Apple Stores (and resellers) around the World

[Adel]

Figured I'd start a thread about experiences in Apple Stores and Resellers outside the country, so that if you guys get a chance to visit these places you'd know what to expect. Some of you have been to Apple Stores in the US and other countries, and I invite you to share your pics and stories, so that we in the Philippines have some perspective and idea what lies beyond our shores.

I just came from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and was able to visit the largest Apple Reseller Display Store in the Asia/Pacific region (or so I hear from elbertc, who kindly texted me addresses and locations for the KL area).




I went to the Apple Experience Centre/Mac Studio in a mall in Petaling Jaya. The full address is:

macstudio
F8, Level 1, Ikano Power Center
No.2 Jalan PJU 7/2, Mutiara Damansara
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor




The mall is about 25 kilometers from the city center, and is accessible via highways so its about fifteen to twenty minutes from the Petronas Towers. The display area is big, with separate counters for the different aspects of Mac-ness: iPods, desktops, portables, etc.. There are separate areas for 3rd party peripherals, and counters and shelves for HP-made stuff, for PalmOne stuff, etc. Specific tables carry working displays of different kinds of Macs, and a big table of assorted Macs all together. There is even one large counter in a corner dedicated to AppleCare alone. There is a second level for audiovisual presentations as well.




There is a long shelf of stuff for your pawing and perusal along one wall, complete with Powermac G5s, iMac G5s, music equipment for use with GarageBand, all sorts of stuff that can max out your card lickety-split.




They put together all the iPod product lines in one display, watched over by an iMannequin. In the glass display they had minis, 4g clickwheels, U2 iPods and the 40 and 60gb iPod photos. (Prices are roughly the same as in Manila, just a few hundreds less.) The key thing is availability of stuff, and all under one roof. (But they didn't have something I was looking for - the Griffin radioShark, which was coming in a couple of weeks, according to one of the staff. Too late for me.)




It's a cozy place, and there are a lot of helpful and friendly staff about ready to answer any questions you may have. They largely leave you alone to manhandle the products, so you can be comfy and take your time. They have some nice light blue couches along the walls where you can sit and lounge around.




I felt right at home.

[alejandro]

Hey adel, thanks for the heads up. Im here in KL and I'll have to check out this store. Hopefully I'll get some good deals from here.

[Adel]

Originally posted by alejandro
Hey adel, thanks for the heads up. Im here in KL and I'll have to check out this store. Hopefully I'll get some good deals from here.

Hah! A timely post, then. Their number is 603-7725-2799/7725-1799 is you need to call them. Have fun!

[annie_mae]

Hi, my mom is planning to buy an ibook in malaysia. is there a material price diff? when i compared prices on the apple site, singapore and hongkong are the cheapest, but she's not going there

A 60Gb, ibook G4 w/ a 12" screen costs a little less than 80k at the applecenter. if the price diff is not that great, i'll just buy here.

[penmanila]

am off early tomorrow for a few days in KL; thanks for this link, arel. i don't know how much time i have to go mac-sightseeing but i hope there'll be enough tech stuff in the malls around the petronas tower area (where i'll be) to make it worth my while. i'm itching like hell to get a new powerbook but with macworld just around the corner, i think i'll just look for sleeves and that sort of thing....

[jepaz]

There is also another Mac shop at 1Utama Mall, Petaling Jaya(PJ). You need to have a local to accompany you going there since it is far from KL.

[charmichael]

omg.. i wish we had an apple center like that! i could just imagine how many converts we'd get with that big of a store.. Ü

[S13]

Apple just opened an Apple Store this morning in our small city of Sendai, here in Japan. The small is quite small by Apple Store standards (at least the ones I've visited). Maybe larger than the Apple Store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu. And it's housed in its own building unlike the one in Ala Moana. It's just a one-storey affair, with a straight, simple layout. The cashier is at the far end of the store, requiring customers to pass through all the tempting displays of Macs, iPods, Mac software, and of course, accessories to go with all the Apple hardware before reaching the cashier.

I braved 0ºC weather for almost 2 hours before being allowed to pass through the sacred glass doors (do I sound like a bonafide Mac cult-follower now?). It was nothing though, compared to my Filipina friend who was already in line at 5:30AM. There were about 400 people in front of me when I arrived around 30 minutes before the doors were opened. I'm glad that the people here in Sendai are sensible enough not to camp out in front of the store on a freezing winter night, or else I wouldn't have gotten a free Apple Store T-shirt.

Here are some pictures of the opening.






To see the larger images, just visit my flickr album.

[Edited on 12-10-2005 by S13]

[essay]

Can you actually take photos inside an Apple Store? (Obviously, those photos are telling evidence!)

But I tried to do that in Apple Store San Francisco, and an Apple attendant politely stopped me and instructed me to take photos outside.

[penmanila]

yup, a guard stopped me in nagoya, too. don't see why they should, since we're giving them free advertising everytime we send their pictures out, and there's nothing in the store you can' buy elsewhere.