First look at Apple's revamped SoHo retail store

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
It may have been just a reopening, but the throngs of people who visited Apple's SoHo store in New York on Saturday treated it like a brand new retail location.

AppleInsider reader Ryan was on-hand at Saturday's event in New York's SoHo neighborhood, and provided pictures and video seen below. The Apple Store at 103 Prince St. has been completely redesigned, and utilizes a 5,000-square-foot space that was formerly occupied by the U.S. Postal Service.

Apple's redesigned SoHo store now has more space for customers and employees, bringing it in line with Apple's other large, flagship stores found throughout New York City.

One major feature of the new store is a state-of-the-art theater with extra seating that will be used for events and workshops. The SoHo store also has New York's first Apple "Briefing Room," which will be used by the store's "Business Team."

The SoHo store also has a larger Genius Bar than before, making it easier for customers to get an appointment and receive help with their Apple products.

The first 3,000 customers who visited the new Apple Store's grand reopening on Saturday took home a free commemorative t-shirt. Customers lined up well ahead of time to be among the first to enter the store at 10 a.m.

While its popular SoHo store underwent major renovations, Apple went as far as building a temporary $1.4 million location in 2011 to service customers. The temporary location was housed in the same neighborhood on New York City's Greene Street.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 25
    delanydelany Posts: 51member


    From those photos it looks identical to how it was before the revamp ... where is the extra space?

  • Reply 2 of 25
    tooltalktooltalk Posts: 766member
    the usps office was tiny . doubt it makes any difference.

    $1.4m for that dump on Greene? Now i wonder how much apple is paying for he addiional space.
  • Reply 3 of 25
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    1) Thanks AI reader Ryan.

    2) Interesting to see that theater area. I wouldn't have thought that is a good allocation of space but I do see groups of people in foldout chairs in the foyer of my local store in training sessions.

    3) Why is no one covering Apple's new store in Vancover?¡



    tooltalk wrote: »
    the usps office was tiny . doubt it makes any difference.
    $1.4m for that dump on Greene? Now i wonder how much apple is paying for he addiional space.

    You're even making shit up to complain about in a store revamp simply because it's an Apple Store. Fucking pathetic!
  • Reply 4 of 25
    tooltalktooltalk Posts: 766member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    1) Thanks AI reader Ryan.

    2) Interesting to see that theater area. I wouldn't have thought that is a good allocation of space but I do see groups of people in foldout chairs in the foyer of my local store in training sessions.

    3) Why is no one covering Apple's new store in Vancover?¡



    You're even making shit up to complain about in a store revamp simply because it's an Apple Store. Fucking pathetic!


     


     


    eh?  I'm a Apple shareholder and owned multiple Apple devices before (4 iPhones & 3 Macbooks so far). I never owned Samsung anything until this year.


     


    Yes, I'm crazy and pretty bitter. Are you happy?

  • Reply 5 of 25


    Day of the living Fans.jpg

  • Reply 6 of 25
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by tooltalk View Post


     


     


    eh?  I'm a Apple shareholder and owned multiple Apple devices before (4 iPhones & 3 Macbooks so far). I never owned Samsung anything until this year.


     


    Yes, I'm crazy and pretty bitter. Are you happy?



     


    Which Samsung device(s) did you buy... and why?

  • Reply 7 of 25
    hittrj01hittrj01 Posts: 753member


    If this is the new layout, the Chicago store must have done this a long time ago, because this looks identical to that one. Same theater, same oversized Genius bar on either side of the stairs on the second floor, everything

  • Reply 8 of 25
    Microsoft can pride itself on having this number of people at the grand opening of their stores thanks to the free Miley Cyrus tickets they gave away. I guarantee all those girls never came back to the Microsoft Store for their next pee cee.
  • Reply 9 of 25


    Looks the same as the old store. I'll go down and check it out tomorrow.

  • Reply 10 of 25

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


     


    Which Samsung device(s) did you buy... and why?



     


    I'm not the one you asked the question of, but I am an iPhone user since the 3, and I just added a Galaxy S3 to my account.  I did it for the 4G, and the call clarity is significantly better (AT&T) than my 4S.  Overall I prefer the iOS feel, and I find Android's autocorrect to be almost unbearable.  Once Apple gets its act together and makes a 4G phone, I'll be back.

  • Reply 11 of 25

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by kustardking View Post


     


    I'm not the one you asked the question of, but I am an iPhone user since the 3, and I just added a Galaxy S3 to my account.  I did it for the 4G, and the call clarity is significantly better (AT&T) than my 4S.  Overall I prefer the iOS feel, and I find Android's autocorrect to be almost unbearable.  Once Apple gets its act together and makes a 4G phone, I'll be back.



     


    Yeah, that is a very nice Apple Store in SoHo.

  • Reply 12 of 25
    rodentrodent Posts: 49member
    It looks real similar to the flagship Frisco store across from the Ferrari store on Stocton St"
  • Reply 13 of 25
    stf2012stf2012 Posts: 6member


    haha, good one! truth be told, the samsung store looks good! :)

  • Reply 14 of 25
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    I'm not the one you asked the question of, but I am an iPhone user since the 3, and I just added a Galaxy S3 to my account.  I did it for the 4G, and the call clarity is significantly better (AT&T) than my 4S.  Overall I prefer the iOS feel, and I find Android's autocorrect to be almost unbearable.  Once Apple gets its act together and makes a 4G phone, I'll be back.

    Get swiftkey keyboard, it's much much better.
  • Reply 15 of 25
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    stf2012 wrote: »
    haha, good one! truth be told, the samsung store looks good! :)

    It looks good because they copied nearly all the concepts Apple has conceived, vetted and polished over the last decade. They are even using tablets as kioskelles.

    I do like the 3x3 display setup but I don't like that the devices are so heavy on the on-screen demos. The trick with Apple products is that they are free, have plenty of media installed to demo, and are connected to the net.

    The only think Samsung's store is missing is their version of the Genius Bar. Maybe creating Samsung Smarties is their next step.
  • Reply 16 of 25


    I have to say it does indeed look 100% identical to the Mag-mile store. Good eye 

  • Reply 17 of 25

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dasanman69 View Post





    Get swiftkey keyboard, it's much much better.


     


    Wow that's a WORLD better - thanks a lot for the suggestion

  • Reply 18 of 25
    jakebjakeb Posts: 562member


    It looks like there's a new, simplified glass staircase.

  • Reply 19 of 25
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    jakeb wrote: »
    It looks like there's a new, simplified glass staircase.

    You might be right. I wonder what kind of glass and/or testing is done to ensure a reasonable level of security and safety when you have thousands of people per week climbing up and down those steps.
  • Reply 20 of 25
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    1. Will their stores become all-glass at one point?
    2. Funny to see Apple displaying a gloved hand operating an iPhone...by using Siri that is.
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