Apple previews new Beijing flagship ahead of grand opening

Posted:
in General Discussion edited July 2020
Apple is on the verge of opening a new flagship location that will replace Apple Sanlitun, the company's first store in China.

Apple Sanlitun
Source: Sleepwalking Beijing via Weibo


According to a newly published preview page posted to Apple's regional retail website, the revamped and relocated Apple Sanlitun outlet will open soon in Beijing.

The new flagship features Apple's current flagship design language, including large glass walls, a sloped metal roof and elaborate stonework. On the whole, Apple Sanlitun is close replica of Apple's Michigan Avenue flagship in Chicago that opened in 2017.

Users of China's Weibo microblogging service have chronicled construction of the flaghship over the past few months, showing slow but steady progress as opening day nears.

The new Sanlitun outlet is located just steps away from the original store in Taikoo Li Sanlitun, formerly The Village, a large shopping center in Beijing's Chaoyang District. Apple selected the mall to host its first Chinese store in 2008. Construction of the new location called for the razing of The Orange, a meeting hall that previously stood in the mall's central courtyard.

Visitors can read an inspirational message highlighting the new store's location and download a special Sanlitun-themed wallpaper from Apple's website.
ronn

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    Beautiful as usual. I hope that in the near future all Apple stores are designed from the ground up and mall spots closed.
  • Reply 2 of 8
  • Reply 3 of 8
    ivanhivanh Posts: 597member
    Is Apple products not high-tech enough? 
  • Reply 4 of 8
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,108member
    I just hope they learned their lesson with the Chicago store and stopped using unsealed concrete on the floors. I was there a week after it opened and there were already marks and stains on the floor. Really, Lord Norman (Foster, the architect)? Tsk, tsk. 
    trashman69ronnSpamSandwich
  • Reply 5 of 8
    svanstromsvanstrom Posts: 702member
    It's worrying that Apple keeps investing more and more in a country where the ruling political party just keeps doubling down on ignoring all forms of human rights.

    Personally it makes me trust Apple less and less as they keep on having more and more to lose in situations where they must pick between angering the CCP, or assisting the CCP in subjects that might hurt people; or even get them killed. And since I follow what's happening in Hong Kong rn (https://hongkongfp.com/ is a good news source in English) I just keep getting more and more worried about companies that keep getting themselves dependent on the Chinese market.  :(

    Beautiful store, though.
    Alger
  • Reply 6 of 8
    iOS_Guy80iOS_Guy80 Posts: 805member
    The San Francisco flagship store at Post and Stockton is still my favorite, especially when the weather is nice to open the sliding walls. 
  • Reply 7 of 8
    AlgerAlger Posts: 29member
    svanstrom said:
    It's worrying that Apple keeps investing more and more in a country where the ruling political party just keeps doubling down on ignoring all forms of human rights.

    Personally it makes me trust Apple less and less as they keep on having more and more to lose in situations where they must pick between angering the CCP, or assisting the CCP in subjects that might hurt people; or even get them killed. And since I follow what's happening in Hong Kong rn (https://hongkongfp.com/ is a good news source in English) I just keep getting more and more worried about companies that keep getting themselves dependent on the Chinese market.  :(

    Beautiful store, though.
    Companies of all shapes & sizes are bending over backwards to align themselves with the movement against police violence against Blacks in the U.S. (as they should), but all of them operating in China are completely silent on the Chinese government's brutal repression of literally hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Uyghurs (and other political & social minorities), being detained, brainwashed and likely tortured and killed, in the Xinjiang concentration camps.  As capitalists, it's very hard for them to forfeit the quest to capture a market as large as China (and keep local competition in check), but they are ignoring epic-scale repression in one country while proclaiming leadership against repression in the U.S.  It's called hypocrisy.  Corporations were shamed into divestiture from apartheid South Africa; there should be similar efforts regarding the Uyghurs now, and super-rich corporations like Apple should apply the same standards of basic respect for human rights wherever they do business - especially in cases as glaring as this.
    svanstrom
  • Reply 8 of 8
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Alger said:
    svanstrom said:
    It's worrying that Apple keeps investing more and more in a country where the ruling political party just keeps doubling down on ignoring all forms of human rights.

    Personally it makes me trust Apple less and less as they keep on having more and more to lose in situations where they must pick between angering the CCP, or assisting the CCP in subjects that might hurt people; or even get them killed. And since I follow what's happening in Hong Kong rn (https://hongkongfp.com/ is a good news source in English) I just keep getting more and more worried about companies that keep getting themselves dependent on the Chinese market.  :(

    Beautiful store, though.
    Companies of all shapes & sizes are bending over backwards to align themselves with the movement against police violence against Blacks in the U.S. (as they should), but all of them operating in China are completely silent on the Chinese government's brutal repression of literally hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Uyghurs (and other political & social minorities), being detained, brainwashed and likely tortured and killed, in the Xinjiang concentration camps.  As capitalists, it's very hard for them to forfeit the quest to capture a market as large as China (and keep local competition in check), but they are ignoring epic-scale repression in one country while proclaiming leadership against repression in the U.S.  It's called hypocrisy.  Corporations were shamed into divestiture from apartheid South Africa; there should be similar efforts regarding the Uyghurs now, and super-rich corporations like Apple should apply the same standards of basic respect for human rights wherever they do business - especially in cases as glaring as this.
    If Apple is playing their cards right, they’ll continue to make nice with the CCP and play their little game, while simultaneously building out manufacturing and assembly in other countries in case things get really bad and the Chinese government starts confiscating foreign investments and property.
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