Apple opens larger, relocated store in Raleigh's Crabtree Valley Mall

Posted:
in General Discussion edited December 2017
Apple on Saturday held a grand opening for a newly relocated retail store in Raleigh, N.C.'s Crabtree Valley Mall, replacing an outlet that first opened more than ten years ago.




The new location occupies nearly twice as much space as the old store, and features the usual trappings of a next-generation Apple "town square" with floor-to-ceiling video display, cube-shaped seats and plenty of wood.




Gone are the old-style black and white shelves, or peg boards, that housed accessories like audio equipment. Like other new and newly renovated Apple stores, the Crabtree Valley Mall location now boasts custom-built furniture highlighting toys that work with Swift coding, health and fitness products, HomeKit devices and more.

Headphones get their own wooden shelves at eye level, speakers have two shelves at knee height and Mac accessories sit on a white bookshelf.




Lighting embedded in the store's ceiling illuminates a wide-open sales floor, on which stands a few Jony Ive-approved wooden display tables showing off iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch and iPad. Geniuses and creatives, the latter of which run Today at Apple sessions, get their own workbenches at the back of the store.




Currently, an array of six iPad Pros is installed in one of the store's nooks, highlighting Swift Playgrounds coding with the Sphero Star Wars Droids, Beasts of Balance, Tangram and other iOS-connected toys are out to be played with.



In another area, two TV screens run a demonstration of HomeKit accessories and an Apple TV 4K. Device cases, like the new iPhone X leather folio, are displayed on wooden iPhone-shaped stands that act as handles for drawers in which the products are held. iPad Pros are used in other areas of the store, like the Health and Fitness section, which has signage like the Activity rings of an Apple Watch.



The new Raleigh store mirrors other in-mall Apple stores not located near major city centers. Compared to the shops around it, the outlet is clean, bright, well-staffed and has lots of space for product browsing and self-education.

As Apple continues to build big and flashy international flagship stores, the company's U.S. retail team focuses on relocating and renovating a well-established chain of outlets. Recent activity includes the reopening of renovated stores in Burlingame, Calif., and Burlington, Mass., and construction work on a relocated shop in Seattle's University Village Mall.

In October, Apple opened the doors to a new Chicago flagship that sports a grand staircase, glass walls and metal roof. Most recently, AppleInsider got a sneak peek at the tech giant's futuristic Downtown Brooklyn outlet, which opened to the public last week.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    Raleigh has had the Apple Store for 10 years (Charlotte and Durham also with stores). Apple needs to pay attention to Fayetteville, North Carolina. With Ft. Bragg, two universities and a community college, there's a need. Often overlooked by retailers, Fayetteville has many top performing locations of many restaurant chains, Game Stop, etc.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 5
    vmarksvmarks Posts: 762editor
    Raleigh has had the Apple Store for 10 years (Charlotte and Durham also with stores). Apple needs to pay attention to Fayetteville, North Carolina. With Ft. Bragg, two universities and a community college, there's a need. Often overlooked by retailers, Fayetteville has many top performing locations of many restaurant chains, Game Stop, etc.
    Durham's Streets of Southpoint store was the first in 2002. I agree, Fayetteville is often overlooked.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 5
    Austin, Texas, has also gotten a new, renovated Apple Store — Apple Domain NORTHSIDE. Both original Austin Apple Stores have now been replaced by newer, updated stores. Meanwhile, nearby San Antonio still has its original stores, one of which (La Cantera) is 12 years old. I keep hoping Apple will build a new standalone store to replace it, but nothing so far. Oh, well...first world problem.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 5
    Raleigh has had the Apple Store for 10 years (Charlotte and Durham also with stores). Apple needs to pay attention to Fayetteville, North Carolina. With Ft. Bragg, two universities and a community college, there's a need. Often overlooked by retailers, Fayetteville has many top performing locations of many restaurant chains, Game Stop, etc.
    Apple will not put a retail location in Fayetteville, NC because Fayetteville is, and will always be, a dump.
  • Reply 5 of 5
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,913member
    It is all about demand and supply. If Apple sees large iPhone community than Apple will open retail location to serve them. Raleigh covers nearby cities with high iPhone user base including RTP and universities. Same true for Durham location. Because Fayetteville has Ft Bragg and few retails, how many living in area are iPhone users ?
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