Apple at Covent Garden

I saw a couple of videos of the opening of the new Apple store in Covent Garden, which is just around the corner from my office. What I don't understand is the apparent jubilation of the first people entering the store, high-fiving the staff as they go in and cheering. What is wrong with these people? It's a shop! A large, expensive, impressive shop, I will admit, full of interesting spaces and neat products, but a shop nonetheless.

Except that, while I wouldn't want to engage in such behaviour, I do understand why people are excited. Apple's stores, especially the larger ones, are undeniably attractive. They deliver not only great products but also a great shopping experience (if you don't believe me, go and play with the iPhone in an Apple store and get a demo from a staff member, then do the same thing in a Nokia store and watch for the differences) and, after years of visiting stores where you can touch but not operate the high-tech gizmos and the sales staff are, at best, useless, it is a refreshing change to deal with Apple's knowledgeable, interested and enthusiastic staff.

Apple aren't the first electronics company to try their hand at retail (Sony have had shops for years and Gateway had a modest retail estate in the late nineties) but they're the first to make their shops as cool as their products and that, I think, is the key; not only are the products right, the whole experience is right.