Ron Johnson Interviewed on ‘Without Fail’ gimletmedia.com

I listened to this episode of Alex Blumberg’s “Without Fail” podcast last night and it is an absolutely terrific interview with Ron Johnson, the former head of Apple’s retail division and the guy who effectively brought the concept of the Apple Store to life. Johnson is such an easy conversationalist and a good storyteller.

One thing I thought about while listening to it is just how successful these stores are. To date, Apple has closed only two without a logical replacement. They are often packed with people, and Apple still has one of the best buying and support experiences in the consumer technology space. I still believe that there are elements of the store that have suffered, but they’re still leaps and bounds better than what you get anywhere else.