A different kind of store
An Apple TV+ pop-up, Apple Bridge Street, and milestones in Japan.
Last week, I mentioned that Apple Bridge Street in Huntsville, Alabama, was getting ready to move. Now we have an official grand reopening date: August 31 at 10:00 a.m.
Bridge Street is the only Apple Store between Birmingham and the Nashville metro area, so its big move comes not a day too soon. The existing store is a bit like a time capsule, trapped in amber since it opened in May 2008 save for a giant iPod nano 3rd generation in the window.
The new store is located outdoors along the same side of Bridge Street Town Centre, just a few doors down the way and next to Athleta. You can see a big blank space reserved for it on the mall map:
It’s great to see momentum picking up again. This is the first store opening since the beginning of summer.
Pachinko
This one is slightly off topic, but I think you’ll enjoy it anyway. In Seoul, Apple has opened a pop-up store to celebrate season two of “Pachinko,” the Apple TV+ drama series. The store is located in Project Rent, a space designed to host ephemeral experiences like pop-up shops. The store is open from August 24 – September 8.
Admittedly, I haven’t watched a single episode of “Pachinko,” but I still really enjoy the details in this space. One section is themed like an old pachinko parlor, there’s a small theater area, and you can even grab a snack. The teams responsible for this store are distinct from Apple’s Retail teams, of course, which makes it all the more fascinating to see how Apple can deviate from its tried-and-true aesthetic while still maintaining great attention to detail. Here’s a short video tour of the store, and a few more photo galleries.
A new plan
Apple has reorganized the floor layout at Apple Ginza in Tokyo. The store’s temporary space is split across four small levels, each with its own focus. As @Krgn1002 points out, B1F, the basement level, was originally home to Apple Pickup and Today at Apple. New signage in the store now indicates that the basement is used exclusively for Apple Vision Pro sessions and iPhone accessories. Order pickup has been moved to the ground floor, and the upper levels have been adjusted to make room.
The post also mentioned that the Today at Apple display has been removed from the store entirely. In a thread from last May, the post author noted that Today at Apple was no longer listed on the webpage for Apple Ginza.
The Ginza temporary store is tiny, so it makes sense that the addition of Apple Vision Pro pushed the space beyond capacity. But it’s odd to see Today at Apple missing here entirely, especially if you recall that the original Apple Ginza had an entire floor dedicated to a Theater. Previously, Apple Infinite Loop was the only store in the world (that I’m aware of) not offering sessions.
20 years of Shinsaibashi
On Wednesday, Apple Shinsaibashi in Osaka, Japan will celebrate its 20th anniversary. iArigato has put together a nice retrospective on the store’s early history that I enjoyed. It’s in Japanese, but translates well. I’ve been talking about Shinsaibashi’s extensive renovation quite a bit here, and it’s fitting that it’s finally wrapping up as the store passes this milestone.
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Photo via @azwanali.