The stand-alone stores definitely can and do use more natural light, but it's not fair to say that they largely do that, as there are still a ton in shopping malls and I guess airports and shit.
Apart from the entire glass front facade that opens up to the street, two story interior, and a glass staircase that goes up to an entirely new area where people can charge their devices and work on things inside the store it looks the same.
It became a T-Mobile store or something right? I liked that location but the Union Square one is really cool. I was lucky enough to get a really extensive tour of it when it was opening.
I taught those for almost 5 years, I loved that job. Had some absolutely lovely seniors that I worked with regularly.
And then shortly after I quit they completely changed the program getting rid of the 1to1’s and went completely to workshops (which I hated teaching… people wanted to come to get questions answered or have someone walk them through a project at their own pace, not sit through a lecture.) Made me so sad. Apple did so many things right with the retail stores in the earlier years, only to slowly strip away so many of the things that made it great.
I taught those for almost 5 years, I loved that job. Had some absolutely lovely seniors that I worked with regularly.
And then shortly after I quit they completely changed the program getting rid of the 1to1’s and went completely to workshops (which I hated teaching… people wanted to come to get questions answered or have someone walk them through a project at their own pace, not sit through a lecture.) Made me so sad. Apple did so many things right with the retail stores in the earlier years, only to slowly strip away so many of the things that made it great.
Let’s agree to disagree. The first Apple Stores had wooden floors that were switched out for the grey Italian tiles somewhere in the mid 2000’s. The products in the early days were black or white or whatever boxes the came in. Apple contracted with them to change the packaging to white boxes so they would match perfectly marketing guidelines. They used to have a kids section with iMacs table with black ball stools for the kids to sit on - these sections no longer exist. The stools at the Genius Bar were all wood and black. Now the seats are a blonde wood with chrome metal legs. I could go on, but I believe you can see my take on this since I worked at an Apple Store through all of these remodels and changes. Basic layout is similar, but has changed very much.
Apple basically bought a quarry in Italy to make these tiles. So beautiful and luxurious until someone spills something on them and you realize they absorb stains to an nth degree and have to have a specialized team flown in to fix.
Sometimes overnight when it’s something like blood, which is more common than you’d think.
On the flip side, most of the tables are/were made by a family owned company by a dad and son duo and they hired help as the orders got bigger.
Silk was also stretched over the lights to diffuse harshness.
I remember that in 2005 the osaka Apple store used to regularly have concerts. It was actually a lot of fun just going there to listen to music. Much nicer vibe than nowadays.
I would expect design skills to be significantly upgraded. The new store design is likely precision designed to crowd control and behavior control. And of course influence senses through design and also secret tech that apple has. Their chip can gently massage the user's inner experience plane.
Yeah they've basically stayed the same. I was in one a few years ago in the mall here and it literally looked just like OP's pictures except more modern furnishings
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u/OtherAlan 1d ago
It hasn't changed much.
Apple store in San Francisco union square.