Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Opens the Doors at its MacArthur Chambers Store in Brisbane, Australia

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,481
30,718


Apple's long-awaited store in Brisbane, Australia finally opened its doors to customers today. The flagship store was announced in 2011, but problems with contractors and the historical nature of the site delayed completion.

brisbane-outside.jpg

Customers started waiting in line almost 15 hours before the store was schedule to open its doors at 10 AM local time, with many hoping to score one of the limited edition Brisbane store T-shirts that were handed out. The dedicated fans were allowed in by exuberant store employees who greeted them with high-fives and cheers. Store leader Jonny Walker told PerthNow that he is proud of what Apple has done with the historic site.
"We are so proud of this store at Apple, it's got a stunning space now and we're really extremely proud to call it our home. When we took over the store a lot of the original historic elements were missing or in disrepair. What we've done is we've painstakingly restored it to its original glory."
Click to expand...
brisbane-inside.jpg

The store is located within the impressive MacArthur Chambers building, which was General Douglas MacArthur's South West Pacific headquarters for the Allies during World War II. The new retail space occupies the entire bottom floor of the building. It includes 200 display units and is staffed by over 100 employees, says a report by Brisbane Times, which toured the location before it opened.

(Thanks, David!)

Article Link: Apple Opens the Doors at its MacArthur Chambers Store in Brisbane, Australia
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/17/apple-store-brisbane/
Last edited:
MrSmith

MrSmith

macrumors 68040
Nov 27, 2003
3,046
14
The dedicated fans were allowed in by exuberant store employees who greeted them with high-fives and cheers.

They do that when you buy a Windows machine? We need a third option.
 
P

PaulSorensen

macrumors regular
Apr 30, 2008
106
44
Looking forward to my next visit to Brisbane, it'll make the top of the Queen St mall more fun than it was when I lived there in the late 80s/early 90s.
 
dec.

dec.

Suspended
Apr 15, 2012
1,349
765
Toronto
I guess with the right mindset being "high fived" when entering a retail store is pretty cool?! :eek:

The store looks very nice though.
 
nazaar

nazaar

macrumors 6502a
Oct 28, 2008
577
298
Nice looking store, but even now that it's populated with bodies it's still very clinical looking. (imo).
 
ksnell

ksnell

macrumors 6502a
Aug 26, 2012
719
1,222
Anyone else notice the Apple camera guy in the second photo? I guess we will be seeing this again in the next Apple Keynote.
 
D

Deuce2

macrumors newbie
Jun 10, 2013
28
2
MD
Jonny Walker Red

What? No "Jonny Walker" references? I'm disappointed in you guys... SMH
 
thekev

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
I'm glad they didn't drastically reskin the outside. The old buildings there are very cool.
 
T

tuxon86

macrumors 65816
May 22, 2012
1,321
477
Never understood the deal of waiting in line for a store opening, especially in 2014 when you can order online... hell, most of the time if you want specific options they'll do just that and order online for you.

I can't speak of other Apple store but the one in downtown Montreal is kind of lame and chaotic. No one to answer your question unless you queue up at the door waiting for a genius to be available instead of having dedicated helper in each product section, which mean a lot of people blocking the front of the store and quite a few genius standing at the back doing nothing...

They also splitted the store on two level, one for the systems and one for the accessories, which means that you have go for your accessories before going for your system because once you move away from your assign genius, he'll be flagged to go help another waiting customer and you'll have wait again for him to be available...

Oh, and the service counter is also on the second floor, so beside having no parking near the store and thus having to carry your mac for two block on crowded street, you also have to climb 2 flight of stairs...
 
W

winston1236

macrumors 68000
Dec 13, 2010
1,902
319
tuxon86 said:
Never understood the deal of waiting in line for a store opening, especially in 2014 when you can order online... hell, most of the time if you want specific options they'll do just that and order online for you.

I can't speak of other Apple store but the one in downtown Montreal is kind of lame and chaotic. No one to answer your question unless you queue up at the door waiting for a genius to be available instead of having dedicated helper in each product section, which mean a lot of people blocking the front of the store and quite a few genius standing at the back doing nothing...

They also splitted the store on two level, one for the systems and one for the accessories, which means that you have go for your accessories before going for your system because once you move away from your assign genius, he'll be flagged to go help another waiting customer and you'll have wait again for him to be available...

Oh, and the service counter is also on the second floor, so beside having no parking near the store and thus having to carry your mac for two block on crowded street, you also have to climb 2 flight of stairs...
Click to expand...


I never understood why with all of their many sales associates it takes so long to get someone.
 
Lancer

Lancer

macrumors 68020
Jul 22, 2002
2,217
147
Australia
I'll be checking it out in a few weeks on my next trip to the big city.

Goftrey said:
And people say the high street is dying? Pfft. Just do it like Apple.
Click to expand...

The store/building backs on to a mall (with a 2nd entry) that has some major retail chains and a supermarket.
 
W

wikiverse

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2012
689
952
Goftrey said:
And people say the high street is dying? Pfft. Just do it like Apple.
Click to expand...

The high street isn't dying in Brisbane and Apple are a bit late to the party. They would have been late even if the store opened in 2011.

The new store is across the street from Louis Vuitton, Tiffany's, Chanel, Hugo Boss, and scotch & soda.

I'm sure apple will do well here.
 
D

dilbert99

macrumors 68020
Jul 23, 2012
2,193
1,829
Yay!! I got an image published

Not my best images but published none the less, and a mention :)

I did think the store looked nice (perhaps a bit clinical), but not as nice as some of the other Apple stores I've seen on here...

David
 
Steeley

Steeley

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2011
265
318
UnfetteredMind said:
Certainly looks nice. I wonder if they have any pics from before the restoration?
Click to expand...

There are some out there of the previous tenant that'll give you an idea of what it looked like before. Mind you when the book store left it was rented out to fly-by-night bargain basement retailers for a while, but they didn't change anything from the book store they were just very messy. Note the tacky air conditioning pipes and gold detailing!

Pics courtesy of Skyscraper City (found them with google image search)

amp32.jpg


amp33.jpg


Note in this last image the placement of the trees and the garden:

729macarthur-420x0.jpg
 
Last edited:
simonmet

simonmet

Cancelled
Sep 9, 2012
2,666
3,663
Sydney
Yikes! It looked super tacky before. I'm glad someone with some taste was able to move in and clean it up.
 
the8thark

the8thark

macrumors 601
Apr 18, 2011
4,628
1,735
Yes I was there, the store opening was really good. First time I've ever been to an Apple store. I got a shirt and an Airport Express. And I love the plastic bags Apple use. Drawstring with a nice logo on it.

9gHbnzp.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom