Hi Richie and Others, I don't think that any of the Apple Sales locations within Best Buy or Comp USA are supported on the web listings. In fact, stores in some countries where Macs are popular, like France, are not shown on the web listing of retail stores.
My guess is that this reservation signup on the web program only works for stores that have certain software installed. When you go to the Alaska Mac Store and visit the genius bar, do they ask you to log in? When our local Apple Store first opened some years ago you just waited at the Genius bar for the next opening. Then, some months later, they told you to sign in on one of the Macs in the store that were left set at a check-in web page (just your name and a brief description of the reason for your visit), and when you did, you got told when the next opening was and you were placed on a list. It was a way of helping you and the store manage your time. They must have extended this so that you could do this on an outside web site, with more options in scheduling and querying your reservation status. When I was searching for the Apple retail store list web pages, I came across a site devoted entirely to news and information about Apple Computer's retail stores. Here's their article about the history of Apple's retail stores: http://www.ifoapplestore.com/the_stores.html I thought this gave interesting background, especially about the decisions of why Apple decided to open their own stores and also what goes into current store hiring and features. While I think the whole article may be of interest to Richie, other list readers may be more interested in what goes into the staffing and training of employees -- especially in light of the varied experiences people have had with support. The author admits that the article is mainly about the stores, and that what he writes about employees and staffing is gathered from multiple sources, some of which may not be reliable (so this part should be taken with a grain of salt). It's nevertheless interesting to read what he says about their training (near the end of the article). Here are a few excerpts: <snip> History So why did Apple invest in a chain of retail stores? You may know that Apple never sold directly to customers until the Internet revolution, when it began offering computers via its on-line store. Before and since that, Apple had only a network of authorized dealers who sold computers to customers, including to big corporate accounts. They attempted to make sure Macintosh retailers were dedicated, well-trained and focused on sales. They avoided the mass-market outlets, such as Target and K-Mart, even though they might have liked the traffic the stores received. However, they did dabble with two outlets that were considered more mass market--Sears and CompUSA. My personal experience with Macintosh marketing at Sears stores is probably representative of Macintosh sales during this era: I visited several stores in northern California during 2000 and 2001, and invariably found missing keys on the computers' keyboards, particularly the older iBook computers. There were very few models on display, they were usually tucked away in an obscure location, and there was never a salesperson who knew anything about the computers. The same problem was obvious at the CompUSA stores I visited. Apple had apparently realized they weren't getting enough exposure in CompUSA stores, and so instituted a concept they called "store within a store." <more details about how this worked, and why there were still problems with sales personnel and support, and what steps Apple took to try to improve this.> But all this wasn't enough. Apple wanted to go even further. They wanted total, complete control of the retail experience, something they could accomplish only by opening their own stores. <details about hiring Ron Johnson as vice-president for retail> At a Jan. 2005 retail conference, Johnson told the audience about an early strategy meeting with Steve Jobs about the store. "I sat in a room with Steve, and he put on the table Apple's product line. And we had four products, two portables and two desktop computers. The iPod wasn't created yet." So immediately, Johnson knew Apple would have just four products to fill the 6,000 square-feet stores. "And that was a challenge. But it ended up being the ultimate opportunity, because we said, because we don't have enough products to fill a store that size, let's fill it with the ownership experience." Johnson continued, "So we quickly moved from a buying experience to an ownership experience--Genius Bars, theaters, and face-to-face help and friendly people. <more description about the common characteristics they wanted their stores to have, with a list of features and discussion> Perhaps the most important of the above features is the "hands on use." <A lot of details about specific stores and features -- maybe more than most list readers want. About half-way through the page there's a section on "The Employees"> This Web site focuses on Apple's stores and not its employees. Nevertheless, I've collected lots of interesting information about the people that staff Apple's retail stores. <What's interesting here is what goes into employee selection and training, with the caveats about the informal nature of the information gathering method,> I've received lots of e-mail about what qualities or knowledge Apple is seeking from applicants, and have written some advice about being hired. There seems to be some minimum required knowledge of Apple products, technical knowledge of Macintosh systems, and prior retail experience. However, a larger consideration seems to be the applicants personality, attitude and how they will fit into providing the customer with the right in-store experience. It seems that Apple is willing to train applicants about retail selling, technical details and other specifics, but want employees who have already have the qualities that highlight teamwork, enthusiasm and the ability to project Apple's corporate philosophy. So an applicant with lots of technical knowledge about Macintosh systems doesn't automatically have an edge over someone who fits a certain personality type. <snip> Information about employee training is notoriously hard to come by. I do know that the training period is three weeks, and includes role-play, Web-based product familiarity access, and classes on Apple's retail philosophy, basic sales techniques and customer relations. Apparently all product information is obtained through two Apple Web sites--there is no in-person product training. Furthermore, the store computers are the only source of software for employee familiarity training--there are no computers where employees can sit down, run a program, learn about its features, and gain proficiency. <snip> Yet, it's clear that Apple is hiring people who have some degree of passion for the Macintosh and other Apple products-- no one would work for near-minimum wage without the passion. It's also clear that they're providing at least 80 hours of training for new employees on sales techniques, customer service and Apple products. This generally translates into friendly, accommodating store employees who are knowledgeable about the Mac, and what products fit customer needs. It's also obvious that every store has its own "personality," ranging from a casual "skateboard and BMX kick-ass" feeling, to a more formal suit-and-tie feeling <end of excerpts> I'll note that this kind of training (as described in the article) isn't likely to produce many sales staff knowledgeable in VoiceOver. Cheers, Esther On Tuesday, September 25, 2007, at 10:41AM, "Richie Gardenhire"wrote: >If Alaska would be listed, it would probably have either Best Buy or >Comp USA, because they are large, chain stores, whereas the Alaska >Mac Store is small and locally owned. I have inquired to Apple as to >why our stores are not listed and am waiting to hear from them. >Richie Gardenhire, Anchorage, Alaska. > > >
