Retail Stores

Apple's VP of retail told store leadership teams that the company "messed up" when it implemented a new way to schedule staff for its retail stores, indirectly spurring layoff rumors, The Wall Street Journal reported today.

The executive, John Browett, told store management to let employees know that corporate had made a mistake with the new system, which cut hours for some employees and left some Apple retail stores understaffed, two unnamed sources told the Journal.

The changes caused panic among employees, leading to news reports of layoffs.

Browett, who took over the position in April, also … Read more

Apple will match the price of an iPhone from another authorized retailer if you buy it in an Apple store, according to a new report.

Citing an anonymous source, MacRumors this morning says it's now a quiet policy at Apple's stores to price-match with a handful of third-party authorized sellers and carrier partners so that users can buy a new phone in an Apple store versus going elsewhere to get the same deal.

Per a purportedly leaked photo of the new policy, that amounts to a savings of $49.01 on the 8GB iPhone 4, as well as … Read more

It must have been quite a surreal scene.

A woman in Louisville, Ky., claims that last Saturday she arranged a date with a man, who arrived at her door and pointed a gun at her leg.

He then allegedly forced her to drive around to several stores, in order to buy cell phones in her own name, with her own money.

According to WDRB News, one of those stores was an Apple Store in Oxmoor Mall.

Somehow -- it's unclear how -- her puported kidnapper, named as Victor A. Sarver Jr., 32, was sufficiently negligent to allow the unnamed … Read more

The other day, I received a tweet from someone supposedly representing Microsoft.

He told me the company was opening a new store near my local Apple store and please could I recommend some people to go work there.

I tend to steer clear of teenage techies and their superior tics and snorts, so I didn't reply. I had no idea who this man was anyway. It's not as if he'd offered a commission.

However, it did make me wonder about Microsoft's sudden enthusiasm for retail.

Just as Apple's new Genius Bar ads seem to have … Read more

Consumers looking to pick up a Retina MacBook Pro now face a shorter wait time.

The estimated ship time for the new MacBook Pro model has trickled down to 1-2 weeks, according to Apple's U.S. Web site. This new estimate follows the roller coaster ride originally faced by prospective buyers.

Apple initially promised a ship time of 2-3 weeks immediately following the debut of the new MacBook Pro. That soon shot up to a month but then shrank to 3-4 weeks before returning to 2-3 weeks.

The new 1-2 week wait time seems to be the norm across the world, … Read more

Apple has taken its online store down this evening, and instead of just the usual "We'll be back" message, visitors are instead greeted with a rotating series of the message in 18 languages.

The tech giant doesn't seem to be in one of its traditional product release periods, so it's unknown why the store would be offline. We will update if something significant materializes.

In the meantime, checkout the gallery below of "We'll be back" messages and see how many languages you can identify.

Update at 5 a.m. PT July 18: … Read more

The Apple Store has become an educational case on what to do right in the retail sector. And it appears Best Buy has taken notice.

The retailer is testing out a new prototype that cuts down on floor space and uses a help desk, run by Best Buy's Geek Squad, as the focal point of the company's layout. The Geek Squad desk allows customers to ask questions and handle issues. According to The Wall Street Journal, which took a tour, the desk closely resembles Apple's Genius Bar.

According to the Journal, that's not all Best Buy … Read more

Apple has only one retail store per 216 million Chinese citizens.

In 2010, then Apple retail boss Ron Johnson, who has since departed to join J.C. Penney, said there would be at least 25 stores in China by this year.

Two years after he left, there are only six stores: two in Beijing, three in Shanghai, and a recently opened store in Hong Kong.

In comparison, Massachusetts has 10 stores for a population of around 7 million, while London has half the number of stores for about the same population.

The population of China stands at 1.35 … Read more

Apple could be changing how its brick-and-mortar stores are laid out, according to a new report.

Apple Store tracker ifoAppleStore.com reported yesterday that Apple is currently testing out a new Genius Bar layout in its stores. Rather than have the table run parallel to the wall at the back of the store, the company is considering turning it 90 degrees to make it perpendicular to that wall.

The blog claims to have obtained an image of the new layout, which shows a table stretched from the back wall, and flanked on two sides with stools. That effectively increases the … Read more