By Scott Fitzgerald
The 215th Apple Store opened at 5 pm on June 19, on the corner of Sydney’s George and King Streets. It’s the second-largest Apple Store in the world, and with this store, the first in Australia, Apple Stores now grace 4 continents. And this morning, June 18, they let the media in.
So what’s it like, how’s it work, what have they in stock, what can you play with, is it just another place to buy Apple, what are the store hours – let’s see if we can answer those questions and more.
Store hours
Monday – Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 8 am to 8 pm, Thursday: 8 am to 9 pm, Sunday: 10 am to 6 pm
Genius Bar: Monday – Wednesday, Friday and Saturday: 7 am – 9 pm, Thursday: 7 am – 10 pm, Sunday: 9 am. – 7 pm.
The ground floor – Macs, Macs, Macs
Stroll in from George Street, beneath the impressively sized, secured and suspended translucent Apple logo, and you are in a temple of Mac. Macbooks, Macbook Pros, Macbook Airs, iMacs and Mac Pros – try them all, buy them all. There are over 80 computers on display, and all connected to the internet via the store’s free wireless connection.
Overseas Apple Stores have functioned as drop-in centres and meeting places, and as I wrote in a story last week, people who don’t even own a computer have used the Apple Stores to write books and plays. You can just walk in, find a spare computer, surf the internet or write the Great Australian Novel.
A warning for the porn lovers – not that there’s anything wrong with it, but if you’re spotted by staff you will be shown the door.
Staff of many colours
Speaking of staff, there are 125 in total, identifiable by their turquoise, orange and dark blue t-shirts. The turquoise shirts are the sales assistants – they are quite well-versed in all Apple products, but initially they will stay in their areas of interest and training, but as time goes on it’s expected that they will be able to confidently man any product area.
As mentioned above, the staff members in turquoise shirts are the sales assistants. They’ll help you with product information, and will be the point people to arrange your actual purchase. No registers are visible, they’re all behind the scenes, Mr and Ms Turquoise Shirt make it all happen for you. The orange-shirted staff members are the concierges – they’ll point you to the right place and people to purchase the product you’re after, or answer your questions, or help you make a booking for one of the many training options on offer. More on that later. Lastly, there’s the dark blue-shirted staff – these are the people you’ll find on level 2, the trainers and the Genius Bar staff.
