I haven't been to any of the Apple stores that have the cool glass staircases, but I've seen some pictures.  Now there's a great write-up on the origin of this eye-catching bit of architecture.

It seems that none other than Steve Jobs himself is named on the patent file for this ascension technique.  The technical feet is very impressive, considering the weight and code requirements that had to be met. 

The writer of the article gets a little excited (in my opinion) about the experience of walking up and down the glass stair case, but then again I've never done it, so I can't really talk.  If you've been there, done that, give us the scoop - is it really THAT cool?