Apple has built more than five hundred retail stores across twenty-five countries. In fact,
their first international store was in Japan where they went on to dominate the country.
And I’ll actually be making a video explaining how so make sure you’re subscribed for that.
But in total, Apple Stores welcome over five hundred million visitors
every year. And they’ve proven to be more profitable per square foot than any other
company. But all of this big success started rather small. With the first Apple Store opening
at the Tysons Corner Center mall in Virginia, almost twenty years ago. So in this video,
we’re going to take a look inside the first Apple Store, and I’ll explain the concept, the layout,
and the strategy Apple used to become a successful retailer. This is Greg with Apple Explained,
and today’s topic was second in the last voting poll. If you didn’t get to participate, make sure
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Alright now lets go back to 2001 and see what Apple’s first store looked like.
Its layout and design is much different than what we’re used to seeing today,
and there are several reasons for this. Just look at the store’s entrance, which featured a black
facade with two Apple logos on either side. A design you don’t see anymore,
since they only use one Apple logo on the front of their store’s today,
and the black accents used at early locations like this one is no longer part of Apple’s retail
design today. But not everything has changed. When you walked inside this store, you may’ve
noticed the emphasis on symmetry. A design element often used in traditional Japanese architecture
that Jobs deeply appreciated and wanted to include in their stores. And that’s one thing that still
hasn’t changed. Virtually every Apple store today still maintains this focus on symmetrical design.
But something you may’ve found odd about this store, was its big
counter at the very front. Where customers would line up and pay for their products. It’s not
something you’ll see today, since they try to prevent lines from forming as much as possible.
Honestly, it was a little odd to walk into these old Apple Stores and be greeted by the
end of the cash register line that you had to navigate around in order to start browsing
products. But once you did, you quickly realized that Apple’s own product offerings were sparse.
That’s because back in 2001, they only sold five products: the iMac, Power Mac and Power Mac Cube,
iBook, and PowerBook. And that posed a challenge. How would Apple fill up an entire store with five
products? Well, they did it by offering what they called “solutions.” Which were
essentially third party accessories compatible with Apple’s computers.
So the first two areas you saw when entering the store were labeled ‘Home’ and ‘Pro.’ To the right,
there was ‘Home.’ Where customers could explore Apple’s consumer-level computers like the iMac
and iBook. Then right across from it was the ‘Pro’ section. Which featured Apple’s most powerful and
expensive computers like the Power Mac and Power Book. As well as pro accessories like the Cinema
Display. Now those two sections, featured Apple’s entire product lineup, but occupied only a quarter
of the store. And that’s where the ‘solutions’ sections came in. There were four, labeled Music,
Movies, Photos, and Kids. They took up the middle 50% of the store and featured third party products
that could be used with Apple’s computers. There were six digital cameras, six MP3 players,
and six PDAs that customers could not only buy but also plug in to any of the Macs on display to see
exactly how they worked. The Kids section didn’t feature any products, but rather a wide selection
of educational software and games that kids could sit and test out on the four available iMacs.
At the back of the store, off to the side, was the Genius Bar. A concept that started off
quite small, featuring only five stools, but has grown quite a bit. With most Apple Stores today
dedicating their entire back section to a large Genius Bar designed to accommodate dozens of
guests. But inside the original location, things were more modest. In fact, Genius Bars used to
be equipped with a red landline telephone that Geniuses could use to call Apple’s
headquarters in Cupertino directly, if someone had a problem they couldn’t figure out on their own.
Now opposite the Genius Bar, was a section called Etcetera, where you could find cables,
adaptors, power supplies, paper, ink, and even printers and scanners.
But the space at the very back of the store was the most unique. Because that’s where guests could
find a theater. With a ten-foot rear projection screen that played commercials, demo videos,
and iTunes visualizations. Now what’s interesting about the theater section
is that Apple eventually removed them from all their stores by 2012. Opting instead for a larger
Genius Bar and more tables to display their growing product line. But in 2017 the theater
concept was revived in the form of Today At Apple. Which introduced large screens and seating areas
back into stores around the world to allow for educational sessions and presentations.
Now the last section of the first Apple Store was at the very center. An aisle that featured
over three hundred titles of software from games to professional applications. Something
that isn’t necessary today since software can be conveniently downloaded over the internet.
So that is what it felt like to step inside the first Apple Store. If you want to find out how
Apple ended up dominating Japan, don’t forget to subscribe, and I’ll see you next video.