About 75 percent of Apple’s retail stores are installed inside shopping malls, so our most common view of the locations is stainless steel. But Apple’s architects–Bohlin, Cywinski Jackson–have created some extraordinary store designs over the past seven years when the location allows and regulations demand it. The Regent Street and Buchanan Street (UK) are particularly good examples of new stores in old surroundings, while the Fifth Avenue (NYC) store stands out among that city’s many other iconic buildings. This past week two more impressive store designs were revealed, in Geneva (Switzerland) and Honolulu (Hi.), proving that stainless steel is vastly overrated. Check these photos of the storefronts for the proof.
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Construction work to create a 1,295 square-foot mezzanine level at the University Village (Seattle) retail store is nearly complete. The open-air store north of city center will close from October 6th to 24th to finalize the construction, and it will then re-open with additional space. Work began on the store last August with a temporary shut-down to down-size the store. In the intervening months, the store has been crowded, forcing One to One sessions out to patio tables in front of the store. Permit records say the general construction, electrical, plumbing and fire sprinkler work is valued at $1,845,628, not including almost $17,000 in permit fees. The store opened on September 26, 2003 with 6,677 square-feet, and serves a wide area of central Seattle. It’s surrounded by other retail stores that already use some of the building’s tall height for a second level of retail space. read more…
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Apple’s two-day debut of retail stores in Switzerland last week is just the beginning, as construction is underway for a second store at Bahnhoffstrasse 77 (Zurich), possibly by year’s end. The store is located in city center, on the ground floor of an office building, and is now surrounded by a white construction barricade. According to tipsters, the store could open by year’s end. Check photos after the break. read more…
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Construction workers were finishing up major details of the new Royal Hawaiian (Honolulu) retail store just hours before the grand opening. Veteran grand opening attendee Mike said when he arrived Friday morning, “Workers were hanging the white Apple electric sign, but the wall is still not done.” However, by 5 p.m. the back-lit logo was lit, he reports. Check photos after the break.
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The city of Chicago will gain the rare distinction of having two high-profile stores next year when a street-level store opens at 108 North State Street, an enormous high-rise complex that is still under construction. The location is in the midst of the old downtown section of the city, about a mile from the existing North Michigan Avenue high-profile store. It consists of three tall office and residential towers, with ground-floor retail spaces. Architectural renderings surfaced in 2005 that showed an Apple store in the future complex, and construction on the buildings began in Nov. 2005. The retail spaces are scheduled to open in Spring 2009, and the Apple store could open at that time. read more…
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After almost a year of speculation, the Gothamist Web site now says that Apple has finalized the location for a Brooklyn (NYC) retail store, at 176 Bedford Avenue, formerly occupied by the Salvation Army thrift store. The run-down building on the northwest corner at North 7th Street has a 60-foot frontage and 40-foot depth, and occupies three levels over part of the lot. The building dates back to the early 1900s and hasn’t been renovated in many years. Based on its original red-brick construction, if it does become an Apple store, it would be demolished and re-built. Take a walk along Bedford Avenue on the Big Map Web site to get a feel for the area.
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A newly-hired Apple store Genius in Portland (Ore.) can expect to be paid $17 a hour, according to an applicant for the position who has posted his hiring experience on the MacBlogz.com Web site. Aviv Hadar said he was curious about Apple’s hiring process, and so applied last July and ended up receiving a hiring offer. In the story, he recounts his hiring interview at an unidentified retail store, a pop-quiz on Apple products, and also posts his hiring letter that sets out the various legal requirements of employment. Interestingly, Aviv was given just two days to make a decision, and would have started work three days after that. Hadar turned down the offer, since he was already employed full-time and never had the intention to take the job.
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The second retail store for Louisiana will open tomorrow at 10 a.m. at the Lakeside Shopping Center in Metairie, north of New Orleans. The store brings Apple products somewhat closer to the city that remains devastated by Hurricane Katrina. A store in Baton Rouge, 82 miles north of New Orleans, opened in early March and was the state’s first. This latest store will increase coverage along the Gulf Coast, which has long been a black-out zone for Apple stores.
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The newest UK retail store that opened Thursday at Cabot Circus continues what will apparently be the traditional design for future stores: a two-story model with a glass façade, covering stainless steel inside, and highlighted by a back-lit Apple logo suspended in between. Photos by Sam show that the store is a duplicate of the one that opened last week in Belfast (Ireland). Check photos and Sam’s report after the break. read more…
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The second store in as many days has opened in Switzerland, this one is Zurich at the Glattzentrum shopping mall northeast of city center. Unlike the store in Geneva that opened yesterday, this store features the typical stainless steel storefront topped with a back-lit Apple logo, open entrance and standard interior details. Like most other mall stores, the space is long and narrow, but also has a larger, room-like area at the back occupied by training tables and a purchase counter. Check photos from the MacPrime Web site for the pre-opening press event and the grand opening attended by a large crowd, and the MacWeb.ch Web site for the opening, a TV news report, and their own video of the opening. read more…
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Are you attending one of the six Apple store grand openings that begin today? It’s going to be a record-setting week of new locations. You can quickly and easily post your photos of the opening to the IFO Web gallery via e-mail. Just create an e-mail message, make the “Subject:” the name of the store and your name (like “Royal Hawaiian by Fred”), then attach one or more photos and send them to:
ifoman-3yzd@post.me.com
They’ll be posted immediately with the caption you included as the subject, and you can seem them right here.
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Today’s grand opening of the first Apple store in Switzerland (Geneva) has generated a flood of photos from attendees and coverage from the local media. The unusually-designed Rue de Rive store drew a huge crowd that was controlled with bicycle fencing on a 55-degree, sunny day. The storefront is dark wood paneling set among the stone buildings, marked only by a simple steel sign and miniature back-lit logo. The entrance is essentially just the tall stainless-steel double doors, opening to a wide hallway flanked by wall-mounted iPod and laptop display counters. The stainless-steel paneled hallway leads to the main room, which runs perpendicular, and contains the traditional wood display tables and back-lit wall graphics. A skylight set in a vaulted ceiling provides a view of the sky and surrounding buildings. Check photo by loops here and MacPrime coverage: press tour, and grand opening. Also flickr photos by ati84 here. Then read/listen to an interview with Sr. Director of International Retail Steve Cano here.
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The Apple reseller @Work in Italy will open another location this Saturday in the city of Alessandria, a city of 92,000 residents about 55 miles east of Torino. The store will be along a stone-paved pedestrian walk at Via Migliara 17, in a temporary space until the permanent store can be opened next February in the basement of this same building. The chain has already has stores in Milano, Torino and Asti. Check photos after the break. read more…
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The current United States credit crisis is unlikely to affect the expansion of Apple’s retail initiative, which has pumped out about 40 stores each year since the chain debuted in May, 2001. An analysis of the company’s financial statements reveals that the unavailability of credit and the government’s remedies may actually offer opportunities for Apple’s real estate team in the form of less-expensive property leases. The only downside to Apple’s plans may be any consumer spending downturn that results from bankruptcies and other company failures. read more…
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After 104 days of long waiting lines, jammed counters and an uncharacteristically complicated purchase process, Apple has provided some relief for iPhone 3G buyers at its retail stores by creating an on-line registration procedure. The company has posted a series of Web pages that allow iPhone buyers to review eligibility, pricing and AT&T rate plans, and to then enter their personal information, including Social Security number and date-of-birth. A ”thermometer” at the top of each screen conveniently shows the customer’s progress through the registration process. After selecting a rate plan, a credit check is performed. If successful, the iPhone buyer is given a registration number and then shuffled to a Web page where he/she will make a retail store appointment to finalize their purchase in-person. The iPhone 3G generated long waiting lines for its June 11th debut, made longer by computer glitches and the in-store registration requirement intended to reduce the number of iPhones purchased but never registered on AT&T’s network. Supply constraints also contributed to a “first-come, first-served” sales policy, which persists today. Check some screen shots after the break. read more…
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