
Apple Shifts from Genius Bars to Genius Groves, Hoping Patrons Linger - uladzislau
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/20/technology/apple-shifts-from-genius-bars-to-genius-groves-hoping-patrons-linger.html?hpw&rref=technology&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well
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smitherfield
I suspect this is more of a response to demand—the genius bar at my local mall
is typically booked days in advance.

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jbverschoor
Same here And even if you have an appointment, you have to wait.

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JumpCrisscross
> _even if you have an appointment, you have to wait_

Am I the only one who finds this vain and disrespectful? I'm on time to my
meetings. I'm on time to dinner after boozy brunch. Yet Apple can't help but
overcommit when I take the time to schedule with them?

Go ahead and charge me a $20 cancellation fee for a "premium appointment". But
don't present your brand with all the poise and discipline of a teen Hollywood
wannabe.

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pkaye
Do you think they can estimate ahead of time how long each appointment will
take?

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ryanlol
Accurately enough, yes. As long as they go over the actual time it takes,
everything is fine.

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jackgavigan
The flagship Apple store in London is getting a similar makeover:
[http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-
applications/applica...](http://idoxpa.westminster.gov.uk/online-
applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=NNCZXQRPFR000)

They're taking away the mezzanine floor at the front of the store to turn the
main section just inside the entrance into a big, open two-storey high square
space (which sounds similar to the glass-roofed space at the existing Covent
Garden store).

Adding more space to sit sounds like the approach taken by luxury boutiques,
which often have chairs and sofas for customers (or, more likely, their
spouses) to sit and relax.

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cmdrfred
I wonder if this move is to suit a new class of products. "... 42-foot-tall
glass doors that slide open to expose the interior to the street" A car
dealership perhaps?

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williadc
42' tall is quite excessive for a car.

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Razengan
An iMech?

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nickpsecurity
I'll buy from Apple if it's an iMech. You know it will look stylish and unlike
almost every other robot movie around. Because that's what they do best.

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auggierose
_The next generation just wants to flow._

What does that mean?

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smsm42
Nothing really, except expressing the desire of whoever invented that phrase
to be perceived as possessing some deep insight into the thoughts of "next
generation".

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pekk
Which is like saying "for humans" meaning that you want to be perceived as
possessing some deep insight into what all people want products to be like.

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tmacro
With the "wooden cubes and real leather medicine balls" it's sounds like
they're taking a page from the fast food restaurant design manual, and
completely misunderstanding it. Uncomfortable places to sit don't say, linger
a while, they say, get your stuff and get out.

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ibash
This article is nonsense -- but if you're in SF visit the store, the space
feels good to walk through.

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CM30
So I guess they're aiming these stores at the (fairly large) group of visitors
that use the Apple Stores to mess around with the technology and use it in
their social gatherings rather than for buying any products from.

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ghostDancer
The can call them iTemples.

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digi_owl
Where one go to get ones iD stroked?

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owly
Real leather? Sounds like some Burberry BS.

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alexnewman
Doom!

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onion2k
If they put in a bar to serve drinks then they can go full circle.

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skbohra123
Surprised to see an Apple related thread with so few comments!

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WayneBro
Apple is probably the most pretentious company that I've ever had the
displeasure of knowing about.

I'll never meet anybody "at Apple". I may meet them at _an Apple store_ but if
anyone says the words "at Apple" then the meeting is off because I never want
to speak to you again.

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function_seven
So you'll meet someone at _a Best Buy store_ , but snub them if they say "at
Best Buy"? Or _a Starbucks coffee shop_ is OK, but "at Starbucks" is not? I'm
not understanding here.

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noonespecial
He went overboard with the "never want to speak to you again" bit but he's not
wrong.

We say "at McDonalds" or "at Starbucks" because these places have a sort of
casual ubiquity that's inserted them into our daily lives. We say "at the
Apple store" because that's what feels right based its place in our daily
experience.

A marketing guy trying to goad us into giving the Apple store that same casual
ubiquity without "earning" it just by dropping some leather couches and potted
plants into a store is pretentious. It feels wrong and we know it in an
uncanny valley sort of way.

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pbreit
I don't think you should be down voted but I think you're wrong. The comment
is clearly aspirational and reasonable. To get all uppity (the op) about it is
kinda ridiculous.

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WayneBro
Uppity, like Apple?

I don't think I can reach those heights. (Remember those Mac vs PC
commercials? You can't get much more uppity than that.)

