dogface1956's Profile

  • Dec 31, 1969
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Latest comments made by: dogface1956

  • Some interesting posts. I would like to say a few things. First, I have run all-macintosh computer stores so I think I know a thing or two about what it takes to run a mac computer store and make it successful. I was the vp of sales and president of ComputerWare from 1991 to 2001 we had 10 stores in the bay area and our sales were over 60 million when we ceased operation (which is another story) while we were far from perfect I think at the very least we tried, given the budget (far less than the money that Apple has) we were operating with, to provide our customers with the best service possible. The thing that makes me crazy with the Apple stores in that they could be "great" they have resources that any normal mac retailer does not have access to. Such as a higher staffing levels (I can only dream of having the money to hire as many people as Apple has working in a store at ComputerWare we only had the money to have between 5 and 7 people working in our stores at Apple they have between 15 and 30), the money for fixtures and displays that Apple has is far more most computer dealers, the access to the "hot" new computers first and priority getting the new stuff (if it is in tight supply) are advantages that most dealers can only dream about. The money that they can spend on things like rent and marketing are far more than your typical mac dealer. It's too bad that Apple is wasting the opportunity hopefully they will improve the shopping experience in the stores over time as they learn that running a computer store takes a bit more work then running your typical Target store (which is where many of the people who are running the Apple stores come from). However, I remain bullish regarding the Apple market and am putting my money where my mouth is. I will be opening a brand new all-macintosh store in San Rafael. Hopefully I can earn my customers trust and loyality by treating them the way they deserve to be treated. Now I don't have deep pockets and unlimited funding, but I think that mac customers still value good service (with fair return and price protection policies), fair pricing, a comfortable atmosphere to shop and where customers will always have our appreciation because we know they have other places to shop and other ways to spend their valuable time and money. Where they can come in and have a cup of coffee, read through our library of mac books, mac magazines, hop on the internet or just relax and hang out. Any way look for the store to open in about two weeks from the folks that brought you MacOrchard (in Berkeley in 1987), MacGarden (in San Rafael in 1988) and ComputerWare (in Palo Alto in 1985). We know what it takes to be an all-mac dealer.
  • How can you ask them questions if they avoid you? They don't make eye contact, they often hang out in groups talking and laughing, which I think is intimating to newbie's since it seems the employees are in on some kind of inside joke or something. In the Santa Clara Apple store I walked around looking puzzled and trying to make eye contact with the salespeople and would not engage me in conversation. I even walked over to one of the digital camera displays with my buddy, right next to a store employee who was cleaning a display and started talking about things like, I wonder how many megapixels this camera is, I wonder if I can print out 13 x 19 high resoulution pictures using this camera, what do you think the camera comes with, the employee acted like they could not hear us and started cleaning another display across the store. The fact is that with the resources that Apple has the stores could be killer, but they are not, the salespeople act superior like they know something you don't, the displays are not clearly marked (they don't even seperate the OS X software and the OS 9 only software), they don't have enough registers for peak times (like the iPod intro), and they don't man their registers all the time so if you picked something off the shelf without the help of a salesperson good luck getting help. Yes the stores look nice, yes they are entirely focused on the Mac, but it takes more than that to make a great shopping experience and the Apple stores are not there yet, and I wonder with the attitude they seem to have if they will ever get there.
  • You are kidding right, let's see Steve Jobs pretty much makes every decision at Apple it's no wonder that employee's are afraid to make suggestions, if Steve does not like it they're out of there. The stores are his baby, he does not want them to be cluttered up with things like registers. After all Steve shops where normal people shop right??? My experience at the Apple stores in the SF Bay Area (Except for Palo Alto where Steve has been known to stop by often) has been terrible. In the Emeryville store I waited at the counter with a piece of software in one hand and my wallet in another waiting for an employee to ring me up at the counter in the back of the store with employee's walking by to go into the back room (the great employee black hole). I waited 15 minutes before an employee (who used to work for me by the way) walked by and asked me if I wanted to buy the software, duh!!!. In the Santa Clara store me and a buddy walked around for 1 hour (I kid you not) and no one came up to us and asked if we needed help, they were too busy talking and laughing it up, or cleaning (sanding) the displays, or looking out the door. I can only wish I had the resources of Apple. The store I would create would have a greeter (they have enough people that everyone that walks into the store should be greeted when they walk in), they should assign salespeople to the register (most of the time they wander off and like I mentioned above flagging one down is sometimes next to impossible). They should lock their back room doors, since their salespeople have a bad habit of disappearing in the back and never coming back out. With their staffing there is just no excuse for them losing any sales because a customer can't get helped or find a salesperson. They also need to train their salespeople on basic people skills, in the Northridge store me and my wife were talking to a salesperson about an iMac and all the salesperson did was stare at my wife's chest, when I asked him if he saw anything he liked, he turned around and walked away. When I complained about it to one of the Asst. Managers, he said "well we hire computer geeks and sometimes their manners are not very good" I fired off an email of complaint to Apple, but never heard back, I guess they are a company of geeks.