It was the best of time , it was the worst of times . It was the years of Wisdom of Solomon , it was the age of foolishness . It was the spring of 2001 — a yr that had not yet plough dour beyond belief — in which Apple prefer to open its very first two retail stores . These two would be the first of some 25 stores curtain raising later in the year .
In that age of doubtfulness , many opine Apple ’s dip into retail waters was an number of sovereign foolishness . But as Apple is wo nt , they did it anyway . The choice turned out to be a wise one indeed .
In Virginia , some 500 masses line up in the pre - dawn hours of the morning of May 19 for a chance to be the earliest inside thefirst Apple retail store open to the world . The waiting line of Apple dice - hards grew throughout the solar day until it reached over 1000 . Security guards were on hand to make trusted the throng did not violate fire codes regarding maximal occupancy .
“ I have lived in this orbit for 17 years , ” saidone visitorto the store , “ I ’ve never seen anything like this , here or at any promenade for that thing . ”
In California , some 2600 miles aside , century of likewise - minded multitude lined up to enter the west coast ’s first Apple Store , which was due to open later in the day .
An eager opening
The doors of the Virginia shop opened around 10 a.m. easterly time , andhistorytells that a man bring up Chris Barylick ( who has give as a writer to Macworld ) was the first customer inside . He had been waiting some six hour for the opportunity .
Inside , he found a spotless , well - fall space decorated with promiscuous wood , brushed steel , and crystal white shabu . Apple had laid out its product — coloured , translucent iMacs and Power Macs among them — on wall - duration , saloon - height tables and white , kidney - shape platforms throughout the store . Their locations were cautiously plan , as Apple had invisibly divided the outer space into sections via understated signs hanging overhead .
Apple had formally announced its retail opening move only four days before , on May 15 . On that same day , Steve Jobs himself guided select members of the public press through atour of the Virginia location . The press liked what they saw , and their reaction had coiffure up the opening night day to be a interfering one .
Apple placed that fussy stock with the uttermost care in a in high spirits - visibility , high - dealings locating : Tysons Corner Centerin McLean , Virginia , a flush Washington , D.C. suburban area . Tysons Corner had the preeminence of being one of the most upscale malls in Fairfax County , then the richest county in the U.S.
The California storehouse , somewhat ironically designated “ store 001 ” in Apple ’s books , spread out three minute behind its Virginia cousin due to metre zona remainder . That exceptional shop stood in theGlendale Gallerina , a plaza in the affluent Los Angeles suburb of Glendale , California . It bear a similar internal shape of mathematical product and layout as the one in Virginia .
Why those two locations ? “ They were the first two that were quick , ” Steve Jobstold the pressin 2001 . The Tysons Corner and Glendale Galleria store may have befall to open first by prospect , but like the 23 remaining stores that opened in 2001 , their locations were strategically planned forrader of time . rumor of a complex algorithmic program for pick out shop website persist to this day , but to put it but , Apple postdate the smell of money — and the people that have the most of it .
A new kind of store
Around the number of the one C , Apple had been plagued with a decade of speculative retail experience at the helping hand of others . When the company decide it needed to expand into retail on its own , Steve Jobs face to the outside and hired the good experts he could get to help the cause .
In 1999 , Apple added Millard “ Mickey ” Drexler , President and CEO of The Gap , to its Board of Directors to give the company a touch of seasoned retail experience . The following year , Apple hired Ron Johnson , a former Target marketing executive director who transformed Target from a K - Mart clone into a voguish retail destination for those seeking inexpensive but well - designed housewares .
It was Johnson who masterminded Apple ’s retail programme . When first tasked with creating an Apple Store experience from scratch , Johnson find himself present with a sparse , stripped down Apple product line that had been the victim Steve Jobs ’ drastic ( but necessary ) rationalize over the previous four twelvemonth . He wondered how he could fill an entire retail space with only four product categories ( which happened to be the iMac , iBook , Power Mac G4 , and PowerBook at the time ) .
After a few simulated starts , he realized that Apple should focus on the overall experience of using the products and , most importantly , the solutions they can provide to the customer . They could dedicate sections of the store for customer to really employ the mathematical product so they could see these dissimilar solvent in natural action .
At the sentence , Apple ’s selling angle put the Macintosh as the “ digital hub ” of the plate . Ads focused on what customers could do with their Mac , whether it be to edit a digital movie , burn down a CD , or organize their music collection . Johnson recognized that a client ’s relationship with a Mac was a long - term and inner one , with the Mac process as both a shaft and a companion . Internally , he referred to this construct as the “ Apple lifestyle . ”
Whereas a product purchase at another retail outlet marked the end of the store ’s human relationship with the customer , in the Apple Store , the leverage would only be the commencement . All Apple Store visitors would be welcome to try out with Apple hardware and software in the store .
What ’s more , returning Apple customers would receive devoid ( or inexpensive ) avail from the Genius Bar in the pattern of questions answer , parts replaced , or computing machine fix . The fund would also build up a culture around it through innocent seminars and community events hosted at the location .
An unexpected success
Johnson ’s approach with the Apple Store work , and it worked well . Over 7700 mass confabulate Apple ’s first two stores in its first weekend alone , eagerly snap up $ 599,000 of product and jubilantly loitering in a position completely and totally accepting of the Apple lifestyle .
Attendee reaction to those first stores was notably rapturous , and the crush response ( even the non - Apple press ) carried with it an strange tone of feverous excitement , which was typically absent in the slightly dour and wearied era . It was as if both consumers and the media had seen something completely new and unexpected : a retail experience as original and exciting as one of Apple ’s famous production let out .
In prison term others constellate to the stores — not just Mac sports fan — and the welcoming , explorative nature of Apple ’s strand , crafted by Johnson , Jobs , and his squad , is why it ’s almost insufferable to find an Apple Store that is not bustling with people today .
The financial and critical success of Apple ’s first two stores paved the way for the 100 of Apple Stores that now cross the ball . Plans for more store are in the works , and there presently seems to be no end to Apple ’s retail success in sight . All this because of a wise decision Apple made in the season of discontent . It is , truly , the best of meter for Apple .
