Apple to Open
Stores, With First at Tysons
Apple Computer
Inc. plans to open its first store May 19 in Tysons Corner, and analysts say it
is preparing to launch a nationwide chain of retail outlets.
The new store will be between the L.L. Bean and Ann Taylor stores in Tysons Corner Center and take up about 12,000 square feet, according to two sources.
"It ain't small," said one source familiar with the plans.
Apple is notorious for its obsession with secrecy surrounding the launch of new products and business ventures. Lynn Fox, Apple's senior corporate public relations manager, would not comment yesterday except to confirm that a store is opening on May 19. "Stay tuned for details," she said.
Officials at the Tysons Corner mall, meanwhile, did not return phone calls seeking comment on the plans, which were outlined in invitations Apple sent out to announce the grand opening.
Apple currently sells its products through the company's Web site or through retail dealers such as CompUSA and Circuit City. Its decision to open its own stores in cities such as Chicago and New York was foreshadowed in January when Apple chief executive Steve Jobs complained about the computer-buying experience at the MacWorld convention in San Francisco.
"Buying a car is no longer the worst purchasing experience," he told an audience of computer dealers, according to an account at the Mac news site MacWeek.com. "Buying a computer is now number one."
Many Apple supporters have long contended that the company could improve sales if stores promoted its computers more aggressively and store clerks were better versed in how the systems work.
"The main goal is to have a store where the Apple product can finally be shown in the setting that it has been denied all these years," said a source familiar with the stores, who added that there is already a prototype at the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
The Tysons location makes sense because the suburban mall serves Northern Virginia's large tech community and attracts a relatively affluent mix of shoppers. But rents at the mall tend to be higher than at strip shopping centers.
"Retail locations are expensive, which is why I think Apple may be seeing this more as a branding move than anything else," said Adam Engst, the publisher of the Apple news Web site TidBits.
He noted that Apple is moving ahead with the strategy at a time when Gateway Inc. is scaling back on its own plans for retail stores.
"Retail stores can be quite risky," agreed Martin Reynolds, a research fellow at Gartner Dataquest. But, he added, "Apple's market is biased toward first-time buyers who might find a retail store to be a better environment."
Some expressed surprise that the California-based company would open its first store on the East Coast rather than closer to its roots in the West.
"Apple has been working on this for about a year," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Solutions, a consulting company in Campbell, Calif. "Given Apple's history and their strong position in the West, we thought it was going to be out here."
Lou Dunham, a partner with MacUpgrades in Bethesda, an Apple dealer and consultant that has been in business since 1989, said that Apple's store should help generate interest in the product.
"We don't make a lot of money selling Apple products -- our bread and butter is support and service, and I can only see that getting better," he said.
The new store will be between the L.L. Bean and Ann Taylor stores in Tysons Corner Center and take up about 12,000 square feet, according to two sources.
"It ain't small," said one source familiar with the plans.
Apple is notorious for its obsession with secrecy surrounding the launch of new products and business ventures. Lynn Fox, Apple's senior corporate public relations manager, would not comment yesterday except to confirm that a store is opening on May 19. "Stay tuned for details," she said.
Officials at the Tysons Corner mall, meanwhile, did not return phone calls seeking comment on the plans, which were outlined in invitations Apple sent out to announce the grand opening.
Apple currently sells its products through the company's Web site or through retail dealers such as CompUSA and Circuit City. Its decision to open its own stores in cities such as Chicago and New York was foreshadowed in January when Apple chief executive Steve Jobs complained about the computer-buying experience at the MacWorld convention in San Francisco.
"Buying a car is no longer the worst purchasing experience," he told an audience of computer dealers, according to an account at the Mac news site MacWeek.com. "Buying a computer is now number one."
Many Apple supporters have long contended that the company could improve sales if stores promoted its computers more aggressively and store clerks were better versed in how the systems work.
"The main goal is to have a store where the Apple product can finally be shown in the setting that it has been denied all these years," said a source familiar with the stores, who added that there is already a prototype at the company's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters.
The Tysons location makes sense because the suburban mall serves Northern Virginia's large tech community and attracts a relatively affluent mix of shoppers. But rents at the mall tend to be higher than at strip shopping centers.
"Retail locations are expensive, which is why I think Apple may be seeing this more as a branding move than anything else," said Adam Engst, the publisher of the Apple news Web site TidBits.
He noted that Apple is moving ahead with the strategy at a time when Gateway Inc. is scaling back on its own plans for retail stores.
"Retail stores can be quite risky," agreed Martin Reynolds, a research fellow at Gartner Dataquest. But, he added, "Apple's market is biased toward first-time buyers who might find a retail store to be a better environment."
Some expressed surprise that the California-based company would open its first store on the East Coast rather than closer to its roots in the West.
"Apple has been working on this for about a year," said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Solutions, a consulting company in Campbell, Calif. "Given Apple's history and their strong position in the West, we thought it was going to be out here."
Lou Dunham, a partner with MacUpgrades in Bethesda, an Apple dealer and consultant that has been in business since 1989, said that Apple's store should help generate interest in the product.
"We don't make a lot of money selling Apple products -- our bread and butter is support and service, and I can only see that getting better," he said.
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