New Opportunities With Marist’s New Apple Store
51 Fulton St, the location of the future Marist University Apple Store. Michael O'Neil '30
A major addition for Marist University’s Information Technology department is being established at 51 Fulton, including an Apple-authorized campus store. On Oct. 14, Marist University's Apple Store will be inaugurated through an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. Previously, Marist students were able to purchase Apple products through an online pre-sale that lasted a week, with the products ready for pickup on the day of the official opening.
Marist University has been working on this specific partnership with Apple for almost two years. Universities are able to apply for cooperation with the company for authorization to sell Apple products at the general student discount price on campus. While the location at 51 Fulton will not be as equipped as a standalone Apple Store, students, faculty, staff and alumni will be able to place orders for pickup at the location. As an official announcement from the university points out, the closest Apple Store is more than 43 miles away from Poughkeepsie, making any repair services or emergency purchases incredibly inaccessible for Marist students.
Other universities in the area have not yet attempted this partnership. In an interview, Jessica Imperiale, Marist’s IT business director, said that institutions such as Skidmore College and Manhattan University have experience with this Apple partnership and the feedback had been overall positive.
While this new store is known across campus as the “new Apple Store,” it is not run by Apple itself. The facility counts as an Apple-authorized store that is considered part of the university and therefore only accessible to Marist students, faculty, staff and alumni.
The store will also allow for student employment. Michael Caputo, vice president of Information Technology and CIO, described the store as a connection between giving students access to modern technology and providing learning opportunities within their fields of study.
This concept includes the idea that the Apple Store could be run entirely by Marist students, similar to Saxbys or Mporium. Students could gather experience in areas such as business, marketing, advertising and sales. The store is going to feature Apple technical support by students who would get Apple certified to deal with malfunctioning or broken equipment.
These ideas are still being investigated, according to Caputo, but even ideas regarding Marist’s newest addition of the nursing and science school have been brought forward. Admitted students might get the opportunity to receive recommendations for specific products from their professors and could place special orders through this store.
The new Tech Commons is supposed to become home to all of Marist’s IT department and support, meaning all issues students might have with equipment or university-related technology would be addressed in the same building. According to Caputo, this would include walk-up help desks, card services and password resets.
While the products offered will not cover everything Apple offers its customers, the selection will be a lot bigger in comparison to just the pre-sale. MacBooks, iPads, Apple Watches and AirPods are all meant to be available in person, Imperiale said. If something is not available in the store, orders can be placed for pickup on campus.
When it comes to student interest so far, the pre-sale did not receive any overwhelming attention. This could be due to the short timeline of the sale, as well as the fact that the semester had already started by the time the sale was announced.
“Students had already bought all their products before arriving on campus,” said Caputo.
Another aspect could further generate student interest in this new campus addition. Imperiale said that equipment, such as chargers for Apple products, would possibly bring a lot more interest in the on-campus location.
“If someone forgot their charger at home over the weekend, they can just come in and get a replacement,” Imperiale said.