The last time I tried to shop in a mall, last year -
I drove a half hour from my office (and that much further away from home) to go to the ‘closest’ Apple store, to get my daughter the MacBook Pro she was required to have for college (art school).
Drove around the parking lot for like :10 mins because I couldn’t determine which entrance was closest to where I needed to go in, finally just parked (lot was jammed, I was shocked) and head in.
There’s a line to get into the Apple store. I queue up.
Maybe :15 mins later, and incredibly stereotypical Apple employee (call him Young Comic Book Store Guy) works his way back to me, asks what I’m there for.
I tell him the exact make, model, color, and specs of the MacBook I want - I had called prior to confirm it was in stock -
and that I just wanted to grab it and pay for it.
Oh no, you can’t do that!
You need an appointment, and the next one is - he checks - 2.5 hours from now.
I’m there on my lunch break, I can’t burn the entire FFF’n afternoon on this, so I turn around and walk out.
From my car in the parking lot, I ordered it directly from Apple online, got free next-day delivery, and it was at my house by noon the next day.
I will never set foot in an Apple store, or in a mall, ever again.