Apple to add 7th NYC store next year with new Brooklyn location
Brooklyn will reportedly become the third of New York City's five boroughs to house an Apple retail store, with the Cupertino company expected to open a 20,000 square foot outlet there in April of next year.
A rendering of what 247 Bedford will look like following its remodel. | Image courtesy of The Real Deal
Apple has signed a long-term lease at 247 Bedford Ave. -- in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood -- according to the New York Post, a location the iPhone maker was first linked to last year. It will be Apple's seventh store in New York, joining five existing outlets in Manhattan and one in Staten Island.
247 Bedford is in the midst of a remodel that will see it emerge with a brick facade and large, arched windows at street level. It is unclear how much Apple will pay for the space, though the building's owners expected to ask for as much as $200 per square foot after purchasing the property for $66 million in 2012.
Rumors that Apple would make the jump over the East River have been around for years. As early as 2007, the company was said to be in negotiations for a spot at The Edge, a then-new condominium project in Williamsburg, though an agreement never materialized.
Apple's retail empire is undergoing a major expansion under new chief Angela Ahrendts, though most of that is overseas, including 25 new stores set to be built in mainland China. The company has long sought to control as much of the customer experience as possible, a goal that will be further enabled by bringing first-party retail stores closer to more consumers.
A rendering of what 247 Bedford will look like following its remodel. | Image courtesy of The Real Deal
Apple has signed a long-term lease at 247 Bedford Ave. -- in the trendy Williamsburg neighborhood -- according to the New York Post, a location the iPhone maker was first linked to last year. It will be Apple's seventh store in New York, joining five existing outlets in Manhattan and one in Staten Island.
247 Bedford is in the midst of a remodel that will see it emerge with a brick facade and large, arched windows at street level. It is unclear how much Apple will pay for the space, though the building's owners expected to ask for as much as $200 per square foot after purchasing the property for $66 million in 2012.
Rumors that Apple would make the jump over the East River have been around for years. As early as 2007, the company was said to be in negotiations for a spot at The Edge, a then-new condominium project in Williamsburg, though an agreement never materialized.
Apple's retail empire is undergoing a major expansion under new chief Angela Ahrendts, though most of that is overseas, including 25 new stores set to be built in mainland China. The company has long sought to control as much of the customer experience as possible, a goal that will be further enabled by bringing first-party retail stores closer to more consumers.
Comments
2015 will surely be another promising year for iphone
The sun never sets on the Apple empire.
Anybody else notice the Cobra sitting out front?
Fun fact, I almost lived upstairs in that building many years ago before Williamburg blew up to its current state.
That's a crazy location. Sure, Williamsburg is full of recently arrived painful hipsters and too-cool-for-school visiting Manhattanites, but it's on the periphery of Brooklyn, with lousy transport (the L train, seriously?) that make it easier to reach from Manhattan than from the rest of Brooklyn.
Better locations would've been Fulton Mall (central, rapidly improving shopping district) or even near Barclays Center - both are in the heart of big, affluent population centers (Bklyn Heights, Downtown Bklyn, Park Slope, Fort Green etc) and with much greater transport links.
I'll continue to visit Apple Soho, because it's easier for me to reach (from Brooklyn) than the new location. Shame. I guess "cool" won the day again.
Roof deck with cappuccino bar?
Nope.
A different set of codes govern F&B outlets, generally too onerous and wastefully expensive for a retailer to deal with. That includes things like inspections from the city's health department and food handling certification for your employees, etc.
Unless F&B revenue is intended to be a major part of your business plan, you don't build and operate the place to serve food and beverage.
And that's not Apple's business model.
"Would you like fresh hot apple cider with that slice of apple pie today?"
More like, "would you like an Apple TV with that iMac?"
No? Then Beat it.
I wish they'd do the same in London. I'm not entirely sure it's normal in other locations to have to book a Genius appointment at least 7 days in advance...
I can't imagine the busy multi windowpanes will survive (if that's how they are now). Large single panes is more likely unless local regulations won't permit.
When it was a god forsaken shit hole?
That's exactly where they need to be, although I bet there was more foot traffic at the downtown Brooklyn location that Marty Markowitz, the former Brooklyn borough President, was trying to get them to open a store at. Williamsburg is both 'hipster' and filled with an ever-growing population of people with money, since every new housing project (and there is construction everywhere) is quite expensive, whether rental, condo or co-op.
The downside is poor access to public transportation and not good parking, although there seems to be a lot across the street. Apple should buy that lot and provide store visitors with free parking.
IMO, they should also open at least a small store in Park Slope on 5th Avenue somewhere and in Bayside, Queens, although Bayside is notoriously unhip. And also among all those new buildings in Long Island City, even though that's not all that far from Williamsburg.
The downside is poor access to public transportation and not good parking, although there seems to be a lot across the street. Apple should buy that lot and provide store visitors with free parking.
Why would they do that? They don't buy their own store parking lots elsewhere. Or is this location so incredibly important and unique that Apple must have their own parking lot, just for this store's customers?
Do you think Apple's shareholders would agree with this strategy?
It would encourage sales of larger or heavier items by people who live farther away, especially since this is the only store in Brooklyn.
From a shareholder's perspective, accessible parking will drive far more sales than a multi-million $ glass staircase or special imported granite floors.
And inherently, when Apple opens a mall store, they are providing parking since a share of their rent goes to supporting the parking facilities.
Long Island City, Queens probably lost its chance as the borough's first location of an Apple store since it's so close.