Filed under: Retail, Cult of Mac, Apple
Knoxville gets an Apple Store
Probably like most people standing in line at West Town Mall this morning, I never thought I'd see the day Knoxville got an Apple Store. Shoot, I figured Apple's retail strategy wouldn't fare so well anyway, and would never expand beyond about a dozen high-profile stores worldwide. But Apple is serious about this retail experience. The crew were energetic, polished, and professional. The store was a nice fit, even if it was hard to take a decent picture. Still, there was a surprisingly large line, one which hadn't shrunk much by the time we left (just before noon). Looks like busy opening days at Apple Stores are still in fashion.There are two other places to buy Macs in Knoxville (home of the wigsphere): old, tired CompUSA with its MacGhetto and the local Mac fanatic shop, MCS. CompUSA is what it is, but MCS has a charm unto its own. Those guys rock. Still, the mall placement and beautiful styling that is every Apple retail initiative is somewhat of a quiet vindication for many of the Mac fans I saw in line, especially those who stuck with Apple in the Copland days (I saw a woman wearing the shirt with a big red 8 folks). Many of us thought the company would just disappear under a sea of beige. And as we left with our free t-shirts, an older woman asked what we bought that was so wonderful. "Just a few things," said my wife. The woman looked puzzled, and asked why everyone was in line if this was just another store. "But it's an Apple store," she insisted. The older woman turned to her friends, clueless. We left, betting she might drift in later that day, and wind up with a cute little nano for her mall walks...
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joshua said 4:26PM on 7-01-2006
Good - now all we need is one in Murfreesboro, TN. There's a 20,000+ student college there.
Reply
Paint.er said 6:04PM on 7-01-2006
I'm glad that Apple is expanding. I hope in future Apple will open store in our forgotten city and I won't be able to travel hundreds of miles. And maybe even our dummy society will understand all power of Apple
Reply
Think Random said 6:15PM on 7-01-2006
Is it near the Wig Shop/Wigsphere?
They should've gone to Disneyland.
Reply
Christian said 6:28PM on 7-01-2006
I've never quite figured out the animosity between Mac people and CompUSA. Maybe I'm just sensitive about it because I worked there very long ago. At any rate, you DO realize that CompUSA carried Apple through a pretty dark period in its sales era, and did provide rather exceptional service to Mac people, relative to what they were able to get elsewhere. I'm not saying it's been all smiles and sunshine by any means, but CompUSA did form an important retail backbone for Apple before Apple had sprouted its own [highly successful] retail wings. Give The Man a little credit?
Reply
bob dob said 6:45PM on 7-01-2006
i went to compusa the other day... the 2 guys manning the apple corner were just two idiot college kids baked out of their minds. it was funny, but they didnt answer my question. damb.
Reply
Dee said 7:43PM on 7-01-2006
The CompUSA in my town (Ann Arbor MI) has excellent employees in their Apple section. There is a full-time Apple Specialist, who works for Apple, assigned to that store also. They are much more friendly and helpful than the ones in the long-time local Apple-Authorized-Repair place in town (where I never shop because they are so un-helpful). They are in regular contact with the user groups in the area. There sales are great. We alsohave 2 Apple stores within driving distance (25 and 35 miles), so they are not exactly close, but the experience is also great. I am worried about the CompUSA, though, because there is a Best Buy right next to them in the same parking lot, and I read that Best Buy will now also be selling Apple computers. .
Reply
Jonathan said 9:09PM on 7-01-2006
You know, CompUSA may have carried the Mac during some dark days in Apple's history, but MCS has been here since almost the beginning of Apple.
Reply
Anthony said 10:43PM on 7-01-2006
Knoxville has needed one forever! Joshua, aren't the 2 Macs on display in the bookstore in the KUC at MTSU (murfreesboro TN) enough for the 20K+ students :-)
LOL
Reply
GmanMac said 11:16PM on 7-01-2006
I don't see CompUsa even advertising Macs anymore in the Sunday advertisements.
Right about the time Best-Buy started testing out full-line Apple sales.
Reply
Ramsey Cohen said 11:35PM on 7-01-2006
It is about time K-town got an apple store. I am also glad to see that TUAW had a right up on it. I loved the whole atmosphere of the opening. I met alot of interesting people and really enjoyed knowing I was in company of fellow people who could call the selves, "We, THE HARDCORE!" It was great to realize that one isn't totally alone in their obsession of the beauty and brilliance Apple exudes. I hope everyone else was as pleased as I was. The best part was the employess giving us all fives as we entered. It was one of the coolest things I have ever been apart of...And BTW I love the article, very well written.
Reply
Don said 10:52AM on 7-02-2006
We have three Apple stores within about 7 miles (in Northern VA) for all the good they do. Not a one of them is accepting reservations to the Genius Bar unless you're a Pro Care member, and so even though my Mac Mini was purchased at the Apple Store and is still under warranty, Apple has told me to take it to... wait for it... CompUSA to get it fixed.
Reply
Barry Wallace said 10:54AM on 7-02-2006
Born and raised in Knoxville, it's great to see West Town Mall get an Apple store. The third largest city in the state of Tennessee, Knoxville isn't all that big as large cities go.
An Atlanta resident for 11 years, my family still resides in Knoxville. My parents recently bought a Dell, even though my mom longs for another Mac. Had the Apple Store existed in Knoxville, I'll bet there'd be an iMac in my parents den instead.
Apple has come a long way, but I still get a lot of grief from friends & coworkers over my Macs. I've been loyal over the years with a Quadra, PowerMac 7200, iMac G3, and two G4 iBooks. Add in a Message Pad 2000, iPod mini, and Apple monitors & printers.
I have to be a little different...there's an iBook on my desk & a turbo-diesel VW in the driveway.
Go Apple!
Reply
Nebster said 1:37PM on 7-02-2006
I was the 20th person in line at the Knoxville opening. Also the first person at the genius bar. I hadn't been to a apple store in awhile and was disappointed to find out that the red phone had been removed.
Reply
Patrick G said 1:09PM on 7-04-2006
Only 3 Apple stores outside the US (Tokyo, London .. Paris I think).
Not worth it? We even have to pay MORE ...
Reply