Apple Stores

107 'Apple Stores' stories August 2011 - January 2016

New photos show work underway at rumored location of Apple’s first retail store in Singapore

Ben Lovejoy Jan 12 2016 - 4:36 am PT

While retail head Angela Ahrendts last year confirmed an earlier report that the company would be opening its first Apple Store in Singapore, she didn’t reveal the location. The address had, though, been reported as 170 Orchard Road in an email from a fitness company advising that its branch there would be closing to make way for a new Apple Store.

Photos posted by iPhone Hacks appear to show work underway at the address as the windows are covered. While there’s still no definitive evidence that this is the location, it looks like we may not have to wait too much longer before we find out.

Apple announced last year that solar energy will power all of the company’s operations in Singapore, including the new store.

Apple now opening four new Apple Stores in China this month alone, as it announces #31 and #32

Ben Lovejoy Jan 11 2016 - 4:58 am PT

1 Comment

Apple is looking very comfortably on-track for its goal of 40 retail stores in China by October as it has announced that two more stores will open this month. That will bring the total in China to 32, four of them opening this month alone …

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Just a fortnight after fifth Beijing location, 28th Chinese Apple Store opening on Saturday

Ben Lovejoy Dec 8 2015 - 7:32 am PT

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It’s only a fortnight since Apple opened its 27th retail store in China, but there’s no sign of any let up in pace as the company heads towards its goal of 40 Apple Stores in China by October of next year. It has just added number 28 to its website, noting that the new store in Nanning will open on Saturday.

The store will be located inside the upmarket MixC complex in the Qingxiu District. In addition to a shopping mall with designer brands, the complex also boasts a 5-star hotel, upscale offices and a high-rise luxury residential building.

Nanning, located close to the border with Vietnam, is known as China’s “Green City” due to the tropical plant-life in its many parks. The city is home to around 6.6 million people.

Renderings show spectacular plans for new Frank Lloyd Wright-style Apple Store on the Chicago River

Ben Lovejoy Nov 18 2015 - 4:13 am PT

12 Comments

Planning documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune reveal Apple’s spectacular plans for a new flagship store on the north bank of the Chicago River. Fittingly for the city which was home to Frank Lloyd Wright, the design echoes the Midwestern Prairie Style buildings created by the famous architect.

Apple confirmed the plans to the Tribune, which reports that they have already been granted approval, with a formal presentation set to ‘rubber-stamp’ the decision on Thursday …
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Is Apple killing Black Friday or just outsourcing it to its retail partners?

Ben Lovejoy Nov 10 2015 - 7:44 am PT

9 Comments

One of the things Apple’s retail head Angela Ahrendts said in her interview with Fast Company‘s Rick Tetzei is that Apple had made the decision to back away from Black Friday sales because “being good to your employees will always be good for business.”

Rather than extending store hours for Black Friday events, or just turning the stores into even more crowded places during what has increasingly turned into Black November rather than just Black Friday, Ahrendts decided to give staff a break. That’s great and should be applauded but why not just do an online sale? Do the computers need the time off too?

Even more curious, Apple, who controls US retailer pricing, seems to be letting every US retailer knock huge amounts off of all Apple products for Black Friday…

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NY Apple Store employee charged with using fraudulent card details to buy almost $1M worth of Apple gift cards

Ben Lovejoy Oct 21 2015 - 6:07 am PT

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A former Apple Store employee has been charged with grand larceny and other crimes after allegedly using fraudulent credit and debit card details to purchase an incredible $997,000 worth of Apple gift cards in just three months.

24-year-old Ruben Profit is accused of carrying out the fraudulent purchases while working at the Apple Store in the Queens Center Mall in Elmhurst, the company’s first retail store in Queens. All of the purchases were made between August and October, reports NBC New York …
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Jony Ive-designed Apple company store at 1 Infinite Loop re-opens Saturday, possibly with big changes

Ben Lovejoy Sep 15 2015 - 5:01 am PT

7 Comments

The Apple Company Store on its 1 Infinite Loop campus, which closed for major refurbishment back in June, will re-open at 10am on Saturday – the same day its first Belgium store opens. Apple announced the Grand Reopening on its retail site.

With Jony Ive now having responsibility for all aspects of design – including retail stores – it should be interesting to see how it’s changed.

The Company Store has always been quite a different experience to all other Apple retail stores, with no iPhones, iPads or Macs on sale. Instead, the store has majored on Apple-branded clothing and other brand-oriented products. But sources told us back in June that things may be very different when it reopens …
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Apple video showcases the art & artists behind the opening of its new Brussels store

Ben Lovejoy Sep 14 2015 - 5:52 am PT

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In the run-up to Saturday’s opening of the first Apple Store in Belgium, Apple has uploaded a video showcasing the artists behind the comic art it is featuring on the hoardings outside the store. Brussels is known for its comic art, with many young artists moving there to further their careers.

Apple asked 20 artists to each create five images to help tell the story of the city. The paintings are displayed along with the slogan ‘The creativity continues.’

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=41&v=dC7WPAH35AQ]

Featuring local artists at soon-to-be-opened stores seems to now have become standard practice for Apple. We’ve seen calligraphy used in Hangzhou, a combined painting and photo in Chongqing, and a mural in Miami.

Apple officially confirms first Apple Store in Belgium opens in Brussels on 19th September

Ben Lovejoy Sep 4 2015 - 5:42 am PT

17 Comments

Apple has now officially confirmed the opening date of its first Belgian retail store, opening in Brussels on 19th September. The date is shown on the hoarding outside the new store, located on Avenue de la Toison d’Or (also known as Gulden Vlieslaan), and was confirmed by Apple to ANV.

The wording on the hoarding reads ‘Creativity, to be continued,’ and features paintings by local artists (below). The store is a large one, at 1500 square metres, reports iCulture. The store is not yet shown on Apple’s website.

We first saw job listings for Apple Store-specific roles in Brussels as long ago as December 2014, with more seen in May of this year …
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Internal Apple memo on third-party packaging reveals that ‘consistent product shot photo angles’ are part of the spec

Ben Lovejoy Aug 13 2015 - 4:32 am PT

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We first revealed last month that Apple is requiring a number of third-party accessory suppliers to revamp the packaging of products sold in the company’s retail stores to provide a more Apple-like appearance. We knew then that the detailed spec included mostly white packaging, simpler fonts, new photography, higher-quality materials, and more consistent compatibility labeling.

A copy of an internal memo obtained by Business Insider reveals that the requirement for new photography extends as far as “consistent product shot photo angles.”

The new designs bring an elevated look and feel to our third-party bags and cases while creating consistency across the brands to make our Accessory walls more visually appealing and easier to navigate.

In quoting from the memo, BI says that it has slightly rephrased it to protect its source after learning that Apple has begun issuing slight variations to internal communications issued to different groups of people, to help it identify sources of media leaks.

We got our first look at the new packaging a few days after we first learned of it.

Tim Cook thanks ‘thousands of Hong Kong customers’ who attended Canton Road store opening

Ben Lovejoy Jul 30 2015 - 7:36 am PT

3 Comments

Tim Cook tweeted his thanks today to the “thousands of Hong Kong customers” who attended the opening of the company’s fourth Apple Store in Hong Kong.

Plans for the store were first announced in 2013, with construction photos first seen in February. Apple announced the opening date on its website a couple of weeks ago. The additional store is part of Apple’s ambitious expansion program in China, having so far opened six of the 25 new stores it plans to open within two years.

Photos of the new store can be seen below …
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World’s largest Apple Store due to open in Dubai in August, says UAE newspaper

Ben Lovejoy May 18 2015 - 6:26 am PT

9 Comments

We learned last August that Apple was planning to open its first retail store in the Middle East, with local media reporting shortly afterwards that the location was Dubai – and would be the world’s largest Apple Store. The Khaleej Times has now put a number on that, reporting that the store will be 50,000 square feet, and is expected to open this August.

Apple’s first store in the Middle East will be located at Mall of the Emirates and it will be the world’s largest retail store of the iPhone maker, sources have confirmed to Khaleej Times.

The store is under construction and it is expected to open doors to Apple fans in August 2015. The estimated 50,000-sq foot store is close to the new Fashion District in the mall with the main entrance most probably from level 2.

London’s Covent Garden store was the world’s largest Apple Store when it opened, occupying three floors totalling 40,000 square feet – making the Dubai store 25% bigger.

Tim Cook visited Dubai in February of last year, also visiting Abu Dhabi, where the Khaleej Times reports the newly opened Yas Mall is likely to host Apple’s second retail store in the UAE.

The United Arab Emirates is a natural home for Apple, as the 19th richest country in the world, and an increasingly popular premium tourist destination with an emphasis on luxury goods. The Mall of the Emirates counts 80 designer brands among its 700 stores, as well as two 5-Star hotels and an indoor ski resort.

Via Patently Apple

Apple Watch user-interface still seems confusing? There’s a workshop for that …

Ben Lovejoy Apr 17 2015 - 4:24 am PT

18 Comments

Following the try-on appointments that allowed 15 minutes hands-on time with an Apple Watch (or an hour for the Edition), Apple is offering Apple Watch Basics workshops at selected retail stores. Appointments can be booked now, and the earliest workshops take place on the official (or perhaps now unofficial) launch date of 24th April.

It’s unlikely many people will have received their Apple Watch by this date, and you won’t be able to buy one in-store before June, but if the tutorial videos or unofficial cheat-sheet still leave you wanting more, the workshops seem a good opportunity to get to grips with the new device …
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Yesterday’s Apple data outage left some Apple Stores badly hit, credit card terminals offline

Ben Lovejoy Mar 12 2015 - 3:56 am PT

7 Comments

The Apple Store in Birmingham, England – one of the stores affected

Yesterday’s large-scale data outage left a number of Apple Stores in Europe offline, reports Business Insider.

For about two hours this morning, employees couldn’t check in to work, stores couldn’t make sales, and Genius Bar appointments couldn’t be kept. Employees couldn’t check email until 3 pm London time.

The issues meant that store staff were unable to use their card machines to take payments, leading stores to resort to old-fashioned mechanical paper machines (photo below) …
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Apple to grow retail stores in China from 15 to 40 within two years, says Cook

Ben Lovejoy Oct 23 2014 - 4:12 am PT

6 Comments

Tim Cook noted during Monday’s earnings call that Apple was “investing like crazy” in China, but he took the opportunity of his current visit to the country to put a specific number on the company’s retail expansion plans: it will open 25 new Apple Stores in Greater China within the next two years. Greater China includes both Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Speaking to local media, Cook also said that China would in time become Apple’s biggest market, reports the WSJ …
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Apple successfully patents iconic glass cube design of Fifth Avenue store in NYC

Ben Lovejoy Aug 28 2014 - 4:00 am PT

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A few weeks after Apple was granted a European trademark on the key design elements of its retail stores, the company has been awarded a U.S. patent on the iconic glass cube design of its Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan. Steve Jobs is one of those credited as an inventor.

Patently Apple reports that Apple also applied for a trademark for the design back in 2010, but no decision has yet been made on that.

Apple was granted a patent for the similarly iconic glass cylinder design for its Shanghai store back in 2012.

Apple has been renewing the interior design of its stores around the world, and creating a new organizational structure as Angela Ahrendts focuses on further international expansion. It is reportedly working on the largest Apple Store in the world in Dubai.

That Apple Store in the United Arab Emirates could be the world’s largest

Ben Lovejoy Aug 20 2014 - 4:48 am PT

3 Comments

Middle East luxury lifestyle magazine Edgar claims “insider knowledge” that the planned Apple Store in the United Arab Emirates will be the largest in the world, and will be located in a huge shopping mall in Dubai.

US-based tech giant Apple will open its biggest store in the world at Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates, EDGAR can exclusively reveal […] Our undisclosed source said that the store – which will be the biggest Apple has ever built – was originally planned to replace the current cinema complex …

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Hiring underway for first Apple Store(s) in the oil-rich nations of the Middle East

Ben Lovejoy Aug 15 2014 - 4:18 am PT

7 Comments

If you look at map of Apple Store locations around the world, there’s one very obvious wealthy area of the world without a single store: the oil-rich nations of the Middle East. This now looks set to change, as ifoAppleStore spotted Apple job listings for the United Arab Emirates for the complete range of retail store positions.

The job listings appeared yesterday, and include the full range of store positions from Store and Market Leader, Manager, Expert, Creative and Specialist. The listings also include the Apple Store Leader Program, a 24-month development program for those who have just graduated from higher education …

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Take a sneak peek inside the latest Apple Store ahead of tomorrow’s opening

Ben Lovejoy Aug 8 2014 - 4:32 am PT

5 Comments

Dutch site OneMoreThing has provided our first look inside the new Apple Store in The Hague, opening at 10am tomorrow. Unlike many stores, where Apple completely replaced the existing interior of the building, it appears in this case to have retained some of the original features, including light-fittings.

The same approach has been taken with the exterior, where Apple has restored the existing doors rather than replacing them with all-glass ones.

It will be interesting to see whether this is an approach Apple is taking only with selected stores, or whether it forms part of a new look to future stores.

This will be Apple’s third retail store in the Netherlands, alongside Amsterdam and Haarlem. The first 1,000 visitors to the store will receive a free commemorative t-shirt. You can see more photos over at OneMoreThing of the interior and exterior.

Problems with Hannover Apple Store reportedly resolved, opening in September

Ben Lovejoy Jul 18 2014 - 3:58 am PT

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Humidity and mold problems that delayed the opening of the new Apple Store in Hannover, Germany, have reportedly been resolved, and the store is now expected to open in September, reports ifun, citing several sources involved in the project.

The store had originally seemed close to completion in March, but humidity in the building reportedly led to mold in the fabric of the building, requiring remedial work.

The site ifun reported that employees who had already been hired based on the previous anticipated opening have been informed of the latest developments, and is speculating that Apple may time the opening to coincide with the launch of the iPhone 6, rumored to be on 19th September.

Following with the appointment of retail head Angela Ahrendts, Apple announced an ambitious international expansion program for its retail stores, with around 20 expected to open this year. International stores already opened this year include the first ever Apple Stores in Brazil and Turkey, the fourth store in Switzerland and the eighth store in Japan.

Earlier this month, Apple was granted a European trademark on the design of its retail stores.

Apple extends education pricing to iPad, offering discounts of $20-30

Ben Lovejoy May 28 2014 - 4:10 am PT

7 Comments

If you’re eligible for education pricing, iGeneration noticed that the discounts available on Macs through the Apple Store for Education have now been extended to iPads. The discounts are modest, ranging from $20 to $30, but it all helps.

Education pricing is available to pretty much everyone working or studying in higher education: students, faculty, staff – even parents of students – as well as employees of K-12 schools.

Discounted iPad prices for the base spec 16GB wifi models are:

iPad mini: $279 ($20 off)
iPad mini with Retina display: $379 ($20 off)
iPad Retina display (4th Gen): $379 ($20 off)
iPad Air: $469 ($30 off)

The discounts appear to be rolling out internationally, already available in some countries but not yet all.

If your college belongs to the Apple on Campus program, the same modest discounts on iPads appear to be available, in contrast to the significantly better discounts offered on Macs.

As always, we recommend tuning into 9to5Toys to find the absolute best prices on iPads and all other Apple gear. For example, we recently featured a 16GB iPad Air for $400 ($100 off), 16GB Retina iPad mini with LTE for $355 ($174 off), and a 64GB iPad mini (1st gen) for $349 (orig. $599).

Apple planning 6th (or 7th?) Manhattan Apple Store on Upper East Side Madison Avenue

Ben Lovejoy May 7 2014 - 5:22 am PT

10 Comments

New Yorkers (and the tourists who come to the city) love their Apple gear, it seems, and five stores in Manhattan just isn’t enough. Just last night we reported that Apple was planning to open a new Store in the New World Trade Center complex. The race to #6 after Soho, Meat Packing District, 5th Avenue, Lincoln Center, and Grand Central is on as ifo Apple Store reports that Apple is planning to open a sixth store on the island in a former bank building on Madison Avenue next year.

Continuing its tradition of creating magnificent stores from historic buildings, Apple has begun work to transform a former bank building on New York City’s Upper East Side into a retail store. Various sources confirm that construction planning is underway for 940 Madison Avenue, a limestone and marble building now occupied by luxury retailer VBH …

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Smash and grab thieves do some holiday looting in Apple Store, Berlin

Ben Lovejoy Dec 23 2013 - 3:57 am PT

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Bild.de reports that thieves crashed an Opel Corsa into the Apple Store in Berlin in the early hours, stealing display model iPhones, iPads and Macs. Six thieves were said to have carried out the smash and grab at 4.15am before escaping in two Audis.

There have been seven such burglaries in Berlin recently, including one at the electronics chain Media Markt, where the thieves made off with goods worth €100,000 ($137,000).

More photos below …
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Apple’s new store in Dusseldorf, Germany, opens on 14th December

Ben Lovejoy Dec 10 2013 - 6:03 am PT

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Photo: macerkopf.de

Apple’s site confirms that its new store in Dusseldorf – its 13th German store – will open at 10am on Saturday. The first 1000 visitors to the store will reportedly receive an Apple t-shirt.

German site Macerkopf first spotted job listings for the store back in February following rumors dating back to May 2011.

The store is located in Dusseldorf Köbogen, a brand-new upmarket shopping center with stores featuring a number of luxury brands, at Königsallee 2.

Apple’s retail stores must qualify as one of the world’s most successuful risky gambles, earning more per square foot than any other retail company in the world – beating even Tiffany and Harrods. Apple has over 400 stores worldwide, and plans to open a further 30 next year.

Thanks for the many tips on this