The Apple Store May Become The Next Hangout Spot Like Starbucks

People used to hang at malls and arcades. Today it’s coffee shops, but soon the cool new spot to hang out at might be an Apple store.

Apple made an announcement this week about a program called “Today a Apple” which willschedule programming and classes at Apple stores around the US.

According to the tech giant’s head of retail, Angela Ahrendts, who spoke to CBS This Morning, the goal of the company is to make the store a place to spend time in.

“A lot of the big online guys have said they’re opening stores. Amazon’s investing in stores. Google’s investing in stores. Starbucks figured it out, you know? Being a gathering place. Right? ‘Meet me at Starbucks,'” Ahrendts told CBS.

“And you know, I’ve told the teams, I’ll know we’ve done a really, really great job if the next generation, if Gen Z says, ‘Meet me at Apple. Did you see what’s going on at Apple today?'”

Ahrendts believes Apple’s store is actually their “largest product.”

“We kind of talk about it inside, this is the largest product Apple produces. So if you think about it, the architecture, which is the hardware of the store. And the software is what happens in the store and how we basically turn on Apple Music, and the App Store. So we started with the hardware,” Ahrendts said.

In other news, Apple has also reportedly hired virtual and augmented reality expert Jeff Norris. Norris has been working with NASA since 1999, and for the past three years he has served as the lead for the organization’s Mission Operations Innovation Office. The company hired him to help shape its long-gestating implementation of AR technology which Apple thinks could be a major evolution with the iPhone’s current capabilities.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and have not been compensated for this article.