Steve Jobs changed the face of Apple and retail forever on May 15, 2001
On this day in 2001, Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple Store, changing not only how customers would buy Apple hardware and get service for purchases, but also alter brick-and-mortar retail forever.
"This is our store," Steve Jobs said, as he introduced the Apple Store for the first time, on May 15, 2001. The Apple Store, Apple's first foray into its own retail stores, opened its first two locations four days later, in Glendale, Calif. and then in Tysons Corner, Va. One AppleInsider staffer was present for the opening of the latter store.
In the years since, the Apple Store has grown to more than 500 stores in over 20 countries. It has surged in growth during a very difficult time for the retail sector as a whole, including in the consumer electronics space.
Steve Jobs unveiling the Apple Store at Tysons Corner Mall in Virginia
While helping to drive Apple's own growth and playing a key role in the launches of iPod, iPhone, iPad and more, the Apple Store also forever changed the look of computer and electronics retail. And that look has been widely imitated, from Microsoft launching a chain of lookalike stores to Sony attempting the same to actual knockoff Apple Stores in China.
Starting in 1997, Apple migrated to a "store within a store" concept that it agreed to with CompUSA, shortly after Jobs' return to the company.
At the same time, Apple pulled its products out of most non-CompUSA big box retailers, at a time when Dell was Apple's main competitor and Apple was preparing to launch the original iMac. Apple also revamped its online store.
Jobs decided to open Apple-branded retail stores, and hired executive Ron Johnson, formerly of Target, to run them in early 2000.
On May 15, 2001, Apple announced that it would open 25 retail stores that year, including its first two that Saturday.
The first stores, as introduced by Jobs in an introductory video and opening on the 19th, featured such products in the front section as iMacs and iBooks, as well as the then-new PowerBook G4 Titanium and Power Macs. The iPod, however, would not be released for another five months.
Children using the Flower Power iMacs at Tyson's Corner, the day it opened
Also featured in the store were music, movies, photos and a kids section, as well as non-Apple digital cameras and camcorders. There was also a great deal of boxed software.
Another initial selling point was the original incarnation of the Genius Bar, which featured pictures of Albert Einstein and other famous geniuses who had been included in Apple's "Think Different" ads of the time. Jobs positioned the in-store "geniuses" as able to answer customers' questions -- and if they couldn't, there was a landline to someone in Cupertino who could.
More than 500 fans lined up at the Tysons store starting at pre-dawn that first day. Over the weekend, Tysons and Glendale hosted more than 7500 visitors, and sold a combined $599,000 in products over the first two days.
The corporate store approach had been tried before. Dell and Gateway both tiptoed into retail before Apple got to it -- but both of their efforts faded quickly.
The stores succeeded out of the gate, despite a great deal of industry skepticism. Apple announced that 7,700 customers had visited the first two stores during their first two days in business, purchasing $599,000 worth of merchandise.
The Apple Store's success never really abated. Its first urban flagship, on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, opened in 2003, with the first international Apple Store arriving in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, later that year. Five years to the day after the first two stores, in 2006, Apple opened its iconic "cube" location on Fifth Avenue in New York.
While the number of Apple Stores worldwide crossed 500 with its first location in Korea, which opened in 2018, the originals haven't been forgotten. The store Apple designated number one in Glendale, remains a popular site for fan pilgrimages. But store number two -- Tyson's -- was still the first to open.
"This is our store," Steve Jobs said, as he introduced the Apple Store for the first time, on May 15, 2001. The Apple Store, Apple's first foray into its own retail stores, opened its first two locations four days later, in Glendale, Calif. and then in Tysons Corner, Va. One AppleInsider staffer was present for the opening of the latter store.
In the years since, the Apple Store has grown to more than 500 stores in over 20 countries. It has surged in growth during a very difficult time for the retail sector as a whole, including in the consumer electronics space.
Steve Jobs unveiling the Apple Store at Tysons Corner Mall in Virginia
While helping to drive Apple's own growth and playing a key role in the launches of iPod, iPhone, iPad and more, the Apple Store also forever changed the look of computer and electronics retail. And that look has been widely imitated, from Microsoft launching a chain of lookalike stores to Sony attempting the same to actual knockoff Apple Stores in China.
Before the Apple Store
Throughout the 1990s, Apple computers were sold in a combination of chain stores and authorized Apple retailers. Support for customers from the big-box stores was iffy, and related to how often Apple representatives and then later contractors visited, to keep the staff in line.Starting in 1997, Apple migrated to a "store within a store" concept that it agreed to with CompUSA, shortly after Jobs' return to the company.
At the same time, Apple pulled its products out of most non-CompUSA big box retailers, at a time when Dell was Apple's main competitor and Apple was preparing to launch the original iMac. Apple also revamped its online store.
Jobs decided to open Apple-branded retail stores, and hired executive Ron Johnson, formerly of Target, to run them in early 2000.
The first stores
On May 15, 2001, Apple announced that it would open 25 retail stores that year, including its first two that Saturday.
The first stores, as introduced by Jobs in an introductory video and opening on the 19th, featured such products in the front section as iMacs and iBooks, as well as the then-new PowerBook G4 Titanium and Power Macs. The iPod, however, would not be released for another five months.
Children using the Flower Power iMacs at Tyson's Corner, the day it opened
Also featured in the store were music, movies, photos and a kids section, as well as non-Apple digital cameras and camcorders. There was also a great deal of boxed software.
Another initial selling point was the original incarnation of the Genius Bar, which featured pictures of Albert Einstein and other famous geniuses who had been included in Apple's "Think Different" ads of the time. Jobs positioned the in-store "geniuses" as able to answer customers' questions -- and if they couldn't, there was a landline to someone in Cupertino who could.
More than 500 fans lined up at the Tysons store starting at pre-dawn that first day. Over the weekend, Tysons and Glendale hosted more than 7500 visitors, and sold a combined $599,000 in products over the first two days.
The corporate store approach had been tried before. Dell and Gateway both tiptoed into retail before Apple got to it -- but both of their efforts faded quickly.
Early and sustained success
The stores succeeded out of the gate, despite a great deal of industry skepticism. Apple announced that 7,700 customers had visited the first two stores during their first two days in business, purchasing $599,000 worth of merchandise.
The Apple Store's success never really abated. Its first urban flagship, on Chicago's Magnificent Mile, opened in 2003, with the first international Apple Store arriving in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan, later that year. Five years to the day after the first two stores, in 2006, Apple opened its iconic "cube" location on Fifth Avenue in New York.
While the number of Apple Stores worldwide crossed 500 with its first location in Korea, which opened in 2018, the originals haven't been forgotten. The store Apple designated number one in Glendale, remains a popular site for fan pilgrimages. But store number two -- Tyson's -- was still the first to open.
Comments
1. Steve was at the helm, but thousands of hard-working creative people at Apple were responsible for the creation and roll out of the Apple Stores. Steve announced it, he even *helped* shape it, but to pretend he did it in a vacuum is an insult to all the people that worked their asses off to make it happen.
2. Not only did Apple not change the *face of retail*, they didn't even come up with a new idea. It is called a "boutique" and it was the norm across many different retail markets from perfume to high-end cars. Apple was the not even the first to apply it to computers. They did it really well, but it was not a new idea.
You know, you can praise the things you like that Apple has done without using hyperbole every time.
Edit.. I stand corrected, Apple was not the first to apply it to computers. Macxpress brought up "Gateway Country Stores". Apple certainly did it better, and Gateway's lower margins just could not support an upscale shopping experience.
And so began the journey.
The the same thing is now happening in the enterprise. Before Apple’s partnership with IBM the enterprise was blind to anything not Windows. That is changing today. By 2030 I can see MacOS as the dominant platform in the enterprise.
I gotta admit when this happened my instinct was the same as King’s, realizing that the concept wasn’t necessarily new or unique. All I thought was that brick & motor was going to die and so why invest in it? Glad I was wrong and humbled by it. I used to be in sales (back in the VCR and Hi Fi days) and now realize that sales people will have their favorites, but they will also favor pushing those items that make them more money. So why not have salespeople that know about, love, use and are enthused about one brand? I guess that’s the lesson.
Has Apple ever had to close one of their stores?
Steve Jobs changed the face of Apple's retail operations on May 15, 2001
Your computer is just being mischievous.Have a tissue
Apple build a complete store inside a warehouse to simulate an actual store; that was certainly approved by Steve.
That isn't something that is typical, and it was certainly due to Ron Johnson being hired by Steve Jobs, and Steve Jobs certainly had a hand in the design decisions. No one pretends that Steve did it in a vacuum, but he was certainly in charge, so, as they say, the "buck" stopped with him.
Certainly, Apple stores are considered the highest earning by square foot of retail space, so yeah, Apple is a little bit beyond all of the "boutiques" that came before it.
Apple's implementation of this boutique was head & shoulders above anything else, including Gateway Country stores, which I had also been to at the time. There's a reason why Samsung and Microsoft copy the Apple Store design to this day and not Gateway's.
Beats being a hater looking to find fault with things and tossing out the same old, tired, troll tropes -- "But it's a cult!" "You drank the kool-aid!" etc. Tired and boring.
Apple certainly did innovate mall retail, from the layout to the building materials to the counter-less and line-less checkout process (what other stores let you self-checkout with your freaking phone's camera!?). While any one of these things things *maybe* could be found in a mall, no retailer had implemented all of them and with the superior skill that Apple did.
I know this is butthurt inducing, but you cannot change history. Sorry.
More importantly, if Apple inspires cult-like behavior, so what? If you want some un-cult place (product) go hang out (buy) somewhere (something) else. Everyone's happy!
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/29/here-are-the-retailers-that-make-the-most-money-per-square-foot-on-their-real-estate.html
The fact that Apple's retail success is so exceptional, and for such a long period of time, seems to bear out the truth in the headlines, yet you provide no examples of your own to prove that Apple is only "a little bit beyond all of the boutiques that came before it".
Not your best effort.
I read all of your previous posts.