A passerby’s photograph of the future Covent Garden (London) store shows that Apple has retained the original brick of the interior, but added stone to the floor beneath the usual wood display tables. The peek looks straight through the construction barricade doorway, to the rear of the ground floor. There is a wheelbarrow and scissor-lift in view, along with plywood protecting some portions of the stone floor. Most visible are the brick walls forming a small alcove, and the overhead lighting fixtures that appear to be unique among Apple’s existing stores. The lighting in the photo makes the brick look more red than it really is. Photos of the original interior show the bricks are a very light tan color. The tall store entrance door is set back from the building façade, beneath a portico of stone arches (left in photo). Tipsters still say the store will open July 31st.

Workers are completing the final steps of preparation for the future Covent Garden (London) store, including the delivery of the wood product display tables. By all accounts, the store is scheduled for a July 31st grand opening and will be among the most spectacular in the chain. Like the just-opened Opéra (Paris) store, many of the vintage building’s features have been carefully preserved and restored, and will appear in place of Apple’s traditional building materials. Very recent photos show crates of wood tables and counters arriving on a truck, and of crews opening the crates to reveal the tables in front of the store. Both sides of the Apple store are still covered with a construction barricade, which is wrapped in a plastic material printed with a red velvet curtain. An Apple logo peeks through the curtain at the front of the building.

For a brief time, the black construction barricade hiding the future Walnut Street (Philadelphia) store was partially removed, and it became clear the store will both retain historic features and incorporate Apple’s modern storefront design. Several photos submitted to IFO show brand new windows on the upper level, in very small panes set between the decorative columns. One of the windows was missing, as workers apparently used it for construction access. On the ground level, the top seven feet of the barricade was missing, allowing a view of the storefront frame, which is now masonry. The opening itself spans the entire width of the building, suggesting a wide and tall glass storefront. It’s not clear if stainless steel will also appear on the storefront. Lastly, although there have been tips of a July grand opening, a recent photo of the interior shows considerable construction work still remains to be completed.

This view shows that substantial finishing work remains to be completed. The identify of two workers in the store is concealed in this photo.

Thanks to Steve and others for the photos.

The lone Indiana Apple store will receive a northern colleague later this year when a store opens in the University Park Mall in Mishawaka. The Simon Property Group mall is located along Interstate 90 northeast of South Bend and its twin universities of Notre Dame and St. Mary’s, and features 120 shops in 923,000 square-feet. It’s considered a super-regional mall, even drawing visitors from across the border in Michigan. The only store in the state opened early in the chain’s history, at the Keystone Crossing mall in Indianapolis in November 2002. The exact location of the Apple store in the Mishawaka mall isn’t known.

When the Opéra (Paris) store opens on Saturday, visitors may be startled to see that it includes none of the usual architectural features of Apple’s previous stores. But then, the waiting line may be more interested in the products. For those who are interested in the design of the company’s newest store, there are plenty of surprises. Photos posted on-line from Thursday’s press event show that architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ) has ditched its usual designs to make a store that eschews branding and favors preservation. The first surprise is that the space is surprisingly small, taking up just 50 feet of the 115-foot face of the building along Rue Halévy. The space represented by two window bays on the right and one on the left of the front doors are used for other purposes, chopping square-footage from the retail space. Inside, the stainless steel and glass are gone, replaced entirely by marble, wrought-iron, stone and wood that match the features and colors of the existing building. Overhead lighting fixtures hang from the ceiling, a significant departure from Apple’s proven architectural design.The main floor is visually interrupted by several square, masonry columns, some narrow to support the ceiling and some thick to support the overhead mezzanine. The thicker columns are clad in veriegated marble for their first six feet, a lighter shade of stone with reddish tints. All the columns have various carved details at their top. Some other stores have columns, but none this dramatically presented.

The entryway and floor areas under the mezzanine are covered with mosaic tile laid in various circular, rectangular and linear patterns. The tiles are mostly gold, blue and red. The flooring in the center of the store is light-colored stone set in the usual 30-inch square, tiled pattern.

The skylight itself is perhaps the most familiar feature—it uses the same glass and mounting hardware as other Apple store skylights. In this case, the view upward through the skylight is limited by the surrounding building.

At the back of the store, two ordinary staircases on both sides rise to the mezzanine level, where the dual Genius Bars are located. The stairways are guarded by black, wrought-iron gates, left over from the original building. The mezzanine ceiling height is limited, perhaps giving the space a slightly claustrophobic feel.

Also at the back, on the right side, is a somewhat-spiral staircase down to the lower level. Again, BCJ has departed from the usual glass and stainless steel design, but retained the circular orientation. The curving balustrade is made of solid brass, and its support structure is black wrought-iron. Both material choices are jarring when compared to other stores with stairs, but match perfectly to this setting.

Those stairs lead to another surprise—a vault of accessories. The basement is a massive-looking set of rooms with thick walls and arched doorways. One of those rooms is a former vault, complete with its massive steel door, which Apple is using as the software and accessories room.

Back on the main level, the rear of the store has tall windows onto the back street, providing additional light and giving the store a more open look.

View a gallery of photos of the exterior of the Opéra district and of the store.

Three days before its grand opening, Apple’s latest Paris retail store looks ordinary alongside the city’s gold-gilded Opera House. In fact, the interior of the Opéra store will set this location apart from other Apple stores, something that passing tourists and whizzing motorscooter drivers can’t yet see. On Wednesday, the only visible activity was workers dismantling the steel support structure for the barricade that has hidden the storefront for the past 18 months. The interior of the store is completely hidden by black material over the windows and doors. As the crew sawed and pounded atop scaffolding, tourists and locals braved the 86° heat on their way to the city’s huge department stores, just a block from the Apple store. Inside, MacGeneration reports the store will include two Genius Bars, one devoted to the Mac and the other for help with iPad/iPhone problems or creative solutions.

When the construction barricade came down yesterday, there were no surprises. The storefront details look nearly identical to the building’s original appearance 130 years ago. The entire façade has been refurbished, though, brightening up the stone and emphasizing the black, wrought-iron gates and balcony railing.

Rarely for a store, there are absolutely no architectural details that bear Apple’s mark. No stainless steel, no huge glass windows, no Italian stone, no logos—nothing. The only changes or additions are subtle: Apple’s architects added three sets of glass doors with brass, tube-shaped handles. The door structures have been carefully applied to the outside of two of eight existing tall iron gates, including a unique curved glass top section. The solution preserves the original features, but modernizes the entrance for security, weather protection and convenience.

Eventually Apple logos will be revealed on the storefront by two, three-foot square boxes mounted to the outside wall, about six feet above the sidewalk and adjacent to the center entrances. Right now the logos are covered with black plastic and gray duct tape. A similar logo box is already visible mounted to the exterior wall at the back of the store, although perpendicular to the building wall.

Even with the back plastic removed from the doors and windows, there will little visibility of the interior from outside. The wrought-iron rails are thick and placed rather close together, creating a filtered looks at the store, certainly the most filtered of any of Apple’s windows.

Check MacBidouille for photos where one logo was briefly exposed on Wednesday.

The press event for the Opera store will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The lower portion of the building appears much brighter than before, and brighter than the rest of the building.

The only visible work on Wednesday was the dismantling of the construction barricade support with saws, a cutting torch and hammers.

At the rear of the building, a worker finishes the balcony railing above a small Apple logo. Identical logos will appear at the front of the store, set flat against the storefront.

The number of visitors to the Manchester (UK) region’s two Apple retail stores has grown so large that the company’s real estate team is considering closing at least one store, and relocating it inside a huge city center space to better handle the crowds. Real estate sources say Apple has been in on-going talks with leasing agents for the Trafford Centre and Manchester Arndale shopping malls for larger spaces, but have been unable to find any suitable candidates. So Apple’s real estate team has turned to the property manager for a 26,000 square-foot space along New Cathedral Street in city center Manchester, home to Heals Furniture. Heals management admits that the location has been underperforming for several years and will close, reportedly leaving eight years on a 15-year lease. Besides being spacious, the Heals space has a tall, all-glass storefront along a busy pedestrian walkway that would meet Apple’s requirements for being conspicuous and having lots of foot traffic. Other retailers have previously expressed interest in the space, which reportedly has been offered at nearly $900,000 a year. According to sources, Apple has not signed a lease yet. If a lease is finalized, it’s unknown if Apple would close one or both of the existing stores after the new location opens.

Apple is looking at the former Heals Furniture store location along this section of a city center mall.

Passersby report that the future Lincoln Park (Chicago) retail store is finished, both inside and out, and that a grand opening date now seems to be entirely dependent upon the completion of the adjacent public plaza, and renovation of the street-level subway building renovation and underground station. Construction began on the store in November 2008, but then in October 2009 Apple agreed to spend $4 million to renovate the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) station that is steps away from the store. That agreement, late into the store’s project timeline, seems to have delayed the grand opening. Right now, black netting still covers the glass-covered ends of the store, which will resemble the existing Scottsdale Quarter store. Outside, wooden crates of stone tiles—similar in color but larger than Apple interior floor tiles—are awaiting placement on the plaza, and cement planter boxes have been poured. The CTA station itself has been re-bricked and cleaned up, and clean-up work is underway on the subway platform. Based on construction progress, the store could open in late July.

View a complete six-month gallery of construction progress photos.

The interior of the store appears finished, and furniture is in place.

The plaza between the Apple store and CTA building (to right) is unfinished. Stone tiles need to be installed and cement planter boxes still need to be finished and filled with greenery.

A large crate of stone tiles awaits installation on the plaza.

A view across the plaza toward the third, side entrance of the store. Inside, the Genius Bar logo is visible.

The locations of three future Apple stores in Spain has finally been determined, including a street-level store in Valencia and mall-based stores in Madrid and Barcelona. Previous tips located the Valencia store in an 1889, wedge-shaped building at Calle de Cristóbal Colón 25 in city center. Now Apple watchers have spotted black construction barricades in the other two cities that appear to cover two other future stores. In Madrid, the barricade is on the upper level of the Madrid Xanadú shopping mall, next to the Nike Madrid store. In Barcelona, construction is underway in a wide space at the La Maquinista shopping mall. The mall stores could open by September, while the Valencia store could open by year’s end.

Apple store location in the Madrid Xanadu mall.

Apple store location in the Madrid Xanadu mall.

The location of the future Apple store in the Madrid Xanadu mall.

The store location in the La Maquinista shopping mall in Barcelona

Just three hours before its grand opening this evening, the Georgetown (DC) retail store is finally ready to display its architecture, both unusual outside and familiar inside. The store design was the subject of intense debate among District boards and commissions, and forced Apple to generate at least four different storefront designs to meet the municipal requirements to blend in with surrounding buildings. Photos of the store show a starkly white, two-level brick building with no stainless steel panels. The display windows diverge from Apple’s usual sweeping glass design—they have metal frames for the upper and lower window panels, and for the recessed double-door entrance. Amazing for its proportion, the traditional backlit Apple logo is just two feet high, and suspended tastefully over the entrance. The remainder of the storefront is unadorned, even to the four second-level windows and the lack of a cornice at the top of the building. An interior photo of the narrow and deep store shows a skylight over the taller, rear 25 feet of the store, much like the Bondi (Sydney) store. However, there are no trees visible in the rear area. The rear wall does not appear to be made of stainless steel, but does appear to have 80-inch video displays for the training area.

View more photos taken during the grand opening, and a photo of the original March 2009 building.

The backlit Apple logo is much smaller than at other stores, suspended much closer to the ground, and is very proportionate to the storefront.

The rear of the store is covered with a skylight from sidewall to sidewall, but unlike the identical design at Bondi, there are no trees—yet.

The rear training area of the store has a taller ceiling, which is a flat glass skylight. The surrounding wall are brick painted white, with three 80-inch video displays mounted in the walls.

The four upper-level windows visible on the storefront actually protrude into the a taller area at the front of the store.

One of Apple’s more unique store designs has been unveiled in the otherwise ordinary Uptown local district in Minneapolis, featuring a huge stainless steel awning, glass skylight, second-level business briefing room and rooftop garden. Just as interesting is that Apple Sr. V-P Retail Ron Johnson is in town to promote the store before its Saturday grand opening, no doubt because his hometown is nearby Edina. The 40-foot wide store borrows its amazing architecture from several existing stores: the storefront resembles the recently-opened Bondi (Sydney) store, both for its stainless steel, suspended Apple logo, tall glass window and rain awning over the front. The interior design resembles Bondi, Chestnut Street (SF) and Scottsdale Quarter (Ariz.) for its size and box-like space. The 50-foot skylight is similar to several store designs, and is usually reserved only for high-profile stores. Lastly, the store has a feature previously found at just one store, North Michigan Avenue (Chicago): an upstairs business briefing room with a huge wooden table, stylish chairs, built-in video monitors, and a floor-to-ceiling window that looks out to a green, roof-top garden and patio.

View a series of store photos taken by Pioneer-Press consumer tech reporter Ojeda-Zapata on flickr and read his pre-opening story, and his grand-opening story.

During a tour of the store with Ojeda-Zapata, Johnson said the company initially had a strategy to place a store inside a mall. However, he noted that the Uptown district is “near and dear to people here forever,” and that now Apple, “can afford to put stores in more unique places.”

He told Ojeda-Zapata that nearby St. Paul may eventually have an Apple store. “Stay tuned,” Johnson said.

Ojeda-Zapata had crossed the street with Johnson and other Apple staffers to view the store in context with the neighborhood. “As we began to cross the street back to the store,” he recounted in an e-mail to IFO, “Johnson suddenly grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back.” What Ojeda-Zapata hadn’t noticed as he stepped into Hennepin Street from between two parked cars was a fast-moving vehicle, which narrowly missed him. “I could have been seriously hurt, or killed,” Ojeda-Zapata said.

Thanks to Julio Ojeda-Zapata for allowing IFO to use these four photos of the new store.

The glass cylinder entrance to the future IFC Mall (Shanghai) retail store has transformed once again, this time wrapped in plastic with a dramtic red velvet curtain design, identical to the future Opera (Paris) store. The huge glass entrance leads to a spiral glass staircase inside, which descends into the underground retail space. There is on-going construction on the plaza that surrounds the entrance, and final work continues on the inside of the underground store. The outdoor work appears to indicate a shallow water pond or fountain surrounding the glass entrance. The location of the new store was revealed last week by MacGeneration, set between the two skyscrapers of the International Finance Center in the city’s financial district. The store is scheduled to open during mid-July.

Also check this flickr set of photos taken on June 17th showing the Apple logo “behind” the curtain.

After several months of construction, the Christiana Mall (Del.) retail store will move into a new and larger space across from Banana Republic, in an expansion area of the state’s largest mall. The grand re-opening will be held this Saturday at 10 a.m., according to the store’s Web page, and will nearly double the size of the store. The mall is completing a 200,000 square-foot expansion that developer General Growth Properties describes as a “streetscape,” and it includes large Target and Nordstrom stores and a new food court. The Apple store opened in the original space in October 2004.

Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on a third underground Apple store, beneath a circular plaza at the International Finance Center (IFC) in Shanghai (China), and topped by a unique cylindrical glass entrance that may prove even more spectacular than the Fifth Avenue store glass cube. The plaza is at the base of two glass skyscrapers nearly 1,000 feet tall in the Lujiazui financial district of the city, one containing office space and the other a Ritz-Carlton Hotel, both designed by famous Argentine architect César Pelli. The complex also includes a six-story shopping mall with 1.1 million square-feet of retail space, luxury apartments and a major subway train station. The mall will include international retailers Chanel, Hermes, Gucci, Cartier, Burberry and many others. Developer Sun Hung Kai bills the complex as the largest in the district, and part of Shanghai’s claim to be the world’s “new financial center.” Photos and a video posted by MacGeneration show the 30-foot tall glass entrance to the Apple store is now covered by dull-gray plastic. But a peek inside the cylinder shows a back-lit Apple logo suspended over a spiral glass staircase leading to the store below. It’s not clear how soon the store might open—the video shows landscape work begin performed around the entrance, but also construction materials still inside the entrance. Many of the main mall’s retailers opened on April 28th. Apple’s first underground store opened on Fifth Avenue (NYC) in May 2006 and features a glass cube entrance over the store, while the second store opened adjacent to the Louvre Museum in Paris last year.

Download (pdf) a brochure describing and promoting the IFC Mall.

The Apple store entrance is at the base of these towers, under the glass canopy shown on this rendering. It's not clear if the canopy will actually be installed.

This rendering shows the retail space at the base of the IFC towers. The Apple store will occupy a separate area underground.

The grand opening of the Opéra (Paris) retail store is just weeks away, signaled by a poster of a red velvet curtain on the construction barricade that has been blocking a view of the building for over a year. As reported by MacGeneration, the barricade officially announces the name of the store as Opéra, referring to the city’s iconic Opera House, nearly across the street from the Apple store. The red-and-black barricade also makes the announcement in French, “Soon.” The Apple store will occupy the lower floor, behind a series of arched doors. Inside, there will probably be a mezzanine level under a very tall ceiling, accessed by a glass staircase. The upper floors of the building have been renovated into a hotel. The store could open by early July.