Solihull UK store relocating across the hall to a hugely larger location
Apple is closing its long-standing Apple Touchwood store in Solihull, UK, and opening a much bigger new one just across the hall. Here's how much larger the new location will be.
The old Apple Touchwood store -- and the new one opens directly opposite on July 25, 2025 -- image credit: Apple
Just as Apple Manchester recently relocated to gain more floorspace, so Apple Touchwood is now following suit. The original store, opened in 2007, will close for good on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
According to Apple, the replacement will then open the following morning, though shoppers will not have far to go. The new Apple Touchwood is situated on the same ground level as the old store, and exactly opposite on the mall's Crescent Arcade.
Apple is taking over a space that was used by clothing firm Topshop until it went out of business in 2021. There has been no permanent store in that space since then.
Touchwood does not publicize the size of its retail units. However, based on previous reporting of deals with stores of a similar size, Apple's old one had around 4,000 square feet.
It was very definitely one of the smaller Apple Stores, with a design that was quite long and thin. It was too narrow a store to safely operate at any point during COVID, but at one stage Apple rented out an adjacent unit simply for the queue for its store.
Touchwood itself suffered during COVID, with the mall eventually being bought up by American investors in 2021. The mall has always been unusual in that it has only ever had one anchor store, instead of the two that usually define a mall.
Apple (center left on this mall map) is moving to the space marked "New Brand Coming Soon" directly opposite -- image credit: Touchwood
That anchor is the UK department store John Lewis, which has been present in Touchwood since it opened. A second John Lewis in nearby Birmingham closed in 2020 -- despite having been a filming location for "Mission: Impossible."
Touchwood has also had a large turnover of stores, and also various previous plans to greatly expand the mall have failed to materialize. With Apple moving in to the Topshop unit, the mall is filling one of its larger gaps -- but it's not know whether the old Apple unit will soon be filled.
Based on the available floorplans, plus local knowledge, the new Apple Touchwood appears to be at least twice the size of the original, possibly slightly more. At around a conservatively estimated 10,000 square feet, the new store is around half that of nearby Apple Birmingham's 20,000 square feet.
That is one of the largest of Apple's 40 stores in the UK. One of its more recent new sites, Apple Brompton Road, is estimated to be the same 20,000 square feet.
We'll be visiting the new location soon.
Read on AppleInsider
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