Retail

The Grand Central Apple Store Opens, Converts me from Android

2011-12-09 by samthebrand. 6 comments

I did my Wikipedia research on the train before I stepped foot in Grand Central Terminal for the inaugural opening of the largest Apple store in the United States.

The iconic opal clock above the central information booth is valued between $10 to $20 million. The building is properly referred to as Grand Central Terminal, not Grand Central Station. During World War II, soldiers were instructed to shoot on sight anyone who gained unauthorized access to the hidden AC to DC converters, which powered tracks along the entire Eastern Seaboard. The ceiling zodiac, originally painted in 1912 and scraped clean of tobacco soot in 1998, is painted backwards, as if onlookers are glancing in on the universe from the outside — from God’s perspective.

On a typical day, 750,000 people pass through Grand Central Terminal. Today, Friday December 9 was not typical.

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A pleasant trip to the Microsoft Store (Or was it the Apple store?)

2011-11-13 by Nathan Greenstein. 4 comments

Seattle’s Apple Store is located in the University Village shopping center. As of late October, so is the Microsoft Store.

Perhaps because Seattle is near Microsoft’s hometown Redmond, Microsoft has put a lot of effort into promoting this new store. Before the store opened, Microsoft opened a tent for people to play with Kinects and Windows Phones. If you visited the store on grand opening day, you got free tickets to a Black Keys concert.
So, overall, a very aggressive promotion strategy. But that isn’t the only aspect of the store that has been aggressive. Take, for example, the location.


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