Expensive Build-Out

A characteristic of Apple’s retail plan has always been to spare no expense or detail when creating the experience that customers will encounter when shopping at their stores. Now a Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel article demonstrates how expensive it was to create an Apple store from scratch at the West Town Mall earlier this year. According to the article, Pottery Barn spent $100,000 on what the industry calls “build-out,” while Limited Too spent $136,000 at the mall. The costs include all space preparation, electrical, plumbing and furnishing installation. In contrast, Apple spent $451,500 on build-out expenses, according to building permit records. Despite that difference in costs, Apple’s expenses are down dramatically from the very early mall stores, which reportedly cost up to $1.3 million each to outfit.