The whole approach seems very much alike to Apple Retail stores strategy. High foot traffic locations, product specialists working not on commission, a lot of service centres - Tesla "Genius" bars. Applying proven working strategy in a different industry is a very smart move from Tesla. I see no reason why it wouldn't work.
The highest end Apple products are still affordable by most people. Sure it might be an expensive investment but definitely affordable. So with great marketing they managed to get not only the previous Apple fans but also managed to convince most people that the markup for an Apple iSomething is worth it.
I don't know if the same thing is feasible for Tesla cars which are definitely not affordable by most people. Also, the same marketing techniques might not work for the demographic that would buy a Tesla.
If you start looking at cars from the affordance point of view, all luxury cars would lose a huge sales percentage. Getting a brand out there in competition with the likes of BMW and Mercedes is no easy task, and these retail outlets would help people make up their minds about where they want to spend their life savings.
