Argh. iPad Pro won’t charge.

[Citysnaps]

The Stanford mall Apple Store is closest to us. Easy to get to, easy to park, and plenty of staff around.

There's also a Microsoft Store there. Every time I walk by there's hardly anyone in there. No doubt a terrible ROI for Microsoft considering leases at the mall must be astronomical.

 

[Cmaier]

The Stanford mall Apple Store is closest to us. Easy to get to, easy to park, and plenty of staff around.

There's also a Microsoft Store there. Every time I walk by there's hardly anyone in there. No doubt a terrible ROI for Microsoft considering leases at the mall must be astronomical.

I’m not a big fan of the stanford store because of the way the sunlight heats up one side. But it is definitely easy to park over in that garage and walk over, and a lot more convenient than university ave. The new valley fair store is very nice, and the Microsoft store down there is gone now. It was generally empty, too. They were located directly across from the old Apple Store, which was dumb, because it made the contrast all the more glaring.

 

[Citysnaps]

They were located directly across from the old Apple Store, which was dumb, because it made the contrast all the more glaring.

The current Apple Store at Stanford Mall is relatively new, opening in 2014. The previous *much* smaller Apple store at Stanford Mall came in around 2005, and was more centered in the mall - close to where Bloomingdales is now.

A couple of years later Microsoft opened their store two spaces away from the older Apple store - no doubt thinking that was a clever decision, thinking it would somehow suck customers away from Apple's.

What a huge mistake. Apple's older store was always overpacked with people. While Microsoft's usually had none, except for maybe a couple of kids playing Xbox and a dozen blue-shirted employees.

Terrible optics!

 

[Cmaier]

The current Apple Store at Stanford Mall is relatively new, opening in 2014. The previous *much* smaller Apple store at Stanford Mall came in around 2005, and was more centered in the mall - close to where Bloomingdales is now.

A couple of years later Microsoft opened their store two spaces away from the older Apple store - no doubt thinking that was a clever decision, thinking it would somehow suck customers away from Apple's.

What a huge mistake. Apple's older store was always overpacked with people. While Microsoft's usually had none, except for maybe a couple of kids playing Xbox and a dozen blue-shirted employees.

Terrible optics!

I remember that old tiny apple store. I always thought it was weird that there were two stores so close together (that and the old university store, which used to be one of my favorites).

 

[Citysnaps]

I remember that old tiny apple store. I always thought it was weird that there were two stores so close together (that and the old university store, which used to be one of my favorites).

Both of those stores were also my favorite. When I was taking classes at Stanford for personal enrichment (journalism, political science, Robert Frank's photography, music theory, etc), not for a degree, it was nice getting the discount. And it was a much better discount back then than the generic student discount today.

EDIT: Re-reading, I think you may have meant the University Ave. store, not the one on the Stanford campus.

 

[Cmaier]

Both of those stores were also my favorite. When I was taking classes at Stanford for personal enrichment (journalism, political science, Robert Frank's photography, music theory, etc), not for a degree, it was nice getting the discount. And it was a much better discount back then than the generic student discount today.

EDIT: Re-reading, I think you may have meant the University Ave. store, not the one on the Stanford campus.

Yep, that’s what I meant.

 

[mr_roboto]

A couple of years later Microsoft opened their store two spaces away from the older Apple store - no doubt thinking that was a clever decision, thinking it would somehow suck customers away from Apple's.

What a huge mistake. Apple's older store was always overpacked with people. While Microsoft's usually had none, except for maybe a couple of kids playing Xbox and a dozen blue-shirted employees.

Apparently Microsoft permanently shut down all retail operations in June 2020. Took a charge of $450M to write down all the physical assets. The press release cites Covid, but I'm guessing that was really just a face-saving excuse. The first time I saw one of those me-too clones in Valley Fair, sad and empty right next to a packed Apple Store, it was obvious they were just pissing away money.

They tried to copy the surface appearance of Apple's retail operations without having the right products to sell through it. People don't go to an Apple Store because it has a horde of smiling people in T shirts and jeans and no obvious cash registers anywhere, they go because it has the stuff they want and the support resources they need.

 

[Eric]

Apparently Microsoft permanently shut down all retail operations in June 2020. Took a charge of $450M to write down all the physical assets. The press release cites Covid, but I'm guessing that was really just a face-saving excuse. The first time I saw one of those me-too clones in Valley Fair, sad and empty right next to a packed Apple Store, it was obvious they were just pissing away money.

They tried to copy the surface appearance of Apple's retail operations without having the right products to sell through it. People don't go to an Apple Store because it has a horde of smiling people in T shirts and jeans and no obvious cash registers anywhere, they go because it has the stuff they want and the support resources they need.

It was pretty sad, retail is just not their lane. Even during the height of COVID Apple stores were always packed, even now I try to get there as they open before their queue backs up.