News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

March 17, 2006

business

Apple Stores: Old and New

Posted Mar. 17, ’06, 11:07 AM PT by Aaron Freedman
Category | Business

Tekserve's InteriorAh, the Apple Store. With it’s clean appearance, loads of Mac display models, and the somewhat helpful Genius Bar, the Apple Store is a Mac geek’s paradise. But there was a time when those stores weren’t there. Instead, there were a variety of Mac speciality stores to provide Apple products. One of those was Tekserve.

Tekserve is a Mac specialty store that’s located on New York City’s 23rd Street. The store, which has been around since 1987, sells, repairs, and upgrades a variety of Apple products and third-party software and accessories. Tekserve has the look and feel of an old repair shop (see right for interior), but with the modern, hip sense of the Apple Stores. When I first went to Tekserve a few weeks ago, I thought the place was awesome. It had a real retro-geek feeling to it.


When I walked through the door, I saw a shelf full of old Mac Classics.This is something that Apple would never do in their own stores. It would take away the modern, clean feel and make the store seem more cultish and geeky. But those things are good for Tekserve, they give it that retro feel that most computer stores just don’t have anymore. And Tekserve also has some non-geeky retro stuff, such as the vintage Coke machine that gives out 10 cent glass bottles of Coca-Cola. Now that is cool.

The look and feel of Tekserve is very different than that of the Apple Stores, though in a good way. While Apple tries to look very clean and modern, Tekserve has the rugged look of an old machine or repair shop. While Apple’s stores have a Genius Bar that requires you to sign up online, Tekserve gives you a ticket, like one for the butcher at the grocery store, for getting called to the help counter.

Tekserve also has a kind of cult following similar to that of Apple’s. Hipsters and Mac geeks hang around the store, chatting with the people at the help desk and browsing the store. The store’s cult-like following has even attracted articles to be written about it in publications such as The New York Observer and The New York Times. Tekserve’s cult following will also help it stand up to new Apple stores that will open in the Flatiron District, which is near Tekserve, and at 59th and 5th Avenue, with the latter is scheduled for completion early this summer.

But despite the retro-geekiness of Tekserve, it still tries to keep up with the times. It’s space has been made much larger, and it has the latest in Mac accessories and software. It even has the new Intel Macs, a symbol of Apple’s entry into a new era. This really does show that no matter how old Tekserve may be, it’s still a Mac store, through and through.


Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: