The dated, dusty and generally dreadful technology store?

Oh dear.

Let’s be clear, Dixons Travel is pretty excellent. I’ve bought quite a lot from them over the years — indeed I even picked up a £1,400 laptop once on a semi-whim. Dixons Travel shops at Heathrow tend to be brightly lit, modern and staffed by (generally) keen folk, ready to help.

Almost the polar opposite, then, to the dive that is Dixons Bracknell, nearby my place in Ascot. It’s a shocking place, stuffed to the brim of old, over-priced technology that’s hardly helping anyone. As for customer service? It’s rare, very rare, to find a Dixons chappy who’s happy to help beyond demanding you ‘enter your PIN’ and querying if you ‘want the receipt in the bag’.

PC World is another flipping tragedy. If John Browett is seriously meant to be the guy who masterminded their development, I’m sorry to say, they’re about a trillion miles away from the quality environment of an Apple Store.

That, I should point out, hasn’t stopped me buying — begrudgingly — from PC World on occasion, especially since it’s rather useful to walk-away with something there-and-then.

Perhaps John was the loanlone voice at Dixons/PC World? Perhaps he was the chap kicking and screaming and trying to get the dead-end retailer to do something, anything, that might make customers smile? Maybe he focused his attention on the Travel shops first?

Either way, the benefit of the doubt is most certainly necessary. It’s a phenomenal role for John and I wish the chap every success. He’ll be inheriting probably one of the most fascinating physical sales environments on the planet.

Here’s how GigaOM reacted to the news:

Tim Cook has made his first major appointment since taking the reins at Apple, bringing in the head of British technology retailer Dixons, John Browett. He comes in to fill the gap left by the departure of Ron Johnson, the man who spent a decade building the Apple Store into a force to be reckoned with.

 

via Who is Apple’s new retail boss, and what will he do? — Tech News and Analysis.

And we’ll be there, with bells on. Unfortunately there’s no filming allowed — so we can’t produce a MIR Show from the event — but we’re allowed cameras. So expect some news next week plus a segment in the following week’s MIR Show about it.