First Apple Store in India to open in 2020; stores in Mexico and Japan are opened

While Latin America (or rather Mexico) celebrates the opening of its first store flagship from Apple, India is hopeful about plans to receive its first Apple Store in the not-too-distant future, since plans are apparently defined and ongoing, as we will see below.

In addition, we will also check out other recent (re) inaugurations of the company in Japan, the United States and China. Without further ado, let’s take a look at Apple’s retail news.

Apple Store in India

The story between Apple and India is practically an Indian Mexican soap opera, but apparently Apple’s plans to open its first physical store in the country may hopefully get off the ground, according to a new report in the The Economic Times.

According to the publication, Apple selected the location for its first store in the country: the shopping center Maker Maxity, located in the Bandra Kurla complex in Mumbai. According to sources Economic Times, the thriving Apple Store will occupy more than 2,300 square meters on three floors of the shopping center to offer an “experience center” floor, a service center and a retail floor.

Maker Maxity in MumbaiMaker Maxity in Mumbai

Such an “experience center” must refer to the Forum, where the sessions of the Today at Apple, located mostly on the ground floor of the stores; meanwhile, the service center is likely to correspond to the Genius Groove, where Apple offers technical support.

THE Economic Times further notes that flagship due to open in September 2020, which could take eight months to a year to complete – the same time as most Apple Stores located inside shopping centers in the U.S. – and that some store materials are already being transferred to India.

Apple Antara

As we said, Mexico was celebrating during the opening of the first store flagship from the country (and Latin America) last week, Apple Antara. After months of construction and some eavesdropping, the store opened to the public on September 27, just in time for the launch of the new iPhones.

Check out some photos:

Deirdre O’Brien, senior vice president of retail and people at Apple, joined the Apple team to welcome customers to the new store, while Miguel’s Mexican artist “Nan”, also known as Girl Ultra, introduced herself. Apple CEO Tim Cook also celebrated the opening:

Welcome to Apple Antara! We are delighted to welcome the Mexico City community to our beautiful new store. Put your ideas to dream. ??

Apple Fukuoka

Japan has been receiving, since last year, a gigantic investment from Apple that made it possible to renovate six company stores in the country, the most recent of which is Apple Fukuoka, which opened 150 meters away from the old location. As we reported, this Apple store was, until then, the last unit of the company that had the The Studio – the precursor to Today at Apple.

Inspired by Apple’s new design standard, the Apple Fukuoka facade highlighted the entire interior of the store from the front glass, supported by two stone walls. Regarding the previous installation, the new store has a 50% wider and 3x higher facade.

Like other stores in the Asian region, Apple took local architecture and culture into account when building the new Apple Fukuoka. Thus, this is the first store in the world to use an alternative form of shoji – panels or sliding doors made of wood (in the case of Apple Fukuoka, glass) adapted with a type of translucent paper to allow the entry of soft light during the day.

Apple Old Orchard

In the home country of the Apple, Apple Old Orchard, located in the state of Illinois, moved from a shy space at Westfield Old Orchard Shopping to a large new street store in Skokie.

Front of Apple Old Orchard

The new store welcomes customers with a large facade and a revolving door that also gives access to the new Forum where the activities of the Today at Apple.

Interior of Apple Old Orchard

Apple Columbia

The state of Maryland has also been covered with Apple’s retail news, and recently the company has reopened the third (out of five stores) that has been refurbished in the region: Apple Columbia. The facility has reopened in the same location as before, The Mall shopping center, but is now located on the second floor of the complex.

Interior of Apple Columbia

As you can see, Apple Columbia follows the company’s new retail design adapted to shopping centers, that is, wide doors (opened in parallel), central lights and a new roof, with design clean.

Apple Shanghai iapm

Apple logo Shanghai iapm

While some stores are completely closed for renovation, in other cases Apple divides the environment into several sectors to allow changes to happen without disrupting service. This was the case with Apple Shanghai iapm, in Shanghai (China).

The renovations started last June, when the second floor of the site was closed to add shelves in the sector that Apple calls Avenue. At the end of the following month, the works were moved to the first floor and Apple decorated the place with one of the logos used in its special event in October last year.

Apple Shanghai iapm maintained its iconic spiral glass staircase, but gained a Video Wall and a new Forum. This is the seventh store in Greater China to be upgraded to Apple’s new retail standard.

via 9to5Mac: 1, 2; FirstPost