I'm a huge fan of the Apple brand, while in Paris I tried to visit three of their stores in the…read morecity I'm aware of, this location located in the Opera district, which is close to Auber Station and the Hilton Opera in which I stayed during my time in the French capital - this store was by far the worst and that was mainly down to the staff, normally the highlight of the Apple Store with the staff helpful and friendly, here they were just a bunch of miserable bastards.
Apple Store's have changed drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath, in the UK, France and the US I've noticed the following
- Compulsory masks - if you are exempt/refuse to wear one you will be denied entry
- Compulsory hand gel on arrival
- You must queue separately for the store or Genius Bar, state why you want to enter the store and be escorted in by a staff member
- Temperature Checks (For some reason, this was the only store where I didn't get a temperature check and I was told it was banned in France)
I explained upon entering the store that I just wanted to look around and wasn't looking for anything in particular, however, I still had to wait for a member of staff to explain this again too. Again, after entering the floor, I tried explaining this to a member of staff that I just wanted to look around and he persisted to try and help me, even though I clearly told him to just let me be. There's trying to help and then there's being pushy on the customer.
It wasn't just these staff members that were rude, one staff member also targeted me as my mask fell down, perhaps because I was a tourist. A security guard also barred me from exiting the store and said I had to walk all the way around even though there was no one there because it was spreading COVID??
The store, in general, is small anyway, no Today at Apple feature and the Genius Bar is cramped
I mean come on... If Apple on the Champs-Elysées can still bring most of the good from the usual experience even with the pandemic still ongoing why can't this store. It really disappoints a huge Apple fan like me.