Mr. Gartenberg said people often first go to an Apple store out of curiosity. “Apparently a lot of them like what they’re seeing in the stores, they like the experience and they go back to buy the products,” he said.

The stores’ architecture also makes consumers feel good about spending money there.

In nearly a dozen high-profile urban centers — including New York, San Francisco, London and Glasgow — the signature feature is a glass staircase. Some of the staircases go straight up and others ascend in a spiral skein that appears to be held in place by nothing more than Apple hype. [via NYTimes.com]

There’s this one thing about glass stairs…

While I was in the London Apple store in March, one of the glass stairs about five from the top shattered suddenly and completely with a huge crash into thousands of “safety glass” smithereens (much to the surprise of a startled customer just a step or two below). The broken glass was contained by the surrounding glass enclosure, which was good, although it made it impossible to sweep up. After a missed beat or two, the dozens of customers went back to their serious shopping, and the store manager went up to punch out any remaining shards, and stomp on each remaining step to ensure it wasn’t about to go anywhere.

Yet another example of trust and design.

More than you ever wanted to know about the Apple stores’ glass stair construction here and here. I’ve seen indications that Apple was involved in the patents on the stair design. Why am I not surprised?

[image of Apple’s London store stairs from here]