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back to article iPad bludgeons to death two UK Apple reseller shops

Trams Group management confirmed it has entered a 30-day consultation with former Cancom UK staff over the closure of several retail outlets. As revealed by Channel Register last week, Trams swallowed the UK arm of Apple Premium Reseller (APR) Cancom and has wasted no time in seeking ways to return the loss-making operation to …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Brighton

    The problem is Brighton & Hove has a fair few Apple stores/resellers.

    There's a reseller of sorts in Hove (Blatchington Road), two Solutions stores (used to be one in Hove, now also Brighton south Lanes) and Apple themselves in Churchill Square.

    Plus you can always throw in PC World and the likes which sell Apple.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Brighton

      There's no such thing as the "south Lanes". There are the Lanes and North Laine.

      The shop in the Lanes moved to Hove a while ago.

      I suspect that reason Cancom has gone is that they were rubbish. They had the whole snooty Apple "genius" thing long before it became a stereotype and had no sales skills.

      I brought two Macs from them before the Solutions store opened and found it remarkably hard work both times.

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  2. EddieD

    Like that was a surprise...

    Apple are opening an official Apple Store on Princes Street in Edinburgh (on the site of an old Burger King, iirc), so it was certain that the Cancom shop would shut.

    It's very ironic that the taking over company is called Trams, as the building of the trams in Edinburgh have been responsible for shuttering quite a few properties recently.

    Going to be a bit of a hiatus in getting support for your iThings now, as you'll have to travel to Glasgow.

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    1. An0n C0w4rd
      Reply Icon

      Re: Like that was a surprise...

      The last press mention of an Edinburgh store that I can find in a quick search was in 2010. Since then the Braehead store in Glasgow has opened. Not sure that Apple is opening one on Princess Street any time soon since the rumours apparently go back several years. It doesn't take *that* long to renovate a shop.

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      1. EddieD
        Reply Icon

        Re: Like that was a surprise...

        http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/budget-chain-moves-in-near-one-of-scotland-s-top-hotels-1-1935194

        Late october, last year...

        "With Apple also expected to create a flagship unit in the block, business leaders say new life is finally being breathed into the street."

        As you say though, don't hold your breath

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Like that was a surprise...

          or even yesterday:

          Published on Monday 19 March 2012 12:00

          http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/princes-street-rebirth-led-by-hotel-project-1-2182263

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    2. Anonymous Coward 101
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Re: Like that was a surprise...

      Blimey, a high quality shop opening on Princes Street for the first time in years! Have Apple bargained for the beggars, crap street acts and blaring 'music' from the tacky souvenir shop nearby?

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  3. jai

    more detail please

    can you expand on how "the iPad continues to 'cut across' different market sectors" leads to "iPad bludgeons to death two UK Apple reseller shops"?

    are you saying that they based their business model on being able to sell iPads? and that all iPad purchases were online and so they failed?

    Or that so many people have iPads now that they don't go out to the shops any more looking at new kit or to buy support, instead they stay at home and surf web shops and look up how to fix their problems themselves?

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    1. Simon 4
      Reply Icon
      WTF?

      Re: more detail please

      Yeah, just what exactly does this have to do with the iPad or bludgeoning anyone to death?

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So once again, Apple shuts down an independent store so they can open one themselves and get a bigger % of the cash after the independents develop the local market share.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Have you ever shopped at a Cancom Store?

      It's not Apples fault that Cancom are having to close down stores.

      No one needs a middleman

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        "No one needs a middleman"

        Compaq built a business empire around using middlemen. But that was before the Interweb begat disintermediation.

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Do you buy

      Laura Ashley clothes in Tesco's?

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      1. Admiral Grace Hopper
        Reply Icon
        Joke

        A Laura Ashley vs. Next flamewar would be an interesting diversion from the normal run of thing.

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    3. Craigness
      Reply Icon

      Business Insider ran a few stories about how shops like RadioShack had no customers and lots of stock on the day the "the new ipad" was released, whereas people were camping outside the apple stores nearby. Apple are able to effectively shut down other stores because their cult members are unable to think for themselves.

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      2. Ian Davies
        Reply Icon
        Facepalm

        Or how about...

        ...people finally got sick of shitty service and clueless staff at places like Radio Shack / Tandy / PC World and prefer instead a shop that they *like* visiting.

        I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you!

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      3. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        FAIL

        "...because their cult members are unable to think for themselves."

        Much like the morons that continually troll Apple related articles just to trot out the same trite rubbish. Still, it keeps you off the street I suppose. I suppose I should've posted this anonymously just to wind you up a bit more...

        On topic; why go to a reseller when you can go direct to the manufacturer? In fact, why bother going to the bricks and mortar shop at all when it's far simpler to order on-line?

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        1. Craigness
          Reply Icon

          Re: "...because their cult members are unable to think for themselves."

          Why go to a reseller? Because you don't have to queue. You don't need to ask for advice, you don;t need to browse, you just need to pick up a box, take it to the counter and pay for it. It's not exactly brain science!

          Why do people not like the shops with no queues? Because they're brain-dead cult members who think that they don't get the proper experience unless they join a queue at the designated altar.

          You 2 are good examples example of this cultish behaviour. It's not about the products, it's about the cult.

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          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "...because their cult members are unable to think for themselves."

            You don't have to queue if you go to an online shop direct from the manufacturer you judgmental oaf. To be honest, more often than not, you don't have to queue or brows in Apple stores. Oh, you are a boring cult that is highly repetitive. Please give it a rest.

            Anonymous because why the hell not.

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  6. Peter 48

    Ipad?

    What has this got to do with the iPad? (Other than to drive up clicks to the article)

    The minute Apple opened their own store in Brighton Cancom were doomed there. Their whole raison d'etre was to replicate the Apple store "experience", right down to the minimalist styling of the shop interior. Considering the margins on apple hardware is razor thin and a good amount of income came from software licensing and accessories their business model has now been further undermined with the introduction of the Mac App Store. Unlike stores like PCworld and other Electronic retailers who use Apple Products as a "honey pot" to draw people into their stores dedicated thirdparty retailers like Cancom have to rely on the lack of Apple presence to get by. If an apple store opens in your catchment area you are dead. Simples.

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  7. Alan Denman

    A job in Tesco's

    Every little helps.

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  8. EviL FazZ
    WTF?

    High street stores!?!

    The last time I 'ever' bought hardware in the High Street is close to 10 years now and as for software, it's has been such a long time, that the last I can remember is Amiga games in a huge cardboard box (the size of a large hardback book) containing a tiny 3.5" floppy disk (about 1-2Mb of data).

    Clothing and fresh produce is one thing, but 'very' over priced hardware from a high street store, that MOSTLY have no idea what they are really selling... W... t... F and NO THANK YOU!!!

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  9. censored
    FAIL

    They should've tried a bit of customer service...

    On one occasion, my wife went into Cancom Brighton and was roundly ignored for 30 minutes before she left.

    A second time she went in, but they talked only to her tits.

    I went in looking to buy a MacBook Pro but they didn't want my £900 enough to bother speaking to the bloke fondling laptops and looking eager, so I left.

    A second time I went in asking if they'd sell me the RAM and perform an installation to upgrade a Mac Mini. They said they'd sell me the RAM, but that the installation was fiddly and not worth their time (I KNOW it's fiddly, that's why I'm willing to pay someone to do it).

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: They should've tried a bit of customer service...

      Did you ever think of maybe asking for assistance, rather than standing around looking like a dreamer?

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  11. RainForestGuppy

    Apple store's are Show rooms

    It doesn't how much money an individual official Apple store makes or loses (I've never seen Apple release figure) , because they don't need to make money in themselves.

    The Apple stores are just there to promote the brand. Apple don't care if you buy in an Apple store, at Tesco or Online.

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  12. Charlie Stross
    Thumb Down

    The Edinburgh Cancom shop *used to be* reasonably good ... back when it was Scotsys. Then Cancom took it over, re-branded, and fired most of the experienced staff. Service took enough of a dive at that point that I took to catching the train to the Buchanan Street Apple Store in Glasgow instead if I needed my hand holding badly enough (which should tell you something).

    I hope there's more to those Princes Street Apple Store rumours than hot air; otherwise the nearest thing Edinburgh's got to a reseller is John Lewis!

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    1. Leithen
      Reply Icon
      Go

      Work started yesterday at 10-15 Princes Street.

      http://xrl.us/bmyuj4 (Link to www.scotsman.com)

      18 months for delivery of hotel, presumably similar for the Apple store - you'd expect that they would want to open for Christmas 2013.

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  13. Mark 183

    I actually found the Cancom shop in Edinburgh OK- had my MacBook Pro serviced there a couple of times. I did have a bit more of a battle with them over a battery that failed 6 months after they replaced it but that got sorted out too.

    It was conveniently close to work for me too.

    I rarely bought hardware from there though other than some iPhone accessories and a portable hard drive.

    Mind you this might be a sign that the rumoured Apple store is going to happen sooner rather than later!

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