Valencia Apple Store opening forces reseller to close

The number of down votes on posts pointing out that this is a very real issue is kind of disappointing; as Apple people there is some sort of...presumption...that we kind of know about the company we support.

People seem to forget what is "unflattering"...but I can point many people to this story and they can tell you, yes, this happened in our market/our store...and can describe the general process as i have in one of my responses below.

the question was, in the early days, "why doesn't Apple open a store near me? We have to drive X number of ridiculous miles to get proper Apple service around here!"...and as the number of stores grew and a pattern emerged...along with some long-standing resellers being driven out of business, the facts of what was happening were brought into focus.

Of course, then, the "party line" was "well...these resellers all sucked anyway, so yay for Apple for coming in and doing it right..."

Of course, when it was reported *how* Apple was choosing where to do this, then the whole Genius and Business Consulting things came to light as promises broken on Apple's part, a slight for people were like "that's not cool" but the majority still found ways to justify Apple's actions.

What a strange group we are. Apple's customers did not get the "zealot" tag for nothing :)

-K

If they closed in 4 weeks, my guess is that they were already struggling before Apple came to town and/or they didn't have a real desire to compete.

This is happening all over the world! I ran a local reseller & service provider in Norwich UK with 8 staff Apple store arrived and killed our business in 3 months... We lost all Warranty work over night.... I have sold and repaired Apple product for 15 years. I supported them in the dark times when Apple nearly went out of business, and this is how Apple repays loyalty.So with the Apple Store and now the app store even more revenue is lost. I know of at least businesses that are no more because of Apple..

It's said but I would have thought these resellers would have seen the writing on the wall years ago that their days are numbered with the constant spread of Apple stores. Hopefully they prepared themselves financially and with a plan to change their business.

Four weeks? That's not enough time to see what impact it has on your sales, or to adapt - that's just giving up because you've been enjoying your monopoly in the area and can't compete.

I live in Chicago, Land of Apple Stores (seriously - I can think of seven off the top of my head). I know of several local Apple dealers that have weathered this just fine because they offer exceptional support, and yes - they do things the Apple Store won't, such as out-of-warranty repairs and maintenance, and sell and support third party products for local business.

If you have no value add beyond reselling another company's product (you're a straight middleman) and can't be bothered to do so, then I can't say I worry about your going out of business.

Something similar happened in my town in Pennsylvania. I am friends with a couple who owned an authorized Apple reseller store for years. They were very successful and had a loyal customer base. An Apple Store opened in our local mall and it completely killed them. They even moved to a higher traffic location across the street from a local college, but it didn't help them at all. They simply couldn't afford to keep stocked with the amount of inventory the Apple Store can, and they weren't able to honor discounts for teachers, students or government employees like the Apple Store can. They had to close their doors. The idea that Apple denies that their retail stores hurt Apple resellers is just insane. They are in direct competition.