My First Visit To An Apple Store

I’ve heard apples (of the tree variety) being described as having a “zing” and that is not too far from the “buzz” I experienced at my first visit to an Apple (of the computer variety) store in Chadstone.

I could have bought my Apple product locally from another retailer but I chose to visit this much hyped retailer to see it for myself. My first impression was of the astonishing number of staff (identifiable by their blue shirts). There must have been 25 or 30 of them, and at 10:30 in the morning, they were all occupied. I later found out that some were conducting customer training, but the majority were serving customers.

My second impression was that there were no cash registers and I stood there looking a little confused for fully 3 seconds before a very pleasant young lady asked if she could help me. I had done my research online so I knew exactly what I wanted. I swear my shop assistant was disappointed that she wasn’t required to share her sales expertise, but she got down to giving the customer service Apple are famous for and before I knew it she had my name, street address and email address on a computer screen. I’m still not sure how she did that – saw my name on my credit card? – wirelessly accessed my iPhone? Never mind, I completed my card payment and then she made the understatement of the sale – “That’s all done. Your purchase will be here soon. Please have a look around while we wait.” I barely had time to say “thanks” and turn towards one of those glistening new pieces of high-tech wonderfulness when another assistant turned up with my purchase. There were a few other little exchanges about free training, extended warranties and things, and I was on my way.

 That buzz? It was the sound of doing business – so many sales conversations going on at the same time. No wonder Apple is 17 times more profitable than the average retailer. I really want some of that buzz at my stall!