Apple’s Munich store opening is mobbed
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
Apple’s Munich opening is mobbed
This is Apple’s first retail store in Germany. Wow, I don’t think the 5th Ave. New York store got this much attention. This is amazing.
Coincidentally, we’re going to visit the Danbury Apple store today so I can get Anne a new MacBook and we can trickle her iBook down to Erin. Doing our small part to keep the economy rolling.
Richard, walked past the shop this morning as I had to buy some things in the sports shop that is next doors to the new Apple shop. I did not expect this massive crowd. Some fans even travelled from other parts of Germany to Munich to witness the opening. It was said that at one stage there were approximately 4.000 persons in line, waiting to get into the new store. It must have been an interesting feeling for those people to gather in a crowd. It is this social community that Apple seems to be able to create… bringing like-minded people together.
I did not visit the store today. I planning to do so next week to boost the economy. ;-)
I am wondering how packed the store is going to be in the evenings for the free iTunes concerts.
Hopefully you and Anne are going to enjoy the new MacBook. It is a nice tool!
Wow, a very decent turnout ;-) Love the QT 360 view!
Andreas: As Jon will attest, the 5th Avenue Apple store in New York was a big deal when it opened but I’m not sure they had this size crowd. However, it was quite big as was the Tokyo store crowd. Still, for Germany with the economy as it is this was an amazing crowd. Do get into the store when you find time, these stores are beautifully designed and a pleasure to shop in.
We had a very pleasant experience in Danbury today. Walked in, found a nice young salesperson, told him we wanted the MacBook, AppleCare, an AirPort Extreme router, and an iTunes store gift certificate. We were in and out of there with the gear in under 10 minutes with no hassle at all. Entire transaction done in the middle of the floor with a small point of purchase device. Sweet.
I have yet to set up the MacBook, maybe tomorrow. Anne liked the screen. Go figure.
Richard, good to hear that you had a very pleasant shopping experience at your local Apple Store, and that Anne liked the new screen. Taste is a very personal, subjective process. ;-)
It appears that the majority of people here in Munich are not affected by the looming recession. Everytime I am in town, the shops and streets are crowded and people are busy with their Christmas shopping.
I have been to an Apple Store in London and Glasgow. Except for their individual layout they had the same look. The new shop in Munich has adapted the signature style of the Apple shops to its location. I am going to have a proper look tomorrow during my lunch break.
Andreas: While the Danbury mall was crowded, it wasn’t as crowded as it was last year. I’ve noticed that at many Apple stores in malls teen mall rats hang out and use demo machines for web based email and chat. I meant to ask our young salesperson what the store policy on such things is as those people are hogging demo machines that might otherwise be used for sales demos. I’m sure they have a policy about it. At the Chelsea store in NY where I first went to look at the glossy screens it took me a while to arrange a free machine and it was because kids and young adults were hogging machines for communication.
Amazingly, some of these same people had iPhones which they could have used as well and for free since Apple has open wifi at all of their stores.
I have yet to open the MacBook box. We had a light snow last night and I’m thinking about what’s left for me to do chore-wise before things get buried in deeper snow.
I don’t know how you resisted opening the box. I can usually hardly wait until I get home.
I have always liked my Emeryville Apple store - but I agree with ou Richard, if I hadn’t known exactly what machine I wanted when I walked in (MacBook, new iPhone to replace my poor smashed one, and AppleCare) I would have had to wait forever on a Tuesday afternoon to get on a machine to try out.
On the other hand, I did NOT make a repair appointment for my iPhone, but the sales guy put me on standby and I got a replacement phone while I waited for someone else to get the MacBook out of the back. It all took 15 minutes, in the middle of the store. Quickest way to drop $3k, ever :)
Caitlin: I still haven’t had time to open the box and get Anne’s machine set up. I’m really looking forward to it but I’ve been swamped with other stuff, including substitute teaching a photo class.
I give Apple a lot of credit for attempting to streamline all of these various processes which can be awkward as hell.