Philadelphia Store Construction Progress

Note: About 10 days after I posted this page in mid-September, 2005, I learned from tipsters and other sources that both spaces will be occupied by clothing stores. However, the evidence is unsure enough for me to keep the photos posted until I can definitively determine this will not be an Apple store.

In July 2004 a tipster pointed to 1727 Walnut St. in downtown Philadelphia as the site of a future Apple store. The two-story, 22,000 square-foot space is in the Rittenhouse Row district and was formerly occupied by Borders Books.

In late August 2005 construction work began on the site, and additional tipsters began providing reports and photos. On Sept. 8, 2005 a job listing for Mac Genius appeared on the Monster.com Web site for a "Philadelpia" store.

A tipster reports the original space will be divided into two sections, one occupied by Ann Taylor's Loft, and the other by....well, no one is talking, so that certainly points to an Apple store. Passersby can plainly see two small plastic apples sitting on a makeshift desk in the front window of the space, one green, one red. Lots of other indicators point to Apple being the future tenant.

3. Sitting on a makeshift desk (a large piece of plywood sitting on 2 sawhorses) right in the storefront window for the past 2 weeks are 2 small plastic apples (I kid you not) -- one red and one green. Call me a super dreamer, but I've been utterly convinced all along somebody purposely planted those telltale plastic icons in the window as a classic Apple 'hint' of what's to come. Also, I'm equally convinced that they purposely made sure to place one green and one red apple in the window, lest one take a single apple sitting there to be a tomato or pear or something other than an apple.

At almost the same moment, Jason reported that the former Seamen's Church institute near the Liberty Bell National Park was a possible store site. You may recall the building--it was the location for MTV's "Real World - Philadelpia" series, and hasn't been renovated for another purpose. Jason notes the building's resemblance to the SoHo (NYC) store is "scary." There have been lots of on-line rumors of retailers occupying the space, but nothing concrete.

Looking northeast from South 18th Street / A closer view looking north, with Shops at Liberty Place in the far background

A worker on a scissor-lift works on the building's windows.

Looking northwest from the South 17th Street end of Walnut Street.