“Browett, who took over the post from Steve Jobs’ hand-picked head of retail Ron Johnson earlier this year, apparently thought one of the best run retail operations in the world was “too bloated,” according to a detailed post on ifoAppleStore.com.

“[John] Browett’s decision reportedly came despite strongly-worded advice from Retail segment veterans that reducing personnel ahead of the annual Back-to-School promotion and the September introduction of the iPhone 5 could create a customer service catastrophe,” reads the report. “Browett disagreed with his staff, and said the chain needs to learn to run ‘leaner’ in all areas, even if the customer experience is compromised.” … To take one of the most heralded retail experiences in the world and gut it, stripping it of everything that makes an Apple store what it is, just doesn’t make sense. … Apple did however give a statement to Dow Jones, admitting its mistake. “Making these changes was a mistake and the changes are being reversed,”” [link]