81: Apple Store Founder on the Future of AI and Retail

Well,

that's the other piece, right? Because you could go there, and to this day, you can walk in and get help, and there's no other place, especially now, that you can get help with any product or any idea you have about a product.

Oh, it's even better.

I mean, I was in Williamsburg, you know, there in New York, in Brooklyn last week, and I went in.

I got there early because I needed help with a product.

And there were 25 people in line, and almost all were there to get help.

But the store, the employees came out, and by the time the doors opened, within a minute, every customer, all 25, were with somebody getting help.

And that doesn't

happen in retail.

Apple just really does a great job at serving customers.

And that was from the beginning, that you had that many service people?

Well, no, we started the first stores, we only had, the team started with 15 employees.

I mean, these are retail stores.

We didn't know how much volume we do.

And we had pretty small teams.

And then when I left, we had well over 100 people per store.

Today, they have more than that.

The stores obviously became the most productive stores in the mall.

They're busy.

And you got to staff accordingly.

But people love to work in the stores.

Most people, 90% of the people will be there a year from now.

It's a good career for people.

And I read in your book that even the bathrooms have special stone.

I used the bathroom once in an Apple store.