With the Closing of Texas' First Apple Store, Let's Remember That Steve Jobs Had to Be Talked Into Mall Locations

Editor's note: Apple said Friday that it will close its stores in The Shops at Willow Bend in Plano and in Stonebriar Centre in Frisco and open a store in Galleria Dallas. The Plano store was only the third Apple location in the U.S. and the first in Texas. Republished here is a section of a profile of Dallas-based retail consultant and developer Mark Masinter published in The Dallas Morning News on April 26, 2018. It explains how Steve Jobs had to be talked into mall locations when the concept was being developed 20 years ago. When Dallas-based developer Mark Masinter first got a call in 2000 from Apple founder Steve Jobs, the idea that there would be Apple stores was still a big secret, said Ron Johnson, who was hired by Jobs that same year to head Apple retail. In an interview, Johnson recalled Masinter's first meeting with Jobs. It lasted five minutes. "Mark and his partners came to Cupertino, and we're in Steve's conference room. Steve interrupted Mark and said, 'I heard you were really smart -- smarter than this. I don't think you made a good presentation. What happened? Rethink this and come back in a week.'" Steve left the room and the moment's awkwardness ended up being just a blip. The next week they were back in Jobs' conference room. Even in 2000, the futurist Jobs "was not a mall person," Johnson said, and he questioned plans to put Apple stores in malls.   Continue reading...