The Washington Post has an interesting piece on the transformation of the Apple Store experience. With the growing popularity of Apple products, and new converts each year, some feel that the store has lost its intimate, almost club-like, “I know that you know that I know that we know and love Macs like nobody else does”, feel.

Whatever it is (Radio Shack for rich people? The Sharp -est Image?), the Apple Store isn’t what it used to be, even a year or so ago. The initial thrills, the feelings of i-comfort and i-belonging, still await you behind its translucent facade, especially now, in the gizmodic spree of the Christmas season. But somewhere along the way, the zendo quality of the Apple Store changed.

The demi-privacy of it, the clubby feeling — I know that you know that I know that we know and love Macs like nobody else does– is fading away. Too much commotion. The ethereal, tranquil, spa vibe (the bath of white light, the polished concrete floors, the glint in the happy eyes of the geniuses at the Genius Bar) has been pierced by the sheer popularity of the place. The TV commercials worked. Mac Guy, even with his non-arrogant arrogance, is your real friend, and then he gathered too many friends, and suddenly he doesn’t have time for them all.

(via Washington Post)