[bag from our new on campus company store]

So we’re opening some retail stores. At last. Maybe I should dig out the memo I wrote on this 5+ years ago :)

It’s not without it’s challenges and Apple has set the bar extremely high and they’re the only company we’ll be compared against so we have a steep hill to climb….so, it’s fraught with challenges but I’m delighted to see us take this move.

Many years ago we had a retail store in San Francisco (I still have some icon fridge magnets I bought there) which maybe was ahead of its time as it was much more of a concept type store than full on retail from what I remember. Things have changed a lot since then and our product range is also much broader so despite what Scoble and Kara say, I think taking learning's from that 1999 store is probably a waste of time. Scoble has a pretty long list of what he wants to see…

Here’s what I'd love to see

1. Have less products not more – don’t baffle people with too many choices
2. Make sure they’re always fully functioning - i.e. not locked down
3. Let people play – it should be about experience, not sales
4. Have very, very savvy staff who are passionate about their stuff – I’ll be happy to work there and I tick one of those criteria :) Our MVP’s tick both…

There are way smarter people than me working on this though so I should probably stop there :) I hope J Allard as Chief Experience Officer is involved in this somehow…

Oh and just to show what we’re up against, one of my favourite bands, Snow Patrol, are playing a free gig at the Apple Store in Regent Street this evening.