May 18, 2006: The world — and, more specifically, the Apple-watching press — gets its first glimpse of the swanky new Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City.
Previously hidden behind a black plastic wrapper during development, that all changes a day before the store’s grand opening. Workers remove the covering to reveal a 32-foot glass cube adorned with a floating, white Apple logo. At 10 a.m., members of the press get an exclusive tour of the new venue.
Fifth Avenue Apple Store: Steve Jobs’ vision
May is a significant month for Apple stores. Almost exactly five years before the Fifth Avenue Apple Store’s unveiling, Cupertino opened its very first retail outlets. Those stores — in McLean, Virginia, and the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, California — set the stage for Apple’s retooling of retail sales.
By 2006, however, Apple was ready to make a big splash. Few locations could do that like the Big Apple. Apple CEO Steve Jobs had been heavily involved with Apple’s retail store strategy all along. And the Fifth Avenue Apple store bore his fingerprints throughout.
“It was really Steve’s store,” is how Ron Johnson, Apple’s former senior vice president of retail, described the unique building.
To produce the truly remarkable retail outlet, Jobs hired architects Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, the firm that designed a massive Seattle home for Bill Gates. Because the Fifth Avenue Apple Store’s actual retail space was located underground, accessible via a glass elevator, the design brief called for the firm to create something spectacular enough to lure in customers.
A new retail landmark for New York
It clearly worked. Not only did the Fifth Avenue Apple Store become the most spectacular retail outlet of its time, but it also — quite astonishingly — became New York’s most photographed landmark.
Its opening, the day after the May 18 press preview, drew a variety of actors, musicians, movie directors and TV personalities. The opening-day star power included Kevin Bacon, Beyoncé, Kanye West, Spike Lee, Dave Chappelle and more than a dozen others.
Now renamed simply Apple Fifth Avenue, the store remains open 24 hours a day to serve the shopping needs of New Yorkers and tourists.
Have you visited the Apple tore on Fifth Avenue? What is your pick for the most spectacular Apple store in the world? Leave your comments below.
