Apple Store 5th Ave continues to defy gravity, macroeconomics

First you have to remember that this store is open 24 hours. Second if you ever went into the store - any time of day or night - Americans are not really shopping there - they are the morons sponging the free wifi. The people shopping there are anyone who isn't from the USA - Europeans, Asians, etc... Their money buys more here and the apple products are cheaper here than overseas.. so fortunately for apple it's the Europeans and Asians keeping this store afloat and not Americans. And to compare this store to Tiffany is ludicrous - Tiffany has SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive items throughout the store than apple will ever have so - pardon the pun - it's comparing apples to oranges.

I was on the road and passing through Cleveland and decided to stop in and visit the Apple store. It was packed at 1pm on a weekday. Packed I tell you. Freakishly packed. So much so that my wife and I were trying to figure out why. Was it a holiday? Are Ohioans just Apple nuts? Or is Apple miraculously recession proof? It was bizarre. And left me kicking myself for not buying Apple stock when it tanked last October.

I do agree the place is ALWAYS PACKED. No matter what day of the week you pick is always packed. I remember going last year during the 4th of july. Soon to be father in law,GF and me went to check on the new Ipods and man I felt bad for my soon to be father in law. He was freaking out from seen so many people in one place(hes from NC) and all he could say is"wow how can so many people come to one store at the same time. I do love the fact that you go into any apple store and you can spend hours upon hours using their product without having a sales person hovering around you or bothering you to leave the premises after spending hours and not buying anything. Oh and before anybody says anything. Yes I had purchase several Apple products and they all are still working. From my old G3(still use my 3g) all the way to my ipod touch

I frequently visit the Mall of America (Twin Cities, Minnesota -- more specifically, Bloomington). The Apple Store in the MoA was completely redesigned this summer, and is consistently packed. Say what you will about the popularity of Netbooks, the effect of the "Bargain Hunter Ads" by Microsoft, and so on. I'm convinced (as a Mac convert last October, via iPhone via iPod 5G) that the popularity and interest in Apple products is only stronger in this economy and market. As a former devoted Windows user, OSX is a more friendly interface, particularly if you're new to computing (Windows users have a learning curve...typically things are less complex to accomplish than you expect them to be).

Viva manzana!

It is remarkably reminiscent of religious architecture, and entering either by the elevator or the spiral stairs into the store below puts you in the mood to buy stuff. Stuff that works.