Apple—known primarily for its genre-breaking tech gadgets so at home in the Internet, also has (a bit paradoxically) the most successful brick-and-mortar stores in the country, bringing in $6,050 per square foot. That’s more than twice the rate of Tiffany, its nearest competitor ($3,017). According to ABC News, that’s because Apple has aced the ability to seduce its customers to spend more. The store’s slick design and helpful Genius Bar help create a shopping experience that encourages people to pull out their wallets and lay down some cash. “That’s why Apple went into bricks-and-mortar retailing,” says  Robin Lewis, co-author of the book The New Rules of Retail. “It’s why you’ll see Amazon and eBay do the same. You can’t create the kind of experience consumers want by selling to them just online. The emotional and neurological connection has to be made in person. What the research shows is that retailers who sell online and through their own brick-and-mortar stores achieve sales 40 to 50 percent higher than those that sell through just one channel or the other.” (ABC News)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and two children. Follow him on Twitter.