City
Do We Need Another Apple Retail Mall Store?
Apple is opening another one of their retail stores in a Toronto mall this morning, branching north and east this time to Fairview Mall.
While hitting the malls again is probably a good move to further their brand, Toronto is still far behind other cities like New York, London and Tokyo which all have their own flagship store. Perhaps Toronto isn't enough of a world-class city in Apple's eyes to have opened a shop at Yonge and Bloor.
It appears that Apple is dragging their feet with the creation of Toronto's own flagship store. According to this map of future stores, Toronto will finally have one at 1 Bloor East by 2011. Don't hold your breath.
For the Mac faithful, an Apple store opening is a big event. Personally, I'd rather be entertained by Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld in a shoe store.
Many die-hard Apple fans line up hours before each store opening. Apple is known to give out free t-shirts to the first 1000 or so customers through the door. If you drink the Kool-Aid, you'll believe the hype and make a day's event out of it. Chances are, there's already throngs of Apple fanboys camped out there overnight.
While not quite like lining up for a film at the Toronto International Film Festival, it has its similarities. You get to hang out with like-minded folks, be they fans of a particular movie director, actor or (in this case) operating system.
The Fairview Mall store will be the fourth Toronto-area Apple store after Yorkdale Mall, Eaton Centre and Sherway Gardens.
Since Fairview Mall is situated at Don Mills subway station at the end of the Sheppard subway line, perhaps this will bring more commuters to the underused line. Or maybe it will lower some of the traffic at Apple's Yorkdale or Eaton Centre locations.
There's really not many independent Apple Authorized Resellers in the north-eastern stretch of the former North York. According to Apple's Reseller Locater, there aren't any within 500 km of Toronto. WTF?
The new Fairview Mall Apple store will likely only draw more computer shoppers away from the poorly maintained Apple displays at Best Buy and Future Shop stores anyway.
Sure, Apple retail stores have their Genius Bar, One To One personal training and group workshops, but the lineups and service wait times -- not to mention annoying mall rats -- are something I'd rather do without.
Personally, I'd rather support the smaller, local Apple Authorized Service Provider. While they can't compete with the fancy displays and generally larger Apple inventory, they can more than make up for it with quicker turnaround in the service department. When your hard drive dies and you're told it can be fixed in five business days (unless you purchase their $100-a-year priority treatment plan) you're more likely to go elsewhere when your MacBook becomes your life you can't live without.
Incidentally, Apple is also opening its first store in Calgary, Alberta this morning at Market Mall, bringing them up to nine stores in Canada. At least we've got Japan beat there. By comparison, the UK just opened its 19th store.
What's your experience like at an Apple Retail Store compared to independent Apple authorized dealers in Toronto like Carbon Computing, Computer Systems Centre or BeamEcho (formerly CPUsed).
Do you think having another Apple store in this part of the city is good for Apple users and good for Apple retailers? Are you eager for Toronto to have its own Apple flagship store like the beautiful one on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan?
Or would you rather be a PC?
Photos of the Fifth Avenue Apple flagship store in New York City by Roger Cullman.
Discussion
31 Comments
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That high-pitched whine is what keeps it from being a world-class city. I wish people would stop using that f'ing phrase. It's so pathetic.
Well, that's great, because you're the ONLY person to be entertained by those mind-numbingly bad ads. (Well, probably you and Seinfeld, since he got paid $10 million to appear in them.)
I hate going into the Apple retail stores, as they're always packed with sticky-fingered mall rats, it's way too noisy, and most of the floor people don't know jack. Alternately, I don't like Carbon Computing either, as I found the sales people to be unfriendly and unwilling to help.
I prefer to just order everything online from Apple - quick and free shipping.
I don't think any Canadian stores have been created with this purpose - even the Eaton's centre store (which has been shrunken and expanded with the shopping seasons, if you've noticed) is purely for consumer purposes. Yes Mac stores tend to look expensive and shiny, but none of our local outlets can compare to the Mac flagships.
Should they decide t build a flashy flagship in TO, I hope they plunk it on Bloor West with all the other fancy expensive turn-off stores.
What Toronto does have is a massive retail space devoted to both Windows and Linux computing thanks to our large multi-ethnic community. I think this is a better thing to have and is more aligned with my Toronto than a fancy retail boutique.
... and what Jon-O said.
But I agree that there is a bit too much hype around the brand - I own a Mac mainly because of my work (design field) but buying PC is a completely viable and cheaper option. To judge others on whether they own a Mac or not is ridiculous, as is the suggestion that a city isn't "world class" because we don't have a flagship computer store.
And if anyone had done reasearch into why there's not an apple store in the yorkville area, you would find out apple has been aggressively seeking out retail space there since they first entered Canada. The fact is, bloor street has very little retail space available, and even less space considering apple has an appetite for distinguished architecture. It makes complete sense for them to wait it out, and be part of one of the tallest and most iconic towers at the busiest intersection in the city.
We're one of the biggest cities in the world. Shouldn't we be up there with New York, London and Tokyo? That Apple hasn't recognized this yet and given us a flagship store makes me wonder how they perceive our stature. Sure, it's just a retail store in the end, but c'mon, relegating us to shopping malls seems like an insult. :)
Apple is no longer a computer company. They've changed their name to Apple Inc. and continue to dominate the portable music player segment. They don't position their products as premium products, just quality products. An iMac was never touted as a specialty or luxury item. This is why they want to be in shopping malls everywhere. To lure the everyday user.
I've been an unabashed Apple fan since the 1970s, and I'm delighted they've opened another Apple store in Toronto. I hated the service I used to get from their resellers and service providers, and go to their Eaton Centre store whenever I can. No more waiting fifteen minutes for a salesperson to notice me or have time to talke to me, no more "We won't look at it unless we sold it to you", "If you want us to look at it today, it's going to cost you an arm and a leg", or "All we know how to do is swap parts, which we have to order from Apple because we don't keep them on hand, so it'll take you longer than if you dealt directly with Apple". Instead, a greeter pounces on me right away, reminds me how the tech support booking system works, I get to talk directly to someone who knows what they're doing instead of their manager, and every problem I've had has been fixed on the spot. My favourite was "You're right, your iPod Touch doesn't work, have a new one."
Incidentally, I've had on two occasions, the same story from Apple Retail Stores with regard to having to order parts. One when my hard drive failed and the next time when my optical drive failed. Both times, I was asked to fork over another $100 for their premium service to get my Mac fixed quicker.
Granted, the level of customer service varies from store to store (even within Apple Retail Stores) so YMMV.
Apple runs a pretty smooth operation in their mall stores. I just wish I didn't have to go into a mall to go into an Apple store in Toronto.
That is what happens when you become a very large city.
Does Apple need a flagship store in Toronto? Yes and No. It will take business away from the other 4 stores. On the other hand it would be a good idea. Considering how many people visit the stores, it would be in Apple's best interest. Although, most of the packed Apple stores have window shoppers... No one really buys... They just play with the demos... Wasting people's time.
I have a Sin - I bought an iMac.
The story you some of you are familiar with.
About a month ago we went to a local store and were told that Refurbished Macs are available for a cheaper price and will have all benefits new machines have....and they were right, it was cheaper and had what new Macs had - yellow tinge.
So, a week later first machine arrived. I picked it up from FedEx and brought it home. There was several stuck pixels and the yellow tinge. I grabbed the box and rushed to a local store where I was asked to contact Apple customer support, since this unit was purchased online. I spend 1.5 hour on the phone explaining my problem and was told that there were LCD anomalies, which were normal for this kind of displays. The store was closing and I had to call Customer Support the next day and spent another hour before they agreed to replace my iMac.
So we packed everything, and I brought it to UPS.
In a few days new machine arrived (picked up 12 kg box from FedEx) and it had yellow spots on the bottom of the screen. I phoned Apple again and they agreed to replaced it once again. We packed it and shipped through UPS.
Few days later the 3rd machine arrived - was picked up from FedEx and again, the display had the same problem as the previous one.
I phoned Apple again, spend another hour on the phone and a customer relation agent was assigned to me with known phone extension, etc.
She suggested me to go with a LCD panel replacement. I was concerned that new machine with replaced screen sounded suspicious, but was assured that since it was my third computer, refund would be provided if there were problems. OK! We ordered the part and in a few days my local store representative called and asked to bring iMac for a repair.
Few days later they called and asked me to pick it up. That's what I did, and guess what??? The tinge is still there - now its covering 1/5 of the screen on the left. OK! I phoned Apple Agent, who has been working with me and she asked me to send a picture. One hour later she called me and told that she spoke with engineers and they said that this yellow tinge is within the specs and the known issues with yellow screens are about the whole screen being yellow, not a part of it. WHAT!? Supervisor on the phone. He is saying the same thing, that technical department looked at my pictures and are positive that this is within specs and he maybe, may be able to schedule me for another screen replacement. I said: I want a refund, I want my money back - he says: I can't give you that. - Why? - Because it's been repaired already. - But, I specifically asked if that could be a problem in a future, if I would want a refund. - Well, I don't know much about it, what I can do is look at your situation and call you back this afternoon or evening...
That was 6 hours ago. (3PM EST)
P.S.
On the website, all iMacs presented do not have any yellow spot. It doesn't say anywhere that products may be different from what you see. Product should comply with a certificate issued under their company act and I really don't think, that it says that yellow pee-spots may present.
Here are my corners. Hit me if I'm wrong.
http://att.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=219132&;d=1269309622