I was at the Apple store in the U-district last week and had picked up the Sims 2 Pets Expansion pack (a great gift for the Sims addict in your life) and was waiting in line to pay. As usual, it was impossible to leave without playing with the iPods and lusting after the Macbook Pro, but my favorite part of the experience was being approached by a sales rep with a wireless credit card reader who came to the back of the line, asked if anyone was waiting to pay with a credit card. 2 minutes later, I was on my way out of the store.

Hats off to Apple for caring enough about the customer experience in their stores to make sure that you didn’t wait in line if you didn’t have to. I’m not surprised they have better sales per square foot than Tiffany’s.

But here’s a little-known fact: Apple’s chic stores don’t just sell more per square foot than even Best Buy, they beat some of the best in the luxury retail world silly, according to a report released Tuesday by Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi.

Apple’s stores have hauled in annual sales per square foot of $4,032, compared with Best Buy’s $930, Neiman Marcus’ $611, and luxury store Tiffany & Co.’s $2,666, according to Bernstein.

As Mark Hurst has said (and I paraphrase), customer experience is the sum total of interactions that a consumer has with your brand. On that front, at least for me, Apple has done a phenomenal job.