Renovated London store now Apple's largest
Apple Computer last week completed a series of substantial renovations to its London retail shop, helping it regain the accolade of the company's largest retail store from the recently opened Fifth Avenue location in New York City.
According to a report over at Macworld UK, Apple's senior director of international retail Steve Cano confirmed the London store dimensions to have expanded some 9500 square feet to over 28,000 square feet of selling space.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company reportedly extended the location from the rear into what had been storage areas (now relocated to the basement).
Another major change to the flagship store arrived in the form of a "Great Glass Elevator," inspired by the one at the company's Fifth Avenue, New York location.
Cano said the renovations have given way to 50 percent more Mac test points and 75 percent more product throughout the store, which is located on Regent Street in the heart of London's shopping district.
The report also adds that employees are now equipped with "chip and pin devices" like the mobile pay stations already in place at US-based Apple stores, allowing for quick checkout and payment for purchases anywhere in the shop.
"There is no longer any need to walk to a register and wait in line," Cano said.
Apple Store Regent Street's new glass elevator
Apple Store Regent Street's new glass elevator
According to a report over at Macworld UK, Apple's senior director of international retail Steve Cano confirmed the London store dimensions to have expanded some 9500 square feet to over 28,000 square feet of selling space.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company reportedly extended the location from the rear into what had been storage areas (now relocated to the basement).
Another major change to the flagship store arrived in the form of a "Great Glass Elevator," inspired by the one at the company's Fifth Avenue, New York location.
Cano said the renovations have given way to 50 percent more Mac test points and 75 percent more product throughout the store, which is located on Regent Street in the heart of London's shopping district.
The report also adds that employees are now equipped with "chip and pin devices" like the mobile pay stations already in place at US-based Apple stores, allowing for quick checkout and payment for purchases anywhere in the shop.
"There is no longer any need to walk to a register and wait in line," Cano said.
Apple Store Regent Street's new glass elevator
Apple Store Regent Street's new glass elevator
Comments
The Tokyo Ginza one is 5 floors IIRC. One of the floors is a Mac demonstration theatre.
I haven't visited the Stonestown one though... I expect it's even smaller though.
On another note, no matter how large the store, Customer Service there rocks
Since I'm also in the market for a good laptop bag and some cleaning utensils for my Macbook.. I'll have an excuse to go again
The Stonestown one is just a small, one floor store. The one in Burlingame is a bit bigger.
Ah, it's close to my School (somewhere around 19th Ave. I believe) and I was meaning to go check it out sometime soon.
The Irish Apple store is huge too! Wait, what store?
Ireland is the old Kazakhstan. You ain't gettin' no store.
My dad was in Ireland recently and you guys still have all that crap with organisations marking their territory etc. If I was a retail company, I'd say to hell with that, I'll open a store when you get your shit sorted out.
The hierarchy of store openings goes:
London
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Kazakhstan
Iraq
China
the moon
hell
Ireland
Went to the Regent St. store for the first time the other day. Its big and really so what? The most impressive thing was the quality of staff. Their training and demeanour is way above most UK retail.
Wow, you must have been really lucky. Everytime I've been in Regent Street I've been amazed at the lack of knowledge the staff show, it's well known that the Regent Street Store hires staff who are great at selling, which is all fair enough but when you ask a simple question it'd be nice to get an answer rather than a blank face.
The store is on 2 floors.
Ireland is the old Kazakhstan. You ain't gettin' no store.
My dad was in Ireland recently and you guys still have all that crap with organisations marking their territory etc. If I was a retail company, I'd say to hell with that, I'll open a store when you get your shit sorted out.
The hierarchy of store openings goes:
London
Glasgow
Edinburgh
Kazakhstan
Iraq
China
the moon
hell
Ireland
Marvin - I'd really like to understand your view on this, as I can't figure why Apple has not opened a store in Ireland.
The economy here is booming, disposable income is among the highest in Europe, and existing stores that retail Apple gear (both iPod and Mac) seem to be doing healthy business. I bought my iMac in from a store in Dundrum Town Centre (reputedly one of the largest shopping malls in Europe), and bought my daughter's iMac online from Apple. I was working in Syracuse, N.Y. last year and often spent time in the Apple Store in the Carousel centre there. Even if Apple is not convinced that Dublin could support a London-sized store, I think it's certain it could sustain a Syracuse-sized store.
What exactly do we have to do to get Apple to open here? If third-party retailers can make money paying Dublin store rents, surely Apple can make even more profit?
Marvin - I'd really like to understand your view on this, as I can't figure why Apple has not opened a store in Ireland.
Do you guys not still have a lot of violence and things going on? My dad said that he just didn't feel comfortable when he was over there and he saw a warning signs around about where you could and couldn't go.
The economy here is booming, disposable income is among the highest in Europe, and existing stores that retail Apple gear (both iPod and Mac) seem to be doing healthy business.
Maybe if resellers are doing well, there's no need to open a dedicated store. After all, wouldn't it just stifle their business entirely? I know of a local reseller who generally has older stock and they sell it for more than it's worth so I never buy from them. If Apple opened a store right next to them, they would probably stop selling Macs.
There's absolutely no voilence in the Republic of Ireland, it has one of the lowest rates of crime in the world. Nor are there any signs telling you where you can/can't go!
Dublin's certainly no more violent than equivilantly sized cities in the UK.
Please stick to posting fact.
As for opening an apple store in Ireland. I suspect a lot of it has to do with a serious shortage of large retail space in Dublin City Centre and I think when apple do open a store they'll want it to be a showcase in the city centre. Any space that is there is extremely expensive by international standards.
There's a possibility that they could open somewhere like Dundrum Towncentre, which is a high end large shopping mall. But again, there are currently no large enough free units out there either.
I suspect apple are holding out for the right property at the right price. I'm guessing you'll see one appear in the next major retail development in Dublin City Centre. There is a large development going on just behind Stephen's Green, on the old eircom Gaiety Centre site. There's also a substantial development going to go in on Stephen's green on the current eircom HQ site. Eircom's moving to a centralised HQ at Heuston Station (big high rise development)
(For those who don't know eircom is Ireland's largest telecommunications company)
Apple also have a deal with O2 Retail (mobile phone company) who are selling apple products via their O2 Experience Stores which are pretty impressive.
Also, Apple products are being sold via 3G Stores which again have a very large presence.
PC World's also now selling macs too.
Does anyone have any updates on the current upcoming store openings worldwide?
Sorry to dig up an old thread but Marvin: What are you talking about?
There's absolutely no voilence in the Republic of Ireland, it has one of the lowest rates of crime in the world. Nor are there any signs telling you where you can/can't go!
Dublin's certainly no more violent than equivilantly sized cities in the UK.
Please stick to posting fact.
I was just going by the experience I heard about from someone I know. He may well have been wrong.
PC World's also now selling macs too.
That's why I don't think a store is needed. I actually like seeing Macs and PCs side by side because it shows people that Macs are not for some minority group who doesn't know any better but that they can function perfectly adequately as a PC. Computer users don't need to be divided into two camps.