Apple hyping this week's opening of first-ever Brooklyn retail store

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in General Discussion
With less than a week to go before Apple opens the doors on its first retail location in Brooklyn, passersby have been notified of the grand opening with new signage advertising the long-awaited opening in New York City's most populous borough.




The new Apple retail store in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood is set to open this Saturday, July 30 at 10 a.m. Eastern. The store is located at the corner of North 3rd Street and Bedford Avenue.

While the new Apple Store is the first in Brooklyn, it is the ninth overall in New York City. Six of those are in Manhattan, one is on Staten Island, and one is in Queens.

The new Williamsburg store features a brick facade with archway windows and an entrance. Ahead of the grand opening, the windows are covered with orange decorative tape, masking the interior until the store opens to the public.




As with many other retail locations, the Apple log is displayed out front on a hanging sign, cut into a thin sheet of metal. The covered windows hype the upcoming opening by saying "We've got something special in store for you."

The corner building is two stories tall, though it's unclear whether Apple's public retail space will include the second floor.




With the final touches being put on the store ahead of its opening, barricades are in place around the entrance. As of this weekend, AppleInsider also spotted two security guards watching the perimeter.

Apple began hiring for the store back in May, two years after it signed a long-term lease for the location. Renovations at the property began in 2015, but the iPhone maker didn't make the store official until last week.


Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    No offense to you hipsters but I hope Apple installed adequate ventilation. 
    tallest skilmessagepad2100
  • Reply 2 of 13
    Hyping?  Isn't that a contraction of Hyperbolic Promoting?  What is it that is hyperbolic here?

    messagepad2100
  • Reply 3 of 13
    razormaidrazormaid Posts: 299member
    Eeek. Looks like a building for some Planned Parenthood or something. Not very pretty is it. I'm guess this one will not be on "the tour" of most beautiful Over the top Apple stores. Looks like somewhere they'd make shoehorns for horses with that sheet metal sign. GRIN 
  • Reply 4 of 13
    razormaid said:

    Eeek. Looks like a building for some Planned Parenthood or something. Not very pretty is it. I'm guess this one will not be on "the tour" of most beautiful Over the top Apple stores. Looks like somewhere they'd make shoehorns for horses with that sheet metal sign. GRIN 
    It looks better now than it did before  :) 


  • Reply 5 of 13
    razormaid said:

    Eeek. Looks like a building for some Planned Pearenthood or something. Not very pretty is it. I'm guess this one will not be on "the tour" of most beautiful Over the top Apple stores. Looks like somewhere they'd make shoehorns for horses with that sheet metal sign. GRIN 
    It looks better now than it did before  :) 


    Wow what a transformation. It was a real dump before. I'm sure it will look even better when they pull the film of those arched windows. 
    michael scripcalitallest skil
  • Reply 6 of 13
    razormaidrazormaid Posts: 299member
    Holy crap!  That's how it loooked before?  I thought Brooklyn was one of the more expensive places to live?  I guess when you grow up in Newport Beach, CA you sort of loose perspective on what things should look like. (We had surfing as an option in high school for PE because the high school was on the beach and of course everyone had a desigber car  but me).  

    But yes... it does look better than that older picture for sure.  Lol 
    michael scrip
  • Reply 7 of 13
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Wow only Apple would have a launch event on a new store.

    This tells me it's gonna be awesome and probably a huge Jony Ive/Angela Andrehts project.


    razormaid said:
    Holy crap!  That's how it loooked before?  I thought Brooklyn was one of the more expensive places to live?  I guess when you grow up in Newport Beach, CA you sort of loose perspective on what things should look like. (We had surfing as an option in high school for PE because the high school was on the beach and of course everyone had a desigber car  but me).  

    But yes... it does look better than that older picture for sure.  Lol 

    I thought Brooklyn was "the hood" where all the projects were? Keep in mind it's the first Apple Store in Brooklyn while Manhattan has 6. What should that tell you?
  • Reply 8 of 13
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    razormaid said:
    Holy crap!  That's how it loooked before?  I thought Brooklyn was one of the more expensive places to live?  I guess when you grow up in Newport Beach, CA you sort of loose perspective on what things should look like. (We had surfing as an option in high school for PE because the high school was on the beach and of course everyone had a desigber car  but me).  

    But yes... it does look better than that older picture for sure.  Lol 
    Brooklyn is very urban. Williamsburg was a crime ridden God forsaken shit hole, but it's close proximity to Manhattan made it ideal for a takeover by outsiders. 
  • Reply 9 of 13
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    cali said:
    Wow only Apple would have a launch event on a new store.

    This tells me it's gonna be awesome and probably a huge Jony Ive/Angela Andrehts project.


    razormaid said:
    Holy crap!  That's how it loooked before?  I thought Brooklyn was one of the more expensive places to live?  I guess when you grow up in Newport Beach, CA you sort of loose perspective on what things should look like. (We had surfing as an option in high school for PE because the high school was on the beach and of course everyone had a desigber car  but me).  

    But yes... it does look better than that older picture for sure.  Lol 

    I thought Brooklyn was "the hood" where all the projects were? Keep in mind it's the first Apple Store in Brooklyn while Manhattan has 6. What should that tell you?
    The store is in Williamsburg, which used to be an industrial area filled with manufacturing and warehouses and now is a hipster neighborhood where many of those old buildings have been converted to apartments, totally new buildings have been built as well and there is construction going on everywhere.   The shopping streets look like a crowded version of a combination of Berkley and urban decay.    Everything there has become quite expensive, although not as expensive as San Francisco to Palo Alto and surroundings.   A 2-bedroom apartment in a new building is upwards of $800,000.    It looks to me from the outside that the converted manufactured buildings did not make great use of the space and rather than building large lofts, the apartments are relatively small, especially for the price.    

    There are projects in Brooklyn, but every neighborhood is different and even areas within neighborhoods are different.   Brooklyn has been long overdue for an Apple store - there is plenty of money there, especially in neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Williamsburg, Clinton Hill and upcoming neighborhoods like Ft. Greene and others.   And many people, especially young people in NYC, do not own cars.   So being in a neighborhood is important even though a Manhattan Apple store is a subway ride away.   I think in another 10-15 years, Red Hook is going to be the hip place to live.   Brooklyn's population is growing 1% per year, but as of 2015, it was still 102,000 short of its 1950 peak of 2.7 million.   It will probably reach that by 2019.   NYC's population is at an all time peak. 

    All that most of the stores being in Manhattan tells me is that being a west coast company, Apple was far more familiar with Manhattan than the other boroughs and that Apple also wanted to attract tourists into the stores.    But the population of each NYC borough (Staten Island excepted, although that does have an Apple store) is larger than most cities, so they should be better served.   Queens was at 2.34 million in 2015 - it should have more than one Apple store as should Brooklyn.   The former Brooklyn borough President wanted Apple to build in downtown Brooklyn near Borough Hall (and blocks away from the Metrotech hub and the former Brooklyn Polytech - now part of NYU), but Steve apparently didn't like the location because some adjoining blocks are a bit run down.    
  • Reply 10 of 13
    jakebjakeb Posts: 562member
    razormaid said:
    Holy crap!  That's how it loooked before?  I thought Brooklyn was one of the more expensive places to live?  I guess when you grow up in Newport Beach, CA you sort of loose perspective on what things should look like.
    Outside of very manicured parts of Manhattan (like 5th Avenue), New York constantly looks like it's falling apart and being put back together again. You have to embrace that as part of its charm.
  • Reply 11 of 13
    jakebjakeb Posts: 562member
    Also, fun fact -- even though this looks like a restoration, they basically tore down the entire building. Look at the before and after photos -- the arches don't line up. I peeked my head last year during construction. There were no walls left. They tore it down to the foundation and built a near-replica in its place. Sounds crazy, but that's how Apple rolls.
  • Reply 12 of 13
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    US$800k for 2 bed room small apartment? 0.o
  • Reply 13 of 13
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    kevin kee said:
    US$800k for 2 bed room small apartment? 0.o
    Almost as though there's a new housing bubble or something…
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