If you haven’t already, take a few minutes and watch this quick interview with Angela and Tim Cook. As the title suggests, Angela Ahrendts is ascendent.

The Buzzfeed interview covers a lot of ground. A few highlights:

In 2013, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff tweeted, “I just saw Future Apple CEO @AngelaAhrendts on her farewell Burberry tour! The most important hire Tim Cook has ever made!” (Both Cook and Ahrendts batted down “future CEO” rumors in an interview with BuzzFeed News at the recent opening of Apple’s Chicago flagship store: “Fake news … silly,” the retail chief said immediately, shaking her head. Cook, smiling, responded: “I see my role as CEO to prepare as many people as I can to be CEO, and that’s what I’m doing.”)

And:

This year, Toys ‘R’ Us, RadioShack, and a dozen others filed for bankruptcy and closed a number of locations, as more and more consumers turn to online storefronts to shop.

That previous statement is a key challenge for Apple retail. An Apple Store is often a flagship store in a mall. If the Apple Store fails (an extremely rare occurrence), the mall will pay the price. If the mall is failing, that Apple Store can prop it up. The Apple Store is more than a shop, more than simple brick and mortar. There’s value beyond the sum of its parts.

By adding communal features (including free Wi-Fi and outdoor tables) and offering classes (that extol the features of Macs and iOS devices), Ahrendts is hoping to persuade customers to spend more time in Apple Stores. Maybe they’ll even want to buy something. You can now go to the Apple Store to learn how to code in a schmancy new theater, or watch a performance by an Apple Music–featured singer-songwriter, or sit under a tree with a Genius to figure out why your iPhone doesn’t charge anymore, or watch as an illustrator doodles live (on, of course, an iPad). Ahrendts-era Apple Stores are commerce engines, expertly designed to sell you a $1,000 iPhone (made more affordable with a $50-per-month interest-free leasing plan!) in a beautiful glass dome anyone can walk into.

The new Michigan Avenue Apple Store in Chicago, placed just so on the riverfront, is its own destination. It brings its own foot traffic. And foot traffic is one of the holy grails of retail.

With all that in mind, read the interview. Angela Ahrendts is one of the keys to Apple’s future success.