„One of the best pieces of advice Mickey ever gave us was to go rent a warehouse and build a prototype of a store, and not, you know, just design it, go build 20 of them, then discover it didn’t work,“ says Jobs. In other words, design it as you would a product. Apple Store Version 0.0 took shape in a warehouse near the Apple campus. „Ron and I had a store all designed,“ says Jobs, when they were stopped by an insight: The computer was evolving from a simple productivity tool to a „hub“ for video, photography, music, information, and so forth. The sale, then, was less about the machine than what you could do with it. But looking at their store, they winced. The hardware was laid out by product category – in other words, by how the company was organized internally, not by how a customer might actually want to buy things. […]

‚Tell us about the best service experience you’ve ever had.'“ Of the 18 people, 16 said it was in a hotel. This was unexpected. But of course: The concierge desk at a hotel isn’t selling anything; it’s there to help. „We said, ‚Well, how do we create a store that has the friendliness of a Four Seasons Hotel?'“ The answer: „Let’s put a bar in our stores. But instead of dispensing alcohol, we dispense advice.“

Quelle: Why Apple is the best retailer in America – March 19, 2007