Apple Hongdae opens
Inside Seoul's seventh store, Apple Mall of Scandinavia, Year of the Dragon, and more.
We have a lot to discuss today. Ready?
Apple Hongdae opened on Saturday, January 20 in Seoul. I’ve mentioned it before, but this is worth repeating: the variety, proximity, and recency of Apple Stores in Seoul is among the best of any metro area in the world. Hongdae completes a perfect seven.
Apple Hongdae is an outdoor, street-facing store. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows wrap two sides with an elegant, curved corner. Nobody does curved glass quite like Apple. The facade panels are made from quartz.
Like Garosugil, Myeongdong, and Gangnam, Apple Hongdae is protected from Seoul’s chilly winter weather by a prominent glass vestibule extending deep into the store. Apple typically chooses revolving doors for locations in cold climates, and the stores in Seoul remain curious exceptions.
Inside, the proportions are striking but very pleasant. The soaring wood panels of the Apple Pickup wall anchor the space, and the fabric wall above the Avenues helps the store feel expansive. A tall ceiling combined with a surplus of natural light makes this location look much brighter and more cheerful than other stores with similar lighting designs.
Two freestanding Avenues stand free against the windows. The backs of each bay are fitted with Graphic Panels visible from the street. From the outside, I didn’t think I’d like this design. Heavy fixtures blocking the window? Yuck. But on interior photos, the Avenues almost melt away, fading into the background. It’s a good use of what would otherwise be “lost” space.
Perhaps what’s most intriguing about Apple Hongdae is just how unsurprising the store should be. We’ve seen all of these elements before — at least 15 times! But when combined in an elevated way, the format just shines.
The souvenir? A black, boxed tote bag and a sticker.
Year of the Dragon
Apple is celebrating the Year of the Dragon in Asia with a fun variety of promotions and artwork. In China, massive gold window decals appeared on select stores. The decals include a special Year of the Dragon Apple logo. Make sure to visit the Apple Store Online in China to download some great wallpapers.
Also new are Lunar New Year special-edition AirPods Pro engraved with a dragon. Customers in China once again received a limited number of red packets with their AirPods when purchasing in-store. In South Korea, there’s a blue dragon theme. Finally, Today at Apple is offering a Create New Year Magic session collection through February 13.
In-store and online, Year of the Dragon accessories are available for a limited time, and were displayed prominently at the opening of Apple Hongdae.
Mall of Scandinavia
A new store is on its way to Sweden. Apple has announced that Apple Mall of Scandinavia will open in 2024, and hiring for the location is underway. Mall of Scandinavia is located in Solna, a municipality north of Stockholm’s city center and south of Apple Täby Centrum.
It’s extremely unusual for Apple to announce a store this early, and even more unusual for the announcement to come with a teaser webpage and interior rendering published far ahead of the opening. Perhaps it’s because Sweden only has three Apple Stores, and none have opened since 2013. One of those three, Apple Väla Centrum, will close later this year. Apple says it won’t be renewing its lease. No closure date has been announced.
Väla Centrum and Mall of Scandinavia are geographically distant, so it’s hard to imagine the new store as an equivalent replacement for customers or team members hoping to relocate. Perhaps announcing it now helps neutralize the unfortunate news of a closure. For customers in Stockholm, at least, it’s an exciting moment. The last time an Apple Store opened in Sweden, the iPhone 5c was new.
Infinite Loop
Apple Infinite Loop closed on Saturday, and more than a few people in the Apple community showed up to clap out the store. Over the weekend, The Mercury News published a story about the closure, and I shared some quotes for the piece. (non-subscriber link.) Some good news: Apple has confirmed merch from Infinite Loop is moving to Apple Park Visitor Center.
Shopping guide
This past week, Good Morning America published an interesting shopping guide clip from Apple Fifth Avenue. If you’re deep enough in the Apple ecosystem to subscribe to this newsletter, you won’t learn anything new about the products, but it is fascinating to see an interview shot in the store.
Featured image
Apple Royal Hawaiian
Photo via @lupulopi.