1. Cracked screens are incredibly easy to fix, so the one example you can give that doesn't cost an arm and a leg is the one thing that arguably any random repair shop should be able to do.
2. Not everyone even lives near an apple store, so while you might benefit from driving in to a physical store, there is a large chunk of the population who won't (at least not without driving a few hours).
PA is a great example of this - the only stores in PA are basically around Philly and around Pittsburgh. Live anywhere else in the state and you are driving to a store out of town.
That isn't so bad if prices are reasonable, but when you get there and hear "$600 to replace the battery" the stores start to feel less useful.
I understand that there is value in the Apple store. I'm not trying to say that there isn't any, but I do believe the original comment overstates that value, especially when Google (or a third party they work with) offers a pretty reasonable replacement plan as an add-on to your purchase.
Or free if you paid $100 - $250 (depending on the class of device it covers) for AppleCare.
AppleCare is head and shoulders above other extended warranty plans in my experience. Others tend to be jokes or ripoffs or both.
Provided you can find spare parts, good luck finding spare parts for the Pixel. For Apple products it's usually a breeze.
At least with Apple I can drive to a physical store, hand my laptop or phone over and know it will be repaired properly. And in many cases I've been either (a) upgraded to newer hardware or (b) just had the device swapped entirely.