Apple Store Granted Favor: Big Flag

The city of Santa Barbara’s (Calif.) Planning Division has granted Apple’s architects one more permit as the store at 928 State Street nears completion–the company can fly a black flag at the front of the store with a white Apple logo. City building regulations limit a flag to just eight square-feet. But at the sign committee’s public meeting last Thursday, members allowed Apple to hoist a 19.5 square-foot flag after Apple promised to use the existing flag bracket on the historic structure. The committee also noted the flag is the only signage the company has requested for the store, which could open next month. Santa Barbara building regulations allow retailers one square-foot of signage for each foot of linear frontage. In this case, Apple’s store is 57 feet wide, so the company gave up considerable exterior brand visibility. The only other flag to fly at an Apple store is at Regent Street (London). Trivia: Retail analyst Howard Davidowitz claims there is 19.5 square-feet of retail space for every person in the United States. Download (pdf) the sign committee agenda.