Former Apple retail chief Ron Johnson spoke earlier this year at his alma mater Stanford University and talked about the early years of Apple retail stores (via ifoAppleStore). Johnson oversaw the development of the Apple Store and is credited with creating the company's distinctive retail experience.
After joining Apple in 2000, Johnson was given complete control over the company's retail project by then-CEO Steve Jobs. The first Apple Stores featured high-speed Internet connections to attract new customers and were originally designed to create a sense of community among Apple users, not necessarily sell products.
“It was a pure play,” Johnson said of the store design. “There was really no compromise on any of the intuition. And I think that’s how the Apple stores connected (with visitors).” Even today, he said, people go to the stores, “just to go. They don’t go to buy. There are so many reasons to come.”
Johnson joined Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail Operations in January 2000 and remained in that role until 2011, when he departed for a CEO position at J.C. Penney. Under his leadership, Apple's retail operations exploded, generating over a $1 billion in annual sales within two years and eventually leading all U.S. retailers in terms of monetary sales per square foot.
Johnson was succeeded by Dixons' John Browett, who served as Apple's retail chief for a short seven months. Apple's retail operations, which now include 425 retail stores in 16 countries worldwide, are now under the leadership of former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts, who joined Apple earlier this year. Ahrendts is best known for her transformation of Burberry from a struggling retailer into a global fashion powerhouse.
![iCloud Mail, Calendar, Contacts and More Experiencing Outage [Updated]](https://images.macrumors.com/t/SbkSBpphyjvBjtgfgNZg-KvvJD0=/112x112/article-new/2026/07/General-iCloud-App-Feature.jpg)
Top Rated Comments
Whether you think Apple should make RAM (or clock speed) an important spec when selling their iOS devices is another topic, but thinking the store salespeople are terrible because they only discuss specs that Apple releases is silly.
What Apple store are you visiting? I've experienced nothing like that.....ever.
Umm, not really an example of a hard sell. And arguably it isn't misinformation either. Although, saying that APPLE doesn't know it is probably not really accurate, it is try that they generally don't publish this information and it requires someone to tear it down and discover this.
Yes. I was made aware that the purchase should be made at that retail location.
If they don't pressure in the store you visit good for you.
I'm finished with this topic. It's obvious that some people here think each and every retain store is the same. Any location of any retail store is only as good as the GM. Apple is no exception
I visit the store nearest my home. It was not always this way. There has been an unfortunate turn. I'll give you an example.
Several months ago I stopped in and looked at the iPad Air. A salesperson approached and asked if I had questions. I only had one. How much memory on the Air.
His response "I don't know." I asked him to find someone in the store who had the info. "No one here knows. Nobody knows. Even Apple doesn't know".
I thanked him and left. This store needs a new manager or Apple needs a CEO.
This and amazing products made Apple store visits wonderful. I seldom left without making a purchase. Now I avoid the Apple store. If I want a hard sell environment with verbal misrepresentations there are always used car lots to visit.