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Is the success of Ahrendts' Apple store more fiction than fact?

March 20, 2019Written by RetailWire Staff

Photo: RetailWire

Throughout Angela Ahrendts' tenure at Apple, plenty of press was given to the idea that the former fashion world management icon had redefined the place of the Apple store as a "town square." But a recent account by a former Apple employee suggests that the Ahrendts-era Apple store wasn't all it was cracked up to be and that the golden years of the retail outlet ended before she joined the company. The unnamed former Apple store manager, interviewed by ZDnet, said that it was in fact during Ron Johnson's time heading Apple's retail presence that a full focus on the customer allowed the operation to truly flourish. Under Ms. Ahrendts (after the brief, unsuccessful tenure of John Browett, described as "torment"), he said that sales targets rose, while store traffic and sales volumes waned, putting tremendous stress on store managers. Employees were no longer allowed to stay past their scheduled shifts or make other discretionary moves and policy exceptions to help customers, as had been customary during the Ron Johnson era. The former store manager went as far as to refer to Ms. Ahrendts' tenure as "the Renaissance that never quite was." The comments come in the aftermath of Ms. Ahrendts' announcement of her departure from the chain last month, which takes effect in April. Ms. Ahrendts is being replaced by Deirdre O'Brien, who has served as Apple's senior vice president of people since 2017, according to Apple Insider. Ms. O'Brien, who has spent more than 30 years at Apple, will also continue to manage the human resources responsibilities from her previous position. After its string of hotly-anticipated, high-selling device introductions that lasted more than a decade, Apple may have reached a point of market saturation in categories including tablets and smartphones. It appears that many diehard Apple enthusiasts already having the devices they want and these days see less of a need to replace them. Apple did, however, recently unveil two new upgraded models of popular devices, the iPad Air and iPad Mini, as reported on CNBC. And Apple is preparing to announce the introduction of a new streaming service next week.

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