Apple stock may be on the decline but you wouldn't know it if you were to walk into an Apple Store. That's because Cupertino's retail outfits have reached new record revenue of $57.60 per visitor according to Horace Dediu from research firm Asymco. Around $12 of that is profit, we're told.
During the first quarter, average revenue per Apple Store topped out around $13 million which is the highest level ever for a non-holiday quarter. The figures show that Apple is still continuing to outperform all other retailers on a per-square-foot basis by a very large margin.
Apple is managing to pull in some 250,000 visitors per store per quarter on average (over the past 12 months) which is a nice increase from roughly 170,000 people per store per quarter in the 12 months ending Q1 2010. Apple employs about 110 people per store - an increase of more than double since 2007.
Asymco believes the increase could partially be due to increased floor space found in newer stores and renovations performed on older stores. Interestingly enough, the new throughput rate could be an upper bound due to fire regulations.
All of this is from a venture that many doubted would ever be successful. For example, president of research firm Channel Marketing noted after the grand opening of the first Apple Stores that he gives them two years before they're turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake. Yet here we are 12 years later with Apple having opened more than 400 retail stores across the globe.