AppleInsider Staff
Apple is on the verge of opening a new flagship location that will replace Apple Sanlitun, the company's first store in China.
According to a newly published preview page posted to Apple's regional retail website, the revamped and relocated Apple Sanlitun outlet will open soon in Beijing.
The new flagship features Apple's current flagship design language, including large glass walls, a sloped metal roof and elaborate stonework. On the whole, Apple Sanlitun is close replica of Apple's Michigan Avenue flagship in Chicago that opened in 2017.
Users of China's Weibo microblogging service have chronicled construction of the flaghship over the past few months, showing slow but steady progress as opening day nears.
The new Sanlitun outlet is located just steps away from the original store in Taikoo Li Sanlitun, formerly The Village, a large shopping center in Beijing's Chaoyang District. Apple selected the mall to host its first Chinese store in 2008. Construction of the new location called for the razing of The Orange, a meeting hall that previously stood in the mall's central courtyard.
Visitors can read an inspirational message highlighting the new store's location and download a special Sanlitun-themed wallpaper from Apple's website.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
8 Comments
Beautiful as usual. I hope that in the near future all Apple stores are designed from the ground up and mall spots closed.
Is Apple products not high-tech enough?
I just hope they learned their lesson with the Chicago store and stopped using unsealed concrete on the floors. I was there a week after it opened and there were already marks and stains on the floor. Really, Lord Norman (Foster, the architect)? Tsk, tsk.
It's worrying that Apple keeps investing more and more in a country where the ruling political party just keeps doubling down on ignoring all forms of human rights.
Personally it makes me trust Apple less and less as they keep on having more and more to lose in situations where they must pick between angering the CCP, or assisting the CCP in subjects that might hurt people; or even get them killed. And since I follow what's happening in Hong Kong rn (https://hongkongfp.com/ is a good news source in English) I just keep getting more and more worried about companies that keep getting themselves dependent on the Chinese market. :(
Beautiful store, though.