Apple Stores vs. Sony Style: Apple By a Furlong

Every time I go to the Mall I visit both the Sony Style (SNE) and Apple (APPL) stores. As time progressed, the Apple store remained vibrant while the Sony Style store became more hostile.

The Apple store is very much like Borders and Barnes and Noble - an environment to congregate, play, socialize and generally have undisturbed fun. The store is always filled with teens and young adults and eludes a sense of excitement. Apple wants you to hangout. All of the computers are hooked up to the internet and the iPods are full of songs. I never bought an Apple product, but I played with plenty (including the iPhone). I guess Apple figures that if I play with their products enough times I will be seduced into buying them. Good plan!

Recently, the Sony Style store started projecting an unwelcoming aura. A security guard follows you when you play with the computers (which are not attached to the internet). They are no longer playing exciting movies, such as "Men in Black", to show off their big screen HDTVs and Blue Ray. Instead they show artsy scenes that do nothing to exploit their technology. All this has driven the young people away. To be sure, Sony has some of the best large LCD HDTVs and they need the young people to see them.

Sony has regained their cool with the VAIO line of laptops, with Apple-type designs, colors and vibrant displays. Better than my old Dell (DELL). I bought the CR series in blue from Office Depot (for a much lower price) after thoroughly testing it at the Sony Style store. A challenge to be sure with their uninformative, snooty staff.

I don't know what the purpose of the Sony Style stores is. If it is purely retail, shunning the curious with no immediate intention to buy, they're right on target. If it is to promote the brand, regardless of when and where you buy, they're failing miserably.

Disclosure: None

Comments

[Murphy Mac:]

Steinberg - Go buy an iPod touch as soon as the store opens! I haven't seen a Sony Style store that I can remember.

The Apple stores are one of a kind. Who else has a presence in so many markets with FREE tech support?

2008 Mar 06 08:33 AM

[Trader T:]

Sony - they're so 90's (according to my teenager).

2008 Mar 06 09:08 AM

[Math 101:]

In the Pentagon City Mall Sony put a Sony Style store right next to the Apple store. Every time I go to the Apple store it is always full and busy while the Sony Style store is nearly empty. Nuff said.

2008 Mar 06 09:33 AM

[Tech Junkie:]

Setting aside poor execution by the sales staff and an over zealous security guard for a moment, one must keep in mind that Apple really only offers a comparative handful of product categories and their accessories. iMacs, IPods, notebooks and the Iphone. The result is a much more easily manageable retail environment. Sony offers a much broader product assortment with the resulting challenges to their retail structure. As for me personally, I have had both good and bad experiences in an Apple store. A lot comes down to the store's individual staff on a given day. If I need to look at an Apple product, their stores are great. If I just want to check out the latest and greatest electronics, the Sony Stores are a much better place to do so.

2008 Mar 06 09:44 AM

[Picts:]

Reality Check, please post picts of the Pentagon City Mall with the 2 stores side by side. I have to see it to believe it

2008 Mar 06 09:52 AM

[digivision:]

Sony store???? never seen one...

I can't remember one piece of their equipment that can get me excited.
The times of trinitron TVs and the walkmans are over

2008 Mar 06 09:54 AM

[digivision:]

I bet the Apple store sells more sony digital cameras and camcorders than the sony store does..

2008 Mar 06 09:56 AM

[Tom B:]

I'm an Apple "fanboy", but I have a fiduciary responsibility to me and my family to invest dispassionately. I visited an Apple store a month ago. It was pretty busy. I picked up and touched and played with a MacBook Air. My 6 year old figured out how to surf the web on am iPod Touch. I was suitably impressed. You can't rely on pictures and reviews; sometimes you've got to see a product "in the flesh".

2008 Mar 06 10:07 AM

[Carrack:]

Absolutely. In Tigard, Oregon the stores are practically across from each other. The Apple Store allowed my son to do practically anything (other than walk out with unpaid merchandise), including sitting in front of an iMac for the better part of 20 minutes. The Sony store rudely turned a plasma set off because my son had the chutzpah to watch it for more than two minutes.

2008 Mar 06 12:14 PM

[F. J. Taylor:]

Mike, next time you're in, get a Mac. The VAIO may have vaguely similar colors and lines, but the Macs are lighter, sleeker, and far cooler - and just BTW, the OS X platform blows Windows out of the water. And if for some reason you are still trapped in Windows Hell (because you need it for business or some such), Macs now run Windows faster and better than Windows-specific machines. I have seen this first first hand - I loaded XP on my wife's Macbook for a Windows-specific app she uses. It loads twice as fast, runs smoother, and hasn't crashed yet! (That said, OS X still beats Windows for ease of use and plain FUN!)

People are converting in droves to Apple - not just for the stylish artistic lines and looks - for the fast, easy and smooth operation, flawless interface, killer native apps, increased security, and a great many other reasons.

2008 Mar 06 05:26 PM

[MR:]

I agree in general. I too visit the Pentagon city Sony Style and Apple Stores (and yes, they are next to each other).

The Sony store is gloomy and the employees do stare at you hungrily, if sometimes suspiciously, even when you're wearing a suit and tie. However, I do see kids having fun in their kid's section and no one seems to mind.

The Apple store is crowded and lively, but I when I needed support once, I waited in line for 10 minutes, Macbook Pro in hand, only to be ignored by by the staff, who either acknowledged that I was there and then disappeared into the back, or just kept leaning over the counter to flirt with a gum-chewing 14 year old who was apparently writing a paper.
When I politely interrupted to ask my question, (Is there an easy way to rotate screen orientation--something I know you can do, and something I could use), the guy said, "What?" and looked at me like it was the dumbest thing he had ever heard. When I tried to explain why, he just scoffed again, said, "No", and then leaned back on his elbows to flirt with the girl some more.

So I guess those stores are a good place to hang out. At least the hostiles at Sony give me their attention...

2008 Mar 07 12:09 PM

[KINCH:]

I empathize with the comments of the writer, but have to refute the direction of his article. It's somewhat misguided to acknowledge an entire retail chain on the happenings and frustrations caused by an individual store. I'm not trying to discredit the legitimacy of the visits to the stores, and I applaud the staff at the apple store and scowl at the Sony staff, but to ultimately embellish or praise the reputation of conglomerate chains based on the visits to individual stores seems a little hasty. Furthermore, comparably analyzing two stores that have different goals and demographics is similar to saying I prefer apples over potatoes; While they both are edible, they still are drastically different entities. It is also respectable to prefer apples and the Mac OS, based on your needs and objectives for the device, but if you are to hold Sony accountable for Microsoft's shortcomings, then you must hold all PC manufacturers to the same standard. Lastly, I will refute your assimilation of Apple to Barnes and Nobles on two important factors. They will not find it acceptable to run through their store, pound on their counters, listen to their music and rip through the magazine aisle. B&N is also a marketplace for various types of printed and audio media, from cookbooks and greeting cards, to DVDs and music, to foreign newspapers and a coffee bar. I am not completely sure, but I think apple's ventures into the electronic community is much more limited then Sony's multinational claim on virtually every aspect of electronics, from motion pictures to video games. Ultimately, you will always have fan-boys in every aspect of modern society. It is obvious I am a Sony fanatic and have been for a long time. But I think it is important to not let the inexperience and awful personality of a twenty year old employee determine how you spend thousands of dollars.

2008 Mar 07 12:27 PM

[Sony all t...:]

ok i have to disagree with how Sony is being misrepresented... first of all let me say the Sony does not sell Plasmas! I dont think it is fair for people to talk bad about Sony when they have either visted only one store or they have not visted it at all. I am a college student and I can tell you that I have friends that work in both stores...yay for me because i have the hook up in any store but here is my thing everybody says that Apple is always full and Sony employees look hungry for customers.. well i dont know about that because here in the Houston Galleria has a very good reputation and they are always full. I know for a fact that if you go to the Sony style store you can go on the internet and even check your myspace page ( i have seen many teens go for just that) also if you go to their theater room you can sit there and watch the movies they have showing and not one employee will turn the TV off... i think thats so funny that some of you will say that. If you dont know the purpose of a Sony style store then i am sorry but you are simply an idiot..Sorry to be so blunt but i am not a kiss ass like all these other commentors. I dont care if everyone gets mad cause i defended Sony. Oh and for the comment saying that Sony is so 90s... well then sorry to tell you but seems like they do not know what they are talking about.. sony is for people with more money and Apple is for people with less money who are on a budget.

2008 Mar 07 07:06 PM

[NAMELESS:]

Hi, i just thought that id way in on this discussion, and out of the box id like to say im on Sonys side. Apple's cool its a good gimmic. All flash and color and clever advertisments making fun of PC, its great. But lets be honest... those of us who own Sony know the difference, not nocking Apple but, hey Sony has years on them and then some and Sony is the trend setter when it comes to Electronics, NOT Apple. As far as the stores, well ive been in the Galleria Of Houston store and i was more than impressed with the service, and guess what? It was full really,really, full! Look all im saying is that i've had a bad experience in a Apple store were i stood waiting for help for ten to fifteen minutes while the guy that was supposed to be helping me was busy talking to some girl (girlfriend i think, becuase of the hand holding and all) but i dont go around bashing that store( same mall by the way) becuase that was one guy and im sure the store itself doesn't tell its employees to act that way. But on the other hand ive never had a bad experience in a Sony Style and im a long time customer and loyal fan of Sony so lets stop all the bashing shall we. Becuase in all truthfullness, Apple good as they are will never ever be Sony!

2008 Mar 08 12:57 PM

[User 161499:]

Sony Style store is like food going real bad. Sony Style store is for people that with money coming out out of there pants they only want people is going to spend money there. They turn the wireless off so that the customer well ask about the computers. Sony does not want customer playing with the TV's, computer and ect, with out somebody that work's there to help them. I love the Apple store because you don't have somebody over your neck keeping asking you to get this and get that, don't get me wrong i would like to somebody to ask me for help now and then. But to keeping asking you to get this computer and that TV, the apple store has people there if you need help but not saying you have to get this computer now or you well miss out on this good deal. IF i am going to go into a store want somebody that know whats going on about what i want to get, not somebody that just wants to make money. Because thats all Sony is about is making money. Now all i want to do is go into into a store get in and get out, The apple store is a store where i can go in and play with what they have not have somebody saying you have to get this today. So i like a store where i can walk in and see everything, the Sony Store you walk in and you have to walk into the back of the store to see everything. The Apple store is alive and love it. Now don't get me wrong i love Sony products but the people there are not up beat. They got shopped and they got a 65. I would love to work for Apple anytime any day.

2008 Mar 09 01:24 AM

[trendsetter:]

Lets square off and compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges. The writer of this article can be a bit overly critical on the staff at the Sony Style store. There are many times when I've walked into either one of these stores have had extrodinary service. I have to say that Apple does create an atmosphere that would make a customer feel comfortable to hang out there, surf the web, play with the products and eventually buy something. On the other hand, Sony has a lot more products to offer that Apple doesn't have. I'd have to say that Sony appeals more to the older generation (yes, they are very 90's) but that might be something that they are aimed at. While Apple is excelling at getting them while they're young, Sony has been trying to attain the Mercedes/Louis Vuitton Status of electronics. I have to admit in their own rights, both stores are successful at what they are aiming at so far. Yet I think that Apple may have a future leverage over the mega giant that Sony is and that's only because the every day young college student has been exposed to Apple products in ways that Sony wished it can. Basically speaking, with Sony, we're watching the fall of the Roman Empire and the Sony Style Stores are a great way to see that coming to fruition.

2008 Mar 10 03:43 PM

[Not fair:]

Let's just clear some stuff up.

No Sony employee would turn off a TV if a customer is watching it. At the end of the night, if there are still people in the store, we might hang around and ask if you need help, but we would never turn the TV off, even if it's punk kids messing up our store. If a Sony employee turns a TV off while you are watching it, SAY SOMETHING TO A MANAGER. It won't happen again.

Secondly, the customers that come into Sony to buy or browse don't want the punk kids hanging all around our store and running back and forth. The security guards are there to monitor, not to harrass.

Why no mention of the friendly greeting when you walk through the door? Every time you enter the store, you should be acknowledged by a Sony employee. Period. I believe this puts us a class above normal retail stores.

Lastly, it's just not fair to color one store and compare our entire retail line with it. Perhaps you visited a bad store, on a bad day or got a bad employee. I know in my store we do our damnedest to make sure every customer is happy in our store.

We don't work on commissions so there should be no reason for a "hungry" look by the employee's.

Please visit other stores and then offer your clearer opinion.

2008 Mar 10 08:54 PM

[Not fair:]

Also, I forgot to respond to some other comments.

We try to keep our internet up all the time. It is NEVER down on purpose. Yes, internet connections go up and down and we have very little control over it. If you notice it out, please let an associate know, and we'll gladly respond to it as quickly as we can.

Also, please, people.. If you have a bad experience or a good experience, let the managers know. They can correct mistakes and lavish praise on the good employees and weed out the bad apples.
Retail stores can only be as good as the customers allow us to be.

2008 Mar 10 09:35 PM