Apple Store

iLove

When my Macbook and my iPod first made love it was a magic moment. I love the way Apple's stuff works so well, so fast and is less prone to crashing.

Added to that, they have the most gorgeous stores. The London store is like stepping into another world. A world where Windows and Microsoft seem like a bad memory. A world where the technology is the servant of the consumer.

Welcome to heaven.

Smooth and cool.

You feel cool just walking in here although you do need to be dressed entirely in white with a beany hat on. If you want your iphone explained properly this is the place,

Not a fresh piece of fruit in sight

Not a fresh piece of fruit in sight but computers, ipods and iphones. A stylish place to habg out and check out the latest technology. I find my mac which i bought here so much better in terms of graphics

Ipod

This is one place to get seriosuly fashionable with some quality accesory, teh touch ipods are good, and showing videos its a must have and a snip at £250.

no pressure from staff...

London's flagship Apple Store is HUGE and last time I was in London took the opportunity to nip in and have a look round. What I liked about this store compared to other Apple stores is that I felt I could just wander round and look at the products, and see what some of them could do. In other stores I always feel pressured by staff to buy a product or leave - the staff here seem happy to let you play and if you have any questions they're happy to answer them. And because of its size, even when it's got lots of people in it never seems 'busy'.

Great

The reviews for the Apple Store look a bit mixed but I just love it, it's well-laid-out with room to move around, the staff really know what they're talking about and are sure to help you out, and the products are clearly just the smartest things around.

Rotten Apple

My previous experience with this store has always been asking for help when buying accessories an experience that left me feeling like the staff were a little unfriendly, unlike the other Apple stores I had visited.

My most recent experience though was returning my one month old iPod back after it lost power. I was a little shocked to find that after trekking to the store I had to make an appointment to see someone to look at my iPod before they would consider a return and that the next appointment available was the following day. Great if you live local to a store, but what about everyone else? I was even less impressed to be told by a staff member that the reason why there is an appointments system is that "people drop their iPods and then try to return them".

The whole experience left me feeling like customer service is far from being a priority, which considering how good the products are is a great shame.

My bite of the Apple.

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said here, especially the fact they need to manage the sheer thousands of people who visit to check Facebook or Hotmail.

However I think it boils down to the fact that this is a brand experience, and an absolutely superb retail concept. To valid this statement, compare it to every other computer shop in London, especially those along Tottenham Court Road. Everything is pretty much delightful, from the customer service, the theatre, and the general design of the space.

It does work for gulls like me as well: I spent probably a little more than I should have on my MacBook Pro, but ultimately buying the thing in the shop is all part of the brand that you're buying into.

I'll be there to get my iPhone soon!!

this is not a shop

I'm so naive. I went to the Apple Store to buy a gift for a friend who has a beautiful iBook. He needed a decent cover so it was well-protected on the road and where better to shop for one but at the almighty Apple store? Sincerely, this is not a shop. I should have gone to Argos, grabbed a little bridge pen or whatever those midget scribblers are called, and ordered from the catalogue. Instead, I weaved through what is indeed an impressive set-up for this Apple world, found two different covers and then went on the hunt to query then purchase.

First stop, querying which cover is better and how do I do that? There are lots of people milling around stroking apple products with dribble hanging from their mouths but who actually works here? ‘You need to find someone with something hanging round their neck and with a pack on their hip and ask them' - this is verbatim. So I find a person wearing all the gear (do they play laser quest with all that gear when the customers leave?) who could only reply, 'I don't know, more people buy this one so I suppose this one.' Ha! More people buy it so it must be the best! Of course. Just like your iPods that die after a year. More people buy them so that fact alone makes the product superior. Obviously I stubbornly chose the one that less people buy, a risk, a chance you might say but I'm not afraid to live on the edge and maybe, just maybe, if more of us bought the things that less people buy, we might just change the world. Apple-lovers, you'll love this store because it's so shiny and white, and beautifully shaped, just like your iPod, your Nano and your Macbook Pro and they're not completely stupid at service, they just have weak batteries. Those yet to be converted will perhaps take a little more convincing. I'd certainly consider going back if they let me stay behind to play laser quest too. That would be mac'awesome.

Think Different, please!

I love and hate this place! 28,000 sq ft of Apple stuff - quite simply heaven... If only it wasn't for the people! Why are there so many of them. Clearly not all of them are Apple users/fans (about 99.99%), so why can't they just go away and leave me alone to actually appreciate the products, rather than peer over the shoulder of irritating tourists and confused microtards...

There should be a license, with an Apple entrance exam, that one has to display to get in... Or maybe shoppers should be forced to wear 'Bomb Redmond' pin badges... Or better still, you should get stripped searched on the way in. If you are carrying anything less than an iPod, MacBook, iPhone and a recent edition of MacWorld magazine, you should be ejected from the store for eternity!

However, if you are lucky enough to go to this place when it is relatively empty (perhaps late at night, or during a Windows update or something), you will find yourself walking around in awe, whilst convincing yourself that you 'need' that new iMac, iPod or other essential piece of hardware.

I love the fact that there is a place on earth with probably the highest density of Apple products per sq ft. And that the largest Apple Store in the world is here in London. For me, going to this place reminds me how much I love Apple. Their taste in design is exquisite and is reflected in this space, providing a retail experience that is second to none.

100 stars for the store, -95 stars for the annoying shoppers who are there for all the wrong reasons...!!

A fun store but get rid of emailers!

Got to admit this is great to browse around and drool for 20 mins, but can they either disconnect the machines from the internet or stop all the foreign students using gmail / hotmail / social networks perleease!

It just means no one can get on to the machines and actually see what they're like to try.

I actually did get on one once and loaded up a few websites to try out the new keyboard, before the apple guy asked me if I would mind getting off and making way for the guy with him who was thinking of buying something! Cheeky swine - as that's what I wanted to do - and I told him so..

Anyway - rant over :-)

"We're going to have to monitor you..."

"... if your going to be using windows with parrallels."

I love the mac shop but I've found that if your not a fancy rich mac customer your not made to feel very welcome, may just be a single experience thats made me knock off a start on the rating of the most shineyest of Apple stores. I still really like the idea apple have letting anyone come in and use the hardware, good shop, good service, not so good customer care. It's a must see though if your visiting london.

very good

i went there to buy my ipod and the service was very good and i got my product without a delay and it was always in stock.

Retail heaven

"Hey guys! I've a great idea! Let's take some of the most expensive retail space in the world and fill it with very little indeed!"

So they did.

And it's impossible not to go 'Wow!' when you first walk in.

It's also impossible not to buy something after you do.

It's hard not to have fun here

There is not many companies in the world that can have you wait in line for 30 minutes longer than you are supposed to, charge you £200 to fix a laptop that is still in warranty, and yet still have you spend a £100 on extras. If Apple Inc. was a drug, it too would have been banned in public places.

The store itself is pretty amazing, the largest of it's kind in the world, a simplistically designed interior, and particularly friendly staff.

Podtastic

The Apple Store on Regent Street is everything you might expect from Apple - shiny, modern and innovative. More than just a store - they have dedicated customer service computer geeks at the "genius bar", regular talks and presentations on Mac-related things and a rather impressive transparent staircase. There's lots of opportunity to get hands-on with the various ipods and Macs on display (even if this does mean there's usually a lot of foreign students using Hotmail on the store's broadband connection!). In a rather cool break from retail convention, if you buy a product on the shop floor (from one of the Apple staff with a portable till) they will email you your reciept. The store is sometimes extremely busy at the weekends and there are often long lines to have a go on the various hands-on toys, but generally this is a good shopping experience.

It's shiny

Every time I've had friends down we've been to the Apple store to bask in it's shiny goodness...and play on the Apples. Good fun. I will buy something from there before the summer, probably a new Macbook.

iPods and More

This Apple store is the flagship shop in London. It sells everything from Mac Notebooks to iPod speakers. All products can be tested in store, and there is free internet. The Genius Bar sees trained staff fix iPods and other gadgets at an alarming rate. In true Apple fashion, the store is immaculately fashionable.