NEW YORK – Apple boasts more than 300 retail stores across the world, including five in Manhattan with the opening of its new outlet in Grand Central Station. Located on the wide terrace overlooking the train station’s Main Concourse, and extending into a series of side rooms, the store doesn’t offer anything new on the traditional Apple store model: blonde wood tables hold rows of the company’s latest products, a Genius Bar tends to those with device issues, and glowing Apple logos loom over it all. Despite a lack of design novelty, customers turned out by the hundreds for the Grand Central store’s Dec. 9 opening, with some even lining up the day before. In a bid to transform its Grand Central store into hubs for everything Apple, and not just locations for buying a Mac or iPhone, the company is hosting a series of 15-minute “express workshops” covering everything from “iPad Essentials” to “”Travel Apps.” The intended audience seems to be harried commuters and others who might need a quick lesson in something Apple-related on their way from Point A to B. Given the sky-high rental for the space, Apple surely wants to pack as many people into its sprawling new digs as possible.
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Open Air
In contrast to other Apple stores, which are necessarily closed to the outside world, the bulk of the Grand Central location is in the open air of the train station’s Main Concourse.
Mob
On its opening day, the Grand Central Apple store was instantly thronged by customers—at least some of whom had been waiting to enter since the day before.
Design Language
Despite the iconic location, Apple declined to tweak or adjust the design language for this newest Apple store: it features the same blonde-wood tables and rows of products as you’d find in other Apple locations.
Genius Bar
The new location’s Genius Bar, located on one of the balconies overlooking the concourse.
Annex
In addition to the terraces, the Apple store includes a set of enclosed rooms, featuring still more products and accessories.
Crowd Control
Apple deployed hundreds of employees to deal with the inevitable first-day crowds.
Accessories
The accessories area seemed tucked well away from the main action.
Rent
Given what surely must be considerable rent, Apple necessarily needs a steady flow of customers in order to keep the location viable. Given the popularity of its other Manhattan stores, this seems unlikely to be a short-term issue.
iPad Display
Apple now uses iPad 2 units in order to display product information, in place of placards.
Mobility
Apple has gravitated increasingly toward being a mobile-device company. As such, the layout of the store emphasizes MacBook Airs, iPads and iPhones, placing them front-and-center on the terrace.
Fixtures
With most Apple Stores, the company controls every aspect of the space, from the exterior down to the flooring. It doesn’t have that ability with the Grand Central space, where the station’s architectural details merge with those of Apple’s. Would Steve Jobs have approved of those chandeliers?
Holiday Season
Apple could see strong sales this holiday season off sales of the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, although a refresh of the latter could be around the corner, early in 2012.
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NEW YORK – Apple boasts more than 300 retail stores across the world, including five in Manhattan with the opening of its new outlet in Grand Central Station. Located on the wide terrace overlooking the train station’s Main Concourse, and extending into a series of side rooms, the store doesn’t offer anything new on the traditional Apple store model: blonde wood tables hold rows of the company’s latest products, a Genius Bar tends to those with device issues, and glowing Apple logos loom over it all. Despite a lack of design novelty, customers turned out by the hundreds for the Grand Central store’s Dec. 9 opening, with some even lining up the day before. In a bid to transform its Grand Central store into hubs for everything Apple, and not just locations for buying a Mac or iPhone, the company is hosting a series of 15-minute “express workshops” covering everything from “iPad Essentials” to “”Travel Apps.” The intended audience seems to be harried commuters and others who might need a quick lesson in something Apple-related on their way from Point A to B. Given the sky-high rental for the space, Apple surely wants to pack as many people into its sprawling new digs as possible.