Apple to open largest store in Boston...

[Rob Williams]

When I took a step into the 5th Avenue Apple Store last fall in New York, I was rather impressed. It was large, clean and unique. How many buildings do you walk in that are made of glass?

Boston's new Apple Store looks to trump that one, however. While most stores have just under 200 customers per hour on average, employees anticipate this particular store to achieve over 1,000 each and every hour. That is... insane.

http://gizmodo.com/387178/new-boston-apple-store-largest-in-the-world

 

[MacMan]

Interesting thing about the Apple stores, besides the fact that they seem to be popping up like weeds, is the amazing profits they make.

They easily beat Walmart, Best Buy, etc. on a per square foot basis. In fact, they handily even beat Tiffany's. Walmart is around $900 per square foot, but they are dwarfed by Tiffany's at $2,666 per sq. ft. Apple stores, in contrast, weighs in at $4,032 per sq. ft.

Funny, I don't even work in retail, but I just helped sell two new iMac's this past Sunday. One, a 20 inch iMac to a Linux user, who loves Linux, but hates the lack of available commercial software for Linux, and the other, a 24 inch iMac to a very frustrated Vista user!

No wonder Apple stores are doing so well!

http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2006/12/26/6395

 

[Rob Williams]

The $ / sq. ft. information is beyond useless.

Apple stores are small in comparison to Wal-Mart, and sell expensive products. Wal-Mart's average product cost is low, and given that Wal-Marts are at least five times larger than an Apple store at a minimum, it drags their ratio down.

As for Tiffany's, it's not too surprising that more people would rather spend $300 on an iPod than a cuff link. This argument is like comparing a Californian Ford dealership to a Lamborghini dealership. Ford would kill Lambogorhini in terms of $ / sq. ft. because they likely sell 100 cars for every 1 that Lamborghini sells.

Your pro-Apple posts are becoming more of a waste of a time responding to. Bring some information that carries merit, and then I'll nod in Apple's favor, but these findings are beyond useless, unless of course the goal is to make it known that Apple overcharges for their products. We knew that already, though.

 

[Kougar]

Well, the profit/sq foot info is interesting, but as Rob said it is useless for making any sort of comparison.

Might as well compare it to the $/sq foot of Apple directly a car dealership for all the relevance Apple Stores have to Walmarts or Tiffany's. The only thing it tells us is you won't find a $1.99 pair of earbuds at an Apple store.

 

[MacMan]

Tell that to Wall Street!

Tell that to Wall Street! Useless - I don' think so, that's why Arstechnica, like others, including CNN, etc. have reported this info.

I long thought that Techgage was rather narrow minded, and so, that is why I think it is useless for me to return to Techgage's forms. This is my last post; I said that before, but it's useless coming here... too many bigots!

Good Bye Techgage; I won't be missing you, as I'm sure you feel the same about me!

 

[Kougar]

I'd like to consider myself pretty open, you stated your opinion and I stated mine. Give me some reasons WHY the data is important besides that some sites (reputable or not) republished the data in direct quotes, because all they did was directly quote a random analyst... and there are plenty of analysts that don't have a clue about what they are talking about, they love to air their opinions based of random data on the TV all the time.

As I have some light background in finance/accounting... enlighten me as to why those numbers are important if you want to change my opinion, otherwise don't complain if I simply state my opinion because you stated yours first. I'll grant that Rob's posts have been rather negative, but all I did was respond in kind, so calling me a bigot reflects rather poorly back at ya.

 

[Rob Williams]

Because Wall Street or Ars Technica posts about it doesn't mean it becomes information that should be used in a real argument. The dollar per square foot information is nothing more than a fun fact, it in no way represents anything more than the fact that Apple's products have a moderate cost and that they are sold in small buildings.

I'll dispute the "narrow-minded" comment, as that's the furthest thing from the truth. If I was so narrow-minded, why would I post anything that puts Apple in a good light to begin with? It just doesn't make sense. You fail to see that, however, and instead of recognizing the fact that I link to and post about Apple news that puts them in a good light is completely overshadowed by any comments I make that you disagree with.

As far as I'm concerned, you are the narrow-minded one, and your posts reflect this. If someone raises a point, you never seem to fail with a disagreeing comment, no matter how conclusive the evidence is. You have a one-track mind, and to me, that's dangerous. You like Apple, and nothing will change that. Do I even have to bring up that 30" display thread again? I don't know what more proof I'd need than that.

If I'm narrow-minded, I'd love a link to proof. If I somehow "bash" Apple, I have evidence to back it up. You act as though I hate Apple and nothing will change that, but that couldn't be any more incorrect. Look at how much Microsoft/Vista bashing I do. It far surpasses anything bad I ever write about Apple. Heck, Linux is my favorite OS that I use most of the day, but I still piss on it all the time. Yet somehow, I'm narrow-minded :-/

It makes no sense, either, to just jump ship (our forums) because I disagree with you. We are here to share opinions and knowledge, and if it causes a debate, then good. I stand by the fact that the sq. ft. information is useless, and I laid out in plain English as to why I do. If I wanted, I could come in here and brag about how many of copies of Vista sold since launch, compared to OS X, but I don't. Why? Because we all know it's useless information. It's true information, but that doesn't mean it's important.