Apple reveals its future in new San Francisco super store: $1.5million video screens, doors so big they take 10 minutes to open and trees... lots of trees
- The store combines five 'features' that will appear in stores worldwide
- They include a Forum area with a 35-foot-wide, $1.5million video wall
- And the Genius Bar will become a Genius Grove, with calming trees
- The store's 42-foot-high front doors take ten minutes to open
- But it's all ecologically friendly, and powered by solar panels
- The new store was unveiled Thursday and will open to the public Saturday
CEO Tim Cook is hoping shoppers will take another bite of theApple when they see the company's brand new San Francisco store, which was unveiled Thursday, 15 years after the opening of its first.
And with a bold new design that's either revolutionary or gimmicky, depending on your point of view, he - and company design chief Jony Ive - are certainly not pulling any punches.
The store, located in the city's popular Union Square shopping area, makes a big impression straight away with a pair of 42-foot-high glass doors that are so vast they take 10 full minutes to open every morning. And that's just the outside.
Slow opening: The 42-foot-high doors (pictured) at the new Apple Store in San Francsico's Union Square, weigh 37,000 pounds each and take 10 minutes to open. But Apple hopes its new design concepts are worth the wait
Relaxing: The Genius Bar is now the tree-lined Genius Grove. This is one of five 'features' appearing in the San Francisco store that will be spread to other Apple Stores worldwide as they undergo redesigns
Light: The furniture is mostly very familiar, but there's an increased effort to make the store light, bright, wide and airy, such as here in the 'Avenue' area. The hope is that it will feel more like a Town Square than a shop
Inside, customers will get that familiar minimalist Ikea-for-billionaires vibe, with more light-colored wood furniture promoting the latest Apple products, but with a cleaner design and minimal cables.
The sloping ceiling is fitted with thousands of LEDs, covered with screens that keep the back of the ground floor brightly lit, even as customers walk away from those doors, which weigh 37,000 pounds each.
This is the 'Avenue', the first of five departments that have been tried out in other Apple Store locations around the world but combined here for the first time,Cnet reported.
The idea is to make users feel like they're in a town square, Angela Ahrendts, Apple's head of retail, told press visitors Thursday.
'We want people to say, "Meet me at Apple, did you see what's going on at Apple?"' she said.
Customers in The Avenue will be met by 'creative pros' - staff with particular expertise in specific Apple Products like iTunes - who will 'hang out' in the area.
When customers are done with the first floor, they can take the glass staircase up to the next area.
Going up: The store also features glass stairs - one of several features that have been tested at other locations worldwide. But this is the first Apple Store to combine them all
For sale: Of course, the company still wants to sell its products and those affiliated with it, such as these Beats by Dr. Dre headphones
Up on the second floor is the 'Genius Grove', a more touchy-feely, rustic take on the company's existing Genius Bar concept.
Lined with trees surrounded by comfortable seating, the grove is designed to provide a more relaxing spot for customers than the Genius Bar.
And since by its nature it will be full of people having trouble with their tech, that might be a smart move.
The third of the new features is the Boardroom, which is designed to meet Apple's ongoing push to increase its business customers such as Cisco and IBM.
It will be open for entrepreneurs and small-to-medium-sized businesses wanting advice or help with Apple products.
But the real show-stealer on the second floor is the fourth feature: The Forum.
Hanging out: In the Avenue, 'creative pros' with specialist knowledge in Apple products such as iTunes will 'hang out' and wait for customers to ask them for help
Restful: Genius Grove will act much the same as the Genius Bar - but with seating, brighter surroundings and relaxing flora to take the edge off frustrations about malfunctioning laptops
Video wall: Angela Ahrendts, Apple's head of retail, shows press the $1.5million, 6K-resolution video walls that will be in Apple Stores around the world. It will be used to host music video premieres and presentations
The Forum features probably the store's most ostentatious addition - and given that its front doors are so big they need time lapse photography to show them opening, that's saying something.
In the store - and coming to many of the nearly 480 Apple Stores across the world - is a humongous, $1.5million, 6K-resolution video wall.
Most of the time the 35-foot-wide screen will be screening promotional videos, but it can also be used to hold creative classes, premiere music videos, and play host to artists talking about their craft.
And anyone worried about how much electricity this will use up will be relieved to know that the store, which was designed by architect Norman Foster's firm, Foster + Partners, is powered by solar panels on its roof.
Finally, at the back of the store there's the final 'feature,' the Plaza, which has free wi-fi, is open 24 hours a day, and will occasionally host live acoustic entertainment.
The store - which the company says will become more iconic than the 'glass cube' store on New York's Fifth Avenue - opens to the public on Saturday at 10am; its predecessor, on Stockton Street, will close permanently the day before.
Great outdoors: At the back of the store is the Plaza, an area with 24-hour free wi-fi that will occasionally host acoustic music acts - adding to the 'Town Hall' vibe
Changes: The new design concepts will be rolled out to the nearly 480 Apple Stores around the world, although they won't all be featured in the same place, as they are in the San Francisco store
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