I recently had the pleasure of going to Nashville on a business
trip. I had heard about a local Mac retailer, MacAuthority, and decided to
pay them a visit. I came away not only impressed, but also with a
definite sense of how independent Mac retailers can not only survive
but thrive.
MacAuthority is conveniently located near I-65 (click on the
"Photos" link on their home page for some pictures of just how
convenient their location is to I-65), just south of downtown
Nashville. If you pay them a visit, be aware that the store is
surrounded by a predominantly residential neighborhood. However, you
can't miss the signs on I-65. After you exit, the store is only a few
hundred yards away, and the single turn you have to make is clearly
marked with a "MacAuthority" sign.
I visited them on a Saturday, and the parking lot was just about
full with a dozen or so cars. They had at least four employees in the
store, and everyone stayed busy for the 1-1/2 hours or so I was looking
around. I was able to get a few minutes of time to speak with the store
manager, Clay Cooper. Mr. Cooper was gracious enough to let me take a
few pictures, which we are able to share with our readers today.
The first thing you notice when you walk in the door is that the
store looks successful. There are boxes of PowerMacs, iBooks, printers,
eMacs, iMacs, etc. stacked in creative arrangements all around the
sales floor. This is a good-looking, well-kept store.
There are plenty of Macs available for taking a test drive.
MacAuthority has their very own version of the Genius Bar in the back
right corner of the store, exactly where you would expect it if you had
ever visited one of those "other" Apple stores.
They have software galore, and more peripherals and accessories than
I even knew existed. Unlike so many disappointing independent retailers
I have visited, I would wager that there were very few items I could
have requested that this store would had to have ordered. Just about
anything the consumer would want was available for immediate purchase.
To test my theory, I was tempted to ask for an Xserve, but I decided
against it.
MacAuthority is not located in just any old city. This is Nashville
- Music City. In a nod to their locale, MacAuthority carries anything
and everything the aspiring musician could want, both hardware and
software. During my visit, I eavesdropped on one employee who was
obviously extremely knowledgeable about all things musical on the Mac.
In fact, the knowledge displayed by all of the employees in their
interaction with customers was refreshing. These people know and love
the Mac.
MacAuthority has a veritable Mac museum on top of the display cases
lining the outer edge of the store. They have an impressive collection
of Apple computers ranging from the Apple II through the slot-loading
"fruit" iMacs. In fact, I had my very first face-to-Mac encounter with
a
Macintosh TV and a
Lisa (although it may
have been a Lisa 2 or Mac XL, I'm not sure - remember, I've never seen
one in person before). You know this is a serious collection when it
contains a mint-condition
Twentieth Anniversary
Mac.
An interesting side exhibit is a wall display tracing the evolution
of the Mac motherboard from the original Mac through the introduction
of the G3. If you had never seen the inside of a computer before, even
a novice could guess which was the more powerful processor just by
seeing the G3 side by side with a 68000.
I have read several stories recently predicting the demise of the
independent Mac retailer. At the risk of sounding overly Dvorak-like,
most of them deserve to die. All too often they are 
found in small, hole-in-the-wall storefronts in
dilapidated strip malls. You can walk in and buy anything you want - as
long as you don't mind waiting two weeks for it to come in. The one
thing you can always find in plentiful supply is every System 7
compatible game ever created.
I once visited a Mac store less than 30 minutes from Cupertino. I
called the store three times for directions, sure I was lost. The place
they kept telling me to turn into was clearly a professional building,
not a retail establishment. I finally relented and followed the
directions I was given to the letter. Sure enough, right there between
the dentist and the insurance salesman was the Mac store. The entrance
faced an interior corridor, and you had to park around back. To this
day, there is not a single sign there.
About 10 years ago, I was living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was
in the market for a Mac. I visited every major Mac retailer in the area
and was told they would have to order it. It did not matter what I
wanted - they would have to order it. I finally gave up, went to Sears,
and bought a new Mac.
The Sears experiment may not have been the most successful chapter
in Apple's history, but at least Sears kept product in stock.
MacAuthority does not bear even a family resemblance to the Apple
retail stores of my nightmares. Instead, when you walk into
MacAuthority, you could just as easily imagine you were in an Apple
Store (one of the company operated ones) or Micro Center. Check out the
website and read what they are doing to promote the Mac and wireless
Internet access around Nashville.
This store is a credit to the "Think Different" legacy of Apple.
If you are an independent Apple retailer and want to know what you
need to do to succeed, the answer is easier than you ever imagined.
Take a trip to Nashville, visit MacAuthority, go back to your store,
and do exactly what they are doing.
