Apple Store Is London's Most Profitable

Detractors will call it evidence of the company's pricey products, but Apple's Regent Street flagship is the most profitable retail store of its size in the capital, say analysts. Its £60 million yearly takings mean two grand is squeezed out of shoppers' pockets for every square foot; Harrods can only claim £751. Globally, Apple has posted revenues of £1.85 billion for the first six months of 2009, a modest growth of 2.5 percent, but one that goes against dire predictions that recession-scarred consumers would turn away from the company's premium machines in favour of cheaper models. Despite the company's cultish, secretive nature, and increasingly draconian busines practices, the Apple Store is a success because, unlike competitors, it offers a pleasant environment: browsers are welcome to come in, leisurely check their email or Facebook on the many machines sitting about, take in a free lecture or training course in the upstairs cinema, and most importantly, speak to an expert who knows his or her stuff instead of a spotty kid wearing Brut Aquatonic down at PC World.