Apple Stores – global local

I was at our local Apple Store last night for a round table discussion on iPad use in business settings. A handful of local business folks and developers were there to chat. We had a wide ranging discussion, nothing deeply illuminating, but it was useful.

Afterwards I was chatting with the store manager and we were talking about the beautiful gray granite floor. I learned that all Apple stores on the planet use it and it is Italian (Pietra Serena) siltstone from the Sienna district and Apple owns the quarry. We then moved to the tables which, again, in all Apple stores on the planet, built by Fetzers,  a 93 year-old woodworking company based in Salt Lake City. The stainless steel walls from a company in Japan. The glass from another specific company in Montreal, I think. So who looks after the long term maintenance of things like the stainless steel walls and the siltstone floors? Dedicated teams that travel from store to store all over the planet. What this does to my brain is really shrink the distances of the world and simplifies the usual complexity in a way that reminds me of localized economic systems, and yet is global. It is like a village buying from the local baker and shoe maker. Except it is a global company operating on a planet wide level – but with the same intentionality in purchasing. Strange.