Apple Opens First Canadian Store in Toronto

ElectroBot writes "I received a email today with an invitation to the Grand Opening of the first Apple Store in Canada. The Store is opening on May 21st at 9:30am at the Yorkdale Shopping Center in Toronto. There's also a contest for a Digital Lifestyle Collection valued at $2,985. On top of that the first 1,500 people to arrive at the opening will receive a free Apple T-shirt."

Comments

More than a store

[amichalo]

Okay, so Apple opening a retail store, even in a country that didn't have one before, it not news to get too excited about.

But it does give us an opportunity to discuss Apple's retail stores and how that are more than just "stores". AppleInsider has a nice piece on the Apple retail stores and it gives insight into how Apple is once again following their "Think Different" mantra. (It also tells us how Apple has over 100 retail stores, plans to open 20 more this year and is opening stores at a rate of one every 10 days.)

For instance, Apple stores feature "Genius Bars" that allow anyone to walk up (or make an appointment) and get technical help with their Mac concern. They can even send a computer out for repair on the spot.

Genius Bars don't float your boat (sure, even Best Buy has a computer service window, though "Genius" may be too strong a title for the staff), then try the instore theaters that host free and for-a-fee software demos and tutorials to help users get the most out of appe like iLife, or delve into Pro products. They also host third party software demos.

This really is the first time that someone can go to a store, buy a computer, and then sit down and learn how the heck to use it. HomeDepot has been doing this sort of thing with weekend project classes with good success and it is nice to see the practice making its way to the IT sector where so many people (who don't know what /. is) feel so very intimidated by technology.

Re:More than a store

[Golias]

But it does give us an opportunity to discuss Apple's retail stores and how that are more than just "stores"... [insert all kinds of stuff which small PC stored used to do before the massive chains pushed them out of the market...]

It's not that Apple Stores are "more than" stores. It's that most computer warehouses are less.

Try this sometime: Walk in to a CompUSA, Best Buy, Fry's, Microcenter, whatever... Ask a question about a relatively new technology to which you already know the answer. Assuming you get anybody to tell you anything about it, you will be stunned at the kind of misinformation which that kid in the snappy uniform vest will sling at you while pretending to know what he's talking about. Feign ignorance... let him keep talking and see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Sometimes it's really astonishing.

Now consider that every one of your most clueless relatives who come in and ask for advice about which printer to buy, the differences between digital cameras, the various speeds of USB, etc., are all getting "advice" from these shockingly ignorant boobs.

No wonder they call you at 11:30 at night needing your help to get a scanner driver to work with their version of Windows. When they try to learn things themselves, from people who sell this crap for a living and therefore must know something about it, they get guided into a labyrinth of bogosity which they are unlikely to ever find their way out of.

The problem is that PC's have reached the razor-thin price margins of consumer electronics, but not the simplicity. Your grandpa can eventually figure out a VCR or a microwave, but when it comes to the computer, he needs help. That's why those absurd "learn how to use a computer" CD's which you keep seeing infomercials for haven't gone away yet.

This is a place where Apple has two advantages:

1. It's slightly easier for a n00b to learn (although that gap has closed slightly... and the number of people who lack computer literacy is slowly declining).

2. The margins are fat enough that they don't mind spending a few bucks giving free training and troubleshooting advice in fancy shopping-mall stores.

Re:More than a store

[amichalo]

It's not that Apple Stores are "more than" stores. It's that most computer warehouses are less.

I disagree with this statement.

The expectation I have of a store is that I can see the products for sale, touch them, examine them (perhaps I cannot use them such as at a food store, but as the price increases, I can, like at a car dealership). I expect to be able to ask questions about the product itself, "how many 'foo' does this have?" "what does 'bar' mean?" I lastly expect to be able to purchase the item or atleast place an order for one.

Apple takes it way further. The Genius Bar allows me to ask detailed technical questions and even fix my technical solution. The studios allow me to get training on software. This is a way new concept for most stores but it is catching on. A home decore store won't teach you how to decorate your house, but some cooking suply stores have instructional kitchens where you can go and watch chefs cook.

The concept is very appealing because it turns the whole 'sales' aspect of the store into an information station, where I can also buy the products I just learned about.

The whole part about CompUSA sreading miss-information, and the part about the closing italic tag I agree with.

Its about the touchie feelies

[oh_the_humanity]

I think apple realizes the intrinsic value of touch and feel. Being able to walk in to a store, where not only is the beautiful hardware on display for you to grope and fondle, but the entire store aesthetically is designed with the same thought process. You're getting a total immersion into the apple philosophy. Its one thing to oogle at pictures on a website, and it's another to play with them IRL, and apple knows it.