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Mar 27, 2023Liked by Michael Steeber

I worked at an Apple Store during the Angela Ahrendts’s era. She was definitely the voice of the “gathering place” ethos. My shopping center store just laughed at that idea though it was heavily pushed. I did visit some stores in San Francisco and New York in which the Forum video wall was used productively. But, in general it was a wasted feature. I worked for several years as a Creative, however my customers mostly needed help rather than inspiration.

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I have major respect for the Creatives at mall stores — that requires a lot of perseverance!

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Mar 28, 2023·edited Mar 28, 2023Liked by Michael Steeber

At Apple Tianyi Square, normally only a few people are attending Today at Apple while Pickup is always busy. One mistake I think Apple made is that they should put Forum on the 1st floor and near the retail area, instead of on the 2nd floor and next to the Genius Bar or data migration area. People who have reservations at Genius Bar or are activating their new devices do not really have too much interest in Today at Apple. But people who are willing to purchase a new product would be happy to learn more about the product.

But one thing that surprises me is that during the summer holiday, the Forum will be super crowded! Many parents send their kids to Apple Store and let them stay for a whole day 😂 Actually that's a good idea, Apple may consider having some services to particularly serve kids (and students) and put some iPad and Mac desks near the Forum so that when kids finish their session they can ask their parents if they can buy them a new iPad and quickly take them to the desks with latest iPad models

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It sounds like Apple Camp needs to run all year long 😁

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Michael, always enjoy your newsletters. From the last one, I was left confused about all the terminology around the elements of an Apple Store. I couldn't get a grasp on what exactly a Forum is or what Today at Apple looks like. Could you help us out with a glossary of terms? Also, is there a way to link references of specific stores in your newsletters to open your Facades app to that specific store?

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Hi Robert, thanks for letting me know. I understand this week's newsletter was pretty technical. I have a glossary of Apple Store terminology here that might help now and in the future: https://departmentmap.store/glossary

As for linking to stores, unfortunately I don't have a way to open links directly in Facades. Thanks for reading Tabletops, I appreciate it!

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Thanks! That's exactly what I needed.

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