As they’ve done in years’ past, some Apple retail stores this holiday season will repurpose the Genius Bar for additional product space, pick-ups, or other uses as Apple attempts to make the shopping experience for customers as smooth as possible, 9to5Mac has learned.
The repurposing for the holidays will only arrive in some stores depending on needs and traffic, with some stores scheduled to use the Genius Bar area to complete express sales and hold products scheduled for pick-up. Other changes, however, will go beyond the holidays as the stores under new retail chief Angela Ahrendts evolve to better deal with increased foot traffic.
For some stores that means that the Genius Bar itself might be closed until the new year, but Geniuses will still be available on the floor and at tables often located in front of the Genius Bar. Some stores will also not be taking Genius Bar appointments for a few days during the week of December 25.
While the changes mentioned above are strictly related to the holidays, rumblings among sources close to retail is that long-term Apple is flirting with other changes for the Genius Bar. Earlier this month we reported that Apple was recruiting retail employees with “a fashion or luxury background” suggesting Ahrendts was preparing retail stores to begin selling Apple’s first product to crossover into the fashion world, its upcoming Apple Watch arriving early next year.
The physical changes you’ll see this month are mostly seasonal, although sources tell us some new retail stores are changing the Genius area slightly with no Genius Bar-specific signage or monitors displaying tips.
The tweaks to Genius Bars, however, are likely to allow Apple to easier repurpose that part of the store on the fly to accommodate a store’s particular needs at any given time. It doesn’t mean Genius Bars are going away, as Apple has also recently implemented improvements to the Genius support experience. We reported back in July on some of the recent changes at retail implemented by Ahrendts. Among those changes were enhancements to the Genius Bar including increasing the amount of time customers are able to book with Geniuses.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLTNfIaL5YI&start=180]
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
OT, but the Genius Bar displayed here looks like the one in Amsterdam, which is the longest in the world.
Any steps they can take to make the Apple Store less unpleasant would be great
Should call them Arrogant Ashole Bar.
easily the worst retail experience many people have encountered.
What are you talking about? Maybe the worst you’ve ever experienced. What did you go in with a liquid damaged computer and get upset because Apple couldn’t cover it under warranty? Apple retail, especially the Genius Bar is some of the best FREE tech support you’ll ever get. Arrogant people like you are the reason the techs and support at the retail stores are so difficult…
I know! They’re the worst right. Confused why you’d be caught in an Apple Store as a shill though.
Herb probably got mixed up with the service bar at a Shamsung store… oh wait…
We used to do this every year. (I used to work Apple Retail for a while). This is called the Express station. They will put certain items there that people just want to get and go: some iPads, iTunes and Apple Store gift cards, lower model Macbook Airs, some iPods and probably now some Beats. They assign a few employees to stay in Express (in which their AppleCare numbers will drop significantly, lol) and they just ring people up.
in Aix-en-Provence in France there’s a new small Apple Store – looks awesome except it’s a total disaster inside as making any sort of Genius appointment – mac or iOS – is virtually impossible. The grid is full and you basically have to pounce on it as soon as they make the new appointments ready, so you get to go 10 days later etc. When it actually came to the crunch of a repair it was the best part of 2 weeks as they were too busy. They admit as much and apologise, but if they turn that into more retail space, the experience for customers will be a train wreck.
Interesting if they end up going through with it.