need stain guard, but we all know his couch could get stains too. He has had his couch for like ten years with no stains, but I know it's just a matter of time. The fine furniture store should just close down and give the money back to the shareholders. I will stick with my Walmart furniture because they sell the most furniture for less.
1. Do you use a Macintosh?
2. Do you use that Macintosh on a regular basis, as your main computer?
3. Is that Macintosh a relatively modern one?
4. Have you used that modern Macintosh as a beginner or are you proficient (equal to or greater proficiency to your proficiency to that other operating system/environment)?
Unless you can answer a resounding yes to each of those questions, you (and anyone else posting here) is not qualified to make any value judgements about Macintoshes or Apple, Inc.
know because they sell so much more of it than the fine furniture store does."
Do you realize the complete lack of sense this makes? Quantity =/= quality. By your logic, McDonald's would be the best food in the world. By the way, feature for feature, the fine furniture costs no more than the cheap furniture you're buying.
"I don't have to worry about stains on my Walmart couch either because I apply stain guard to it every day and I put my couch behind a layer of clear plastic."
Really? You mean to say that you don't worry about stains but you still put your couch behind plastic and you use stain guard every day? Are you paranoid, then? I mean, what would you do if you did worry about stains?
"The fine furniture store should just close down and give the money back to the shareholders. I will stick with my Walmart furniture because they sell the most furniture for less."
This may be the weakest part of your argument. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but the fine furniture store is very profitable, even during the current economic downturn. Meanwhile, the furniture store you use has been laying off thousands of workers.
You stick to your cheap furniture and I'll use the furniture that gets the highest customer satisfaction reviews, the best industry reviews, and has the greatest resale value.
1. Yes
2. Yes
3. iBook G4
4. I am highly proficient. I ran a Mac consulting business for 10 years.
Sarcasm dudes! I love my Mac!
Good sense of humour.
Took it in the back, didn't try to charge the guy or anything, but I found it rude to even tell the customer how much it costs. It's not his fault Apple tells the stores to buy overpriced furniture. A walmart stool may have been just as durable!
That's a true story.
But I like my "overpriced" mac, even if my MBP is currently in the shop because of a logic board failure.
And yes, Bogus, your sarcasm was fine. It's not your fault the internet has become so dumbed down that if there are no emoticons after each sentence explaining your intention, people can't figure it out for themselves.
Is you analogy perfect? Nah, but it's fun!
Dunno, just looks cold and lifeless to me. Add some plants or something at least. Splash some colored fabric around, do something to make it look less like an airline terminal and more like someplace you *want* to visit.
The lack of a physical hardware button also ends up being a lack of a feature in many cases.
In store design, the 'out of the box' method has been tried and overall just doesn't work. People want that counter to walk up to. The Genius bar is nice, but I can't buy anything from there. If I walk into the store and pick up a set of headphones, having to search for someplace to pay for them may just make me figure it's not worth the effort and walk out again.
Sometimes the traditional store layout is successful for a reason.
Once again, why are you addressing me? I said nothing about the layout of the store. Take your soap box somewhere else. You've misquoted me. You've even attributed text to me that others have typed! I know you are infatuated with me, but the attention is getting really creepy, not to mention annoying.
Whoa, you need to take a chill pill and get over yourself a bit. Or at least deflate that ego some so there's room for the rest of the readers here at CNET. :)
Your quote:
"The lack of physical buttons eliminates a failure point. But I see how one would want a physical button or wheel for such a function. "
I didn't quote you before, but I did respond to this line. Then I went on to talk about store design and out of the box thinking. I'm sorry if you thought every word was meant for you and you alone. Perhaps in the future I should make sure it's clear when I am talking to you directly and when I am not. You're making assumptions that simply aren't there.
To kcotham: If you live only to be offended by life, then you will find life to be offending. Think about it.
To everyone else: The store desgin thoughts were meant for all, and not for kcotham's ego alone.
Talking about an ego, you arrogant son of a $#@!%. You've misquoted me in other posts, on other stories. You even attributed quotes to me that I never said, in those other stories. Go back to school and retake 'reading'. You've misinterpreted and misunderstood even the simplest of sentences. The next time you feel the need to address me or even reference me, don't.
I shall ignore you from here on out, unless you attack me, directly or even indirectly. I suggest you simply refrain from posting any comments whatsoever about any story involving Apple. You are incapable of doing it in a fair and balanced manner and without sarcasm.
...yeah, that'll be GREAT by this time next month when it's 120 degrees out.
Windows is.... A 32-bit extension to a 16-bit graphical interface, sitting on an 8-bit operating system, originally written for a 4-bit processor by a 2-bit company without ONE BIT of common sense
Oh, and now that you mention it, remember "Windows 95 = Macintosh 89". Same thing here genius, "Windows 7 = Mac OS 7".
Maybe hand out cereal in the morning.. I'm thnking Apple Jacks? :)
*sarcasm in case you can't recognize it
- by curtisbaby June 13, 2009 11:53 AM PDT
- Does anyone else wonder what it costs (in both cash and carbon) to cool a greenhouse in the desert? And I only use the word greenhouse as an example of the architecture, and by no means afford this Apple Store the environmentally "green" stamp. Way to go Apple. Though I believe "form over function" to be a highly debated non-argument (as the two are not always mutually exclusive), evidenced by Apples fine, if not pretty products. I still feel, however, that if they are to remain a cutting edge company in all aspects, they need to look into their environmental stewardship as well.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(56 Comments)I would be very interested to see what the actual cooling bills will be for this store as it is a giant greenhouse in the desert.