Apple Retail

Apple’s latest retail store opened today. No, it’s not in the heart of a historic Italian plaza or nestled among a bamboo forest in Macau. It’s in Dallas, Texas, just steps from Interstate 635 and a 15 minute drive from downtown when traffic is clear. But with a history unlike any of the other 503 stores Apple operates worldwide, Apple Galleria Dallas is unique in its own way.

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“Welcome to Plano, home of the first Apple store in Texas. Twenty miles north of Dallas and located in the Shops at Willow Bend, the new Apple store gives you first-hand access to the latest Apple hardware and hundreds of popular Macintosh software applications. All Macs on display have Internet access and cool accessories plugged in, so you can try them out for yourself.”

Those were the words Apple chose back in 2001 to introduce customers to a new kind of store experience that would shape the company’s future and the future of retail stores around the world. Now, over 17 years later, Apple Willow Bend and its nearby neighbor in Frisco, Apple Stonebriar, have closed their doors. In their places comes a new store — Apple Galleria Dallas — that joins a network of more than 500 locations around the world sprung from that early success in Plano.

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As Apple continues the push to expand its retail footprint with larger and more prominent stores, continued growing pains threaten the future of an upcoming flagship location destined for Vancouver’s Pacific Centre. At a recent meeting, the city’s Urban Design Panel expressed preliminary disapproval of the shopping center’s expansion plans.

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Apple has always ‘thought different’ when it comes to its retail stores. The company presents them as places people can go to experience the products beyond just buying them. Places where you can go to get help, whether it is a hardware fault or something you can’t figure out how to do. And somewhere you can go to learn how to get the most from your Apple products, or to get inspired about using them in creative ways.

Ensuring that the stores live up to these lofty ideals is trickier, however, and we’re seeing increasing kick-back against one of Apple’s more idealistic visions for its latest flagship stores: ‘town squares‘ …

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After more than a full year of planning, meetings, controversy, and protests, Apple has called off plans to build a global flagship store in Melbourne’s Federation Square. The decision follows a notice filed by Heritage Victoria refusing to grant a demolition permit for the public square. Opposition to the permit was widely expected after Melbourne’s City Council rejected demolishing the Yarra Building at Federation Square in March.

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The telltale signs of a new Apple Store have appeared in New Jersey. Recent comments and renderings strongly suggest that Apple is planning to replace its small and aging space at the Cherry Hill Mall with a redesigned and significantly expanded location featuring outdoor access and a public plaza. The tentative project joins a chorus of other retail developments around the U.S. and beyond aiming to expand Apple Store capacity.

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How do you educate customers about digital services in a store built to display physical products? This is one of the challenges Apple’s retail teams will face as the company rolls out a new portfolio of subscription services designed to complement its hardware lineup. If Apple’s content strategy finds favor with customers, last week’s keynote announcements have the potential to significantly transform today’s retail experience.

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Apple has reportedly abandoned plans to open an Apple Store in Israel after no mall owner in the country was willing to agree to the company’s terms. The proposed location was in the Azrieli Sarona Tower, a 61-storey skyscraper in Tel Aviv.

Apple is known to make significant demands when it comes to opening new retail stores …

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As Apple works toward its promise of creating 70 new Forums per year in retail spaces, classic stores around the world have recently begun the process of adding video walls for Today at Apple sessions and replacing Genius Bars with seating and modern store fixtures. This first wave of upgrades in 2019 is just the start of many more similar renovations that should roll out throughout the year.

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After confirming the closure dates of stores in Frisco and Plano, Texas earlier today, Apple has formally announced the grand opening of its newest U.S. retail store. Apple Galleria Dallas will open to customers on April 13th at 10:00 A.M. local time.

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Following the brief acknowledgment of retail consolidation in a statement in February, Apple has officially announced the closure dates of two of its store locations in Texas. On April 12th, Apple Stonebriar in Frisco and Apple Willow Bend in Plano will permanently close their doors.

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Around the world today, Apple fans gathered to hear the latest announcements from Steve Jobs Theater, where the company introduced a wave of new services like Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Arcade, and Apple Card. To celebrate the event, Apple hosted livestreams of the keynote at approximately 96 of its retail stores throughout the United States and all over the globe. Store visitors and 9to5Mac readers shared their photos of the experience.

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Coinciding with the start of spring, Apple has announced a new live concert series set to be held in Italy. “Apple Music Live: Piazza Liberty” begins on March 28th and will run throughout spring and summer on the public amphitheater above Apple’s new flagship store in Milan.

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Apple is offering visitors to its stores across the world an opportunity to watch March 25th’s Special Event with friends and other Apple fans on the big screen. Stores with Video Walls will host special Today at Apple sessions to livestream the keynote from Steve Jobs Theater.

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Apple updated its Apple Store app today with a few new features to spotlight Today at Apple sessions and make participating in the Apple GiveBack program easier. The update brings the app to version 5.3.

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A new report today from KQED calls out artist dissatisfaction with compensation and promotion received for hosting Today at Apple sessions. The report highlights the challenges of proving the value of creative work in a culture built around “working for exposure.”

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As intelligent speakers and voice assistants like the HomePod and Siri drive awareness of home automation, HomeKit has become a key part of Apple’s product ecosystem. Unless you know an enthusiast who has already made the investment in a full smart home, the best way to learn about HomeKit today is at Apple retail stores.

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Yesterday we reported on the news that Apple recently started performing repairs on iPhones with third-party batteries. Now we’ve gotten a look at the official repair guide that details how Apple will handle repairs with non-original batteries.

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Opposition to Apple’s planned global flagship store in Melbourne’s Federation Square has not subsided in the seven months since revised designs were released to the public. Now, Melbourne’s city council has spoken out against proposed changes to the square that many citizens argue would irreparably disrupt the cultural fabric of the space.

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Like it has done at other flagship stores in Santa Monica and Palo Alto, Apple will temporary close Portland, Oregon’s Apple Pioneer Place for renovations starting March 24th. Upgrades are expected to include a new Forum, Video Wall, and Avenue displays along the store’s rear wall.

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