Apple's first-ever retail store at Tyson's Corner is moving to a new location

AppleInsider · May 1, 2023 5:31PM

The first retail store that Apple opened, Apple Tysons Corner, is moving down the hall to a much larger location.

Apple Tysons is moving

After 22 years, Apple is developing a completely new location at Tysons Corner to sell the iPhone and other products. The company announced it over the weekend on the temporary facade of the new space, as discovered by Michael Steeber.

The first-ever @Apple store opened 22 years ago here at Tysons Corner Center! Apple now begins their next chapter with us, with a newly-reimagined space coming soon. We feel proud to be a part of their story. pic.twitter.com/hiwiWBM1vs
-- Tysons Corner Center (@ShopTysons)
April 30, 2023

"The first-ever Apple Store opened 22 years ago here at Tysons Corner," a message on the store's wall says. "Soon we look forward to welcoming you to this newly reimagined space."

"Thank you for being part of our story," it continues. "Here's to the next chapter."

The store will remain inside Tysons Corner Center, and the new location will be on the upper level between Nespresso and Victoria's Secret. Tysons Corner Center is a vast mall in Northern Virginia inside the Washington DC metro area, with hundreds of stores and restaurants, including one of the original Apple Stores it opened in 2001.

There are several vacant stores between the location for the Apple Store and the outside of the mall. It isn't yet clear if Apple is absorbing those locations.

"This is our store," Steve Jobs said as he introduced the Apple Store on May 15, 2001, in a video launch. The store opened on May 19 and significantly impacted how customers purchased Apple hardware and received product support, as well as permanently changing the landscape of physical retail.

An app created in 2022 offers a virtual walk through four historic Apple Stores, including Apple Tysons. On the site, users can virtually navigate the stores and view forgotten features, as well as rows of software boxes. Additionally, people can hear snippets of Steve Jobs speaking as they move through the stores.

Read on AppleInsider

iOS_Guy80 · May 1, 2023 6:07PM

I thought I read that a second store also opened up on the same day at the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California.

ronn · May 1, 2023 7:37PM

iOS_Guy80 said:

I thought I read that a second store also opened up on the same day at the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California.

Yes, IIRC, Glendale opened three hours after the Tyson's Corner store.

mpantone · May 1, 2023 8:33PM

The first Apple Store was supposed to be Palo Alto but city permitting and construction delays pushed it to third retail opening. Apple Palo Alto was Steve's store, he often showed up there for iPhone launches, etc. and frequently dined at nearby restaurants.

Apple Palo Alto moved from its original opening location (the music store building) a block away to its current location (the former Z Gallerie).

I still think of the original Apple Palo Alto as the original Apple retail store even though it opened its doors after two others had launched. When Steve died, it was still at the original location, the tributes outside this store were jaw dropping.

AniMill · May 1, 2023 8:51PM

I lived in Bethesda, MD when it opened. Tyson was the primo mall at the time and was an excellent choice for Apple. I was a PC guy at the time, so I blew it off - silly man. But I also remember how the stores rose and spread, and how impressed with their layouts I became. Today I look forward to visiting the stores here in Miami any chance I get just to hang out… oh, and to mock the Microsoft (and few Samsung) stores as well.

mobird · May 1, 2023 9:09PM

I was the first customer to walk through the doors at the original Apple Store @ Saddle Creek in Germantown, TN.
Drove 150 miles from my home in Heber Springs, Arkansas!
Still have 2 t-shirts that came in clear plastic tubes.

bloggerblog · May 1, 2023 10:18PM

Yup, been there on opening day. There was a long line of people anxiously waiting to go inside and touch stuff. A very exciting day indeed to see all those Mac enthusiasts in one place in a time when Apple's future was still questionable! It was one of those feelings that rarely strike twice, I still have the T-shirt.

I would add that in those days the internet was exploding and the future of physical stores and malls were in question. Many if not all, saw Apple's move as a misstep and a repeat of a doomed behavioral pattern. However Apple Stores were so stupendously successful that mall stores demanded Apple Stores be excluded from the value of the mall's square footage since it added an unreasonable hike in price. At $6,000 per square foot, Apple built the most profitable physical store in history, with Tiffany being a distant second.

williamh · May 1, 2023 11:57PM

Funny, I was just there a few days ago and there was no sign of it. The location described in the article is close to where the Tesla store was located and there was a Microsoft store there as well (maybe in the same location before Tesla got there, I don't remember.) In any event, the new location in the mall is more heavily trafficked than where it is now.

9secondkox2 · May 2, 2023 12:40AM

Always a bummer when a piece of history gets altered, but I guess that’s expected in the tech world.

Just so long as they don’t continue to use that circus clown version of the Apple logo, everything will be fine.

MustSeeUHDTV · May 2, 2023 2:33PM

I remember when this first opened up that I thought there is no way a store can survive with just selling iPods and Macs. But I always felt this way about tech stores that only sold a limited amount of things like the Microsoft store that opened up a few years later, and the Tesla store.

MS did eventually disappear along with companies like Peloton.

bloggerblog · May 2, 2023 9:26PM

It's still on the second floor between Nespresso and Pink, across Banana Republic. One of the reasons for the move might be for safety reasons?

GerfnitAuthor · May 2, 2023 9:42PM

I was first in line at Apple Woodfield and Apple Oakbrook, both Chicago-area stores. I scored the tube T-shirts...and a job. I worked Apple Michigan Avenue (original) and Apple Old Orchard for 14 1/4 years. Since retirement, I've been first in line at the remodeled versions of both those stores. It must be in my blood.

jimh2 · May 2, 2023 10:42PM

bloggerblog said:

It's still on the second floor between Nespresso and Pink, across Banana Republic. One of the reasons for the move might be for safety reasons?

The mall got a lot sketchier when the DC Metro added a line there.

sevenfeet · May 2, 2023 11:48PM

My soon-to-be wife and I were living in the DC area when the Tyson's Corner store opened and while I wasn't planning on going that first day, we ended up at the Tyson Corner Mall that Saturday for other things and I was curious to see what the reaction to the opening of Apple's first retail store was. The line was out the door, down the concours, up the stairs and down another concours. There had to be at least 300 people waiting to get in. Keep in mind that these were the days where Apple only sold Macs. The iPod wouldn't debut until months later. Apple at that point relied on mom and pop computer stores (many that had been with Apple since the 70s and 80s), few regional chains and the one big national chain, CompUSA. Apple had little control of its retail experience and it was uncertain at the time whether the retail experiment would succeed.

Apple's first-ever retail store at Tyson's Corner is moving to a new location

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