Norm's Blog

Last week as I was telling one of my colleagues (www.mason23.com/jack) about a trip I was planning to New York, I let it slip that I was going to my favorite place in the city (or at least my favorite place that doesn't serve food). As I waxed poetic about the Apple Store in New York, which is located in an old post office at the corner of Prince and Greene Streets in SoHo, my colleague asked me to take some photos so he too could see what I loved some much about my experience.

As it happened I ended up getting a little more involved in the project than I thought I would. The photos are posted here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/normmorneau). This is the first trip I have made back to the Apple Store since I joined Mason, Inc. four months ago. This is important to note because we are spending a lot of time learning and promoting alternative media and brand trial. It made me think about my previous experiences at the Apple Store in New York and why I loved it so much. What follows is the story of what prompted me to go in the first place and why I still love it every time I go back.

Growing up my family used the IBM PC (with a beautiful green screen that I stared at for hours). When I was in 7th grade though things changed we got new computers in my school but we never really used them. Instead I remember using the librarian's computer to do research projects. Her computer was a beautiful Macintosh (the model escapes me) that was an all-in-one unit with a brillant display screen and a cd-rom drive. I thought this was the coolest thing ever, or I would have if I had been a little more cognizant of what was happening around me. Instead I went to highschool and got drawn into the magical world of Windows, please forgive me but Windows 95 had just come out and I thought that it trumped everything else I had ever used. I became a Windows addict that I wouldn't take word processing in highschool because they were being taught on Apple II's (I still wonder whether or not this was a mistake). As I progressed through highschool we used Windows almost exclusively except to run the school newspaper. I still didn't appreciate the sheer beauty of the Mac or its operating system at this point. Finally it came time to apply to college and my decision eventually hinged on whether to go to a Windows or a Mac based school. Unfortunately I chose the Windows based school and that started my love affair with Apple.

In college we were given Windows based laptops (which was really cool, don't get me wrong) but when I joined the school newspaper my sophomore year the Mac offered so much more. It was a nicer case, ran software better, and just made more sense to me. Finally, just before my senior year in college the Apple Store in SoHo opened. At this point I had already decided that I didn't enjoy my Windows experiences and that the Mac was a better product. When I walked into the store in the Fall of 2002 I was awestruck. This store was like a candy shop, except it was better because it won't rot your teeth and actually makes you productive.

When Apple created the store in SoHo they did a spectacular job. The outside of the building (except for the window advertisements) has been unchanged except for the addition of what I would consider a beacon of hope, an Apple logo cut out of black metal hanging above massive glass doors. You walk through the front doors and you are greeted by a soaring ceiling that holds all the electronic toys you could possibly imagine. There are stations to play with the latest and greatest Apple products. There is an area for education (the second floor theatre where they offer free wifi and demo software products all day). They offer software and peripherals and even their infamous Genius Bar where you can get those difficult questions answered. It is not just the beauty of the store that makes it the greatest place in the world for me though. The people make it an even better experience. Apple has staffed out the store to the gills, there are always people on hand in every department to answer all of your questions or direct you to someone who does know (although I have found that most of the people know the answers to questions you didn't even realize you wanted to ask). These are just the people on staff though, the patrons are about as ecletic as they come even for SoHo, there are computer geeks; jocks; the elderly; young students; professionals and tourists. Everyone has been drawn in either by the brand (in which case they already knew it was going to be an experience to remember) or by the wonderful exterior.

Overall, the experience at the Apple Store in unmatched by any other store that I have visited.