Roger Fingas
Apple's plans to renovate its Regent Street store in London have been given government approval, paving the way for the popular retail outlet's facade and "tired and outdated" interior to be overhauled in a big way.
The company is set to go ahead with plans first glimpsed in May, according to the Evening Standard. From the outside, the most notable difference will be the removal of four Apple logos to allow more natural light on the salesfloor.
Apple is also planning to remove the front portion of the mezzanine, and install a double-height entrance that will further improve natural light. The store's current single staircase will be replaced with two new ones.
The renovations were authorized by the City of Westminster, who said that the renovations would "re-imagine the overall customer experience within the store and address and tired and outdated interior sales area."
Aside from those changes, little is known about Apple's plans for the interior except that the company intends to use neutral colors like white, gray, and oak to produce a "calm environment." The company will, however, likely follow the new template established by its Brussels outlet. Both that location and the future Regent Street renovations were designed by Foster & Partners.
Apple has been authorized to run a temporary shop in the basement for up to three years, although renovations will likely take up a fraction of that time. One worker told the Standard that most staff are "not allowed to see upstairs" until construction is finished.
Revamping Apple's retail presence has been a project undertaken by both head designer Jony Ive and retail chief Angela Ahrendts, who plan to make the company's stores more conducive for selling new product categories like the Apple Watch.
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
Charles Martin
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
8 Comments
**** history. We don't need that shite.
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/188587/city-of-westminster-gives-go-ahead-to-revamp-tired-and-outdated-regent-street-apple-store#post_2784154"]Revamping Apple's retail presence has been a project undertaken by both head designer Jony Ive and retail chief Angela Ahrendts, who plan to make the company's stores more conducive for selling new product categories like the Apple Watch.[/quote] I sincerely hope it is as written above and [I]not[/I] that the store remodel is somehow a kind of edifice to Jony Ive's design genius.
"...plan to make the company's stores more conducive for selling new product categories like the Apple Watch." Time will tell!
The Statue of Liberty is tired and outdated. I vote to paint her all white, like Apple packaging and replace that clichéd flame with an internally lit Apple logo.
I think that would be utterly appropriate on several levels.
The Statue of Liberty is tired and outdated. I vote to paint her all white, like Apple packaging and replace that clichéd flame with an internally lit Apple logo.
I think that would be utterly appropriate on several levels.
Haven't you been to this store? The facade is historic, but inside the interior is all blandly modern. It has been continuously remodeled over the past century. The part Apple plans to take out and modify is a 2005-era grey steel box and glass bridge.
That is, the "outdated" part looks a decade old.