Apple's new Chongqing store shown off in photos ahead of Saturday opening

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 45
    bugsnwbugsnw Posts: 717member

    So cool. Apple just keeps killing it. Steve Jobs showed the world that there were people who were willing to pay for coolness, quality, best-in-class engineering. The first pictures of the glass from the outside made me all googly inside.

     

    What's sad though is IF apple ever stumbles, harvard is going to have a heyday writing their business profile. "Apple succumbed to hubris and overspent on marble tables, exotic glass store fronts, lavish headquarters, etc."

     

    I like that Apple carved their own path. I remember reading about their inefficient capital structures in business school. How they would be so much better off utilizing debt. How they were stupid to cling to this weird notion of not owing anyone anything. How various metrics would improve immeasurably if they just borrowed some damn money.

     

    I really hope that Apple stays smart, at least as long as I live on this planet. Thank god they were around to push this damn industry forward. Microsoft was slowly killing it. Seeing rickety plastic pieces of shit that count for PCs at costco just breaks my heart. Same with the HP printers. What's wrong with these CEOs....someone else build some cool, high-quality stuff! For the love of god.

     

    It's can't just be Apple, Tesla and All-Clad (and Yamaha)

  • Reply 22 of 45
    Why all those stairs to enter and exit? I count more than 50 steps to climb to leave the store, unless there is a ground-level exit somewhere as well.
  • Reply 23 of 45
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bugsnw View Post

     

    So cool. Apple just keeps killing it. Steve Jobs showed the world that there were people who were willing to pay for coolness, quality, best-in-class engineering. The first pictures of the glass from the outside made me all googly inside.

     

    What's sad though is IF apple ever stumbles, harvard is going to have a heyday writing their business profile. "Apple succumbed to hubris and overspent on marble tables, exotic glass store fronts, lavish headquarters, etc."

     

    I like that Apple carved their own path. I remember reading about their inefficient capital structures in business school. How they would be so much better off utilizing debt. How they were stupid to cling to this weird notion of not owing anyone anything. How various metrics would improve immeasurably if they just borrowed some damn money.

     

    I really hope that Apple stays smart, at least as long as I live on this planet. Thank god they were around to push this damn industry forward. Microsoft was slowly killing it. Seeing rickety plastic pieces of shit that count for PCs at costco just breaks my heart. Same with the HP printers. What's wrong with these CEOs....someone else build some cool, high-quality stuff! For the love of god.

     

    It's can't just be Apple, Tesla and All-Clad (and Yamaha)




    Good post. Totally agree.

  • Reply 24 of 45
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dennis Webb View Post



    Why all those stairs to enter and exit? I count more than 50 steps to climb to leave the store, unless there is a ground-level exit somewhere as well.



    Hmmm, let's see. . .They need as many as it takes to take people from one floor to the next with a comfortable vertical distance between each one.

  • Reply 25 of 45
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post

     

    Being the super quick Googler that I am, I just checked quickly and I found some info that suggests that they cost at least $10,000 a piece.

     

    This is Apple that we're talking about here, they're not going to have some Ikea tables in their stores. <img class=" src="http://forums-files.appleinsider.com/images/smilies//lol.gif" /> 

     

    And the wood is maple, if the info that I found is correct.

     

    This is what I found on another forum in an older thread:

     

    Let me put it to rest




    I am one of 100 employees at Fetzer Architectural Woodwork that build all of the fixtures found in all the apple stores around the world. We are located in salt lake city, utah. Those tables are extremely high quality, and cost between $10,000 to $25,000 each. They are made of maple. I about fell over dead when someone suggested they were from IKEA! No one else in the world makes these tables.




    To help answer this "Is it real or Memorex"-type question: a Fetzer company video about their process: 

  • Reply 26 of 45
    What elevator?
  • Reply 27 of 45
    bwikbwik Posts: 565member
    Looks incredibly derivative. The wood tables need to go.
  • Reply 28 of 45
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    bwik wrote: »
    Looks incredibly derivative. The wood tables need to go.

    Whose work are they imitating with those wood tables? Jesus? He was a carpenter, right?
  • Reply 29 of 45
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member

    ^ IKEA, apparently.  /s

  • Reply 30 of 45
    ajohnajohn Posts: 10member
    cali wrote: »
    Why give them red shirts when they're going to blue in a few weeks? Or is China sticking to its flag's color?

    Either way, I don't ever recall seeing red shirts at my local Apple Store(United States).

    Employees in every Apple Store in the world wear the same color shirts. The shirts are blue year-round except during the holiday quarter, when they change to red, even in the US. You may have simply not gone into your local Apple Store while they've been wearing red.

    The Chinese employees will change to blue shirts the same day employees in other stores across the world do, too.
  • Reply 31 of 45
    bwik wrote: »
    Looks incredibly derivative. The wood tables need to go.

    No, it doesn't. No, they don't.

    The design is simple, timeless, elegant. Wood is the perfect material. Maple is the perfect species for its "clearness (lack of knots)", durability, and warmth.

    They're also American made.
  • Reply 32 of 45
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by DanielSW View Post





    No, it doesn't. No, they don't.



    The design is simple, timeless, elegant. Wood is the perfect material. Maple is the perfect species for its "clearness (lack of knots)", durability, and warmth.



    They're also American made.



    Curious why don't Apple open a store in the Philippines?

  • Reply 33 of 45
    ajmasajmas Posts: 601member
    pmagnusson wrote: »
    What elevator?

    I am wondering the same. Hopefully it is not relegated to some service entrance? Then again, I would be curious how many of the Apple stores are properly accessible to wheel chair access?
  • Reply 34 of 45
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ajmas View Post





    I am wondering the same. Hopefully it is not relegated to some service entrance? Then again, I would be curious how many of the Apple stores are properly accessible to wheel chair access?



    100%

  • Reply 35 of 45
    malomalo Posts: 19member
    The store is beautiful! I respect Apple more and more for their focus to reach higher and countless new standards with products and brand retail, they are in a class by themselves!

    I love how AA is transforming Apple's next generation of retail - her supplier product curation, her attention to visual merchandise detail and her emphasis on service care and responsiveness, it's obvious to me, the bar is set higher!
  • Reply 36 of 45
    [quote name="malo" url="/t/184596/apples-new-chongqing-store-shown-off-in-photos-ahead-of-saturday-opening#post_2669568"]I love how AA is transforming Apple's next generation of retail [/QUOTE]

    Alcoholics Anonymous?!
  • Reply 37 of 45
    I wonder if the person who highly doubted that Apple's tables are made out of real wood ever found these replies educational or if he just returned his head to the sand.
  • Reply 38 of 45
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    crowley wrote: »
    ^ IKEA, apparently.  /s

    They do bear some resemblance:

    1000

    1000

    I would never guess they'd cost thousands. I wouldn't expect them to be the same in resellers though, that could be where the mixup will come from because resellers probably get IKEA tables to resemble the Apple Store. The Apple ones even show the tops of the legs, which don't match the color. Maybe that was to make them unique from other tables.

    People who break into the Apple Stores in future, leave the products alone and take the tables.
  • Reply 39 of 45
    solipsismysolipsismy Posts: 5,099member
    Marvin wrote: »
    I would never guess they'd cost thousands. I wouldn't expect them to be the same in resellers though, that could be where the mixup will come from because resellers probably get IKEA tables to resemble the Apple Store. The Apple ones even show the tops of the legs, which don't match the color. Maybe that was to make them unique from other tables.

    People who break into the Apple Stores in future, leave the products alone and take the tables.

    I was surprised they only cost $2k each with the drawers, hidden areas for cables and other additions for these large, bespoke wood desks.
  • Reply 40 of 45
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by malo View Post



    The store is beautiful! I respect Apple more and more for their focus to reach higher and countless new standards with products and brand retail, they are in a class by themselves!



    I love how AA is transforming Apple's next generation of retail - her supplier product curation, her attention to visual merchandise detail and her emphasis on service care and responsiveness, it's obvious to me, the bar is set higher!



    Adding to all this, I like the new system where customers can make many purchases all by themselves on their iPhones. It both relieves staff of mundane tasks, and it speaks of trust—in both directions. This greatly enhances the Apple retail experience for me.

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