Apple Closing Basingstoke Store as Nearby Reading Location Expands

[MacRumors]

Apple today confirmed that its Apple Festival Place store in Basingstoke, England will permanently close in November 2026, while a nearby store in Reading undergoes a major expansion and will reopen with a new design in the following month (via 9to5Mac).

Apple The Oracle will become the closest replacement at around 18 miles from the old Basingstoke location, with Apple WestQuay in Southampton roughly 30 miles away and Apple Bentall Centre about 35 miles away as the next closest alternatives.

Apple Festival Place opened in August 2011, while Apple The Oracle first opened in the Oracle Shopping Centre in June 2011, so both stores are marking just over 15 years in operation as one closes and the other is rebuilt. Apple Festival Place will continue operating normally until November, and its staff will have the opportunity to move to Apple The Oracle or another location once it shuts.

Apple The Oracle is due to reopen in December with the features found in Apple's newest stores, including an experience room for trying out certain products, a dedicated Genius Bar, an Apple Pick Up area for collecting online orders, and free Today at Apple sessions.

The closure and rebuild are part of Apple's ongoing plan to open, relocate, and remodel dozens of stores worldwide. In the UK alone, Apple relocated its Touchwood store in Solihull to a much larger unit last summer and expanded its Trafford Centre store near Manchester earlier this year, while Apple Birmingham is said to be getting a series of upgrades.

The Basingstoke closure follows a more contentious round of U.S. store closures earlier this year, when Apple permanently shut three retail locations, including Apple Towson Town Center in Maryland, the first Apple store in the U.S. to unionize.

Apple opened 11 new stores and relocated 17 more with updated designs worldwide over the past 18 months. Including new locations in Miami and Downtown Detroit alongside a recent revamp of its UK flagship store on Regent Street in London.

Article Link: Apple Closing Basingstoke Store as Nearby Reading Location Expands

 

[Jxdawg]

How exactly does one pronounce this name?

 

[MikeAllaway]

How exactly does one pronounce this name?

Bay-sing-stoke and Red-ding

 

[Chrjy]

Bummer for Basingstoke but good news for Reading. I’ve bought plenty of stuff from the Reading Store over the years, and glad it’s that one expanding as it’s my nearest Apple shop.

 

[jimmy_uk]

Great - one more reason not to go into Basingstoke town centre....

This is my local store, damn it! Odd choice, as the store is always busy?
And Reading is no fun at the weekend if the Football is on - too damn busy an area.

 

[LouisMac90]

Been there a few times nice but quite a small store compared to others, good for Reading.

 

[macbookj0e]

Great - one more reason not to go into Basingstoke town centre....

This is my local store, damn it! Odd choice, as the store is always busy?
And Reading is no fun at the weekend if the Football is on - too damn busy an area.

Could be to do with the lease or landlords asking for increasing rent like they do? Seems a shame if it's busy...

 

[tomtad]

How exactly does one pronounce this name?

Amazingstoke

 

[H2SO4]

Bay-sing-stoke and Red-ding

I'd say Bayzing and not Baysing as far as pronunciation is concerned?

 

[polyphenol]

My nearest Apple Store is 81 miles - and takes two hours to reach (without any stops, and with good traffic - which is rare).

I find it hard to care about the distance between Basingstoke and Reading - a journey I used to drive as part of my daily commute many years ago.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

Bay-sing-stoke and Red-ding

Isn't Bay-zing-stoke also common?

 

[m..]

This is disappointing, it's the nearest store to me. Reading and Southampton are a lot further. I picked up my last Mac from there.
That end of the mall usually seems seems to be moving towards food and entertainment but is otherwise fairly quiet, so maybe the store wasn't performing as well as other locations.

Bay-sing-stoke and Red-ding

It's more like Bay-zing-stoke and Red-ing for me.

 

[casjohnr]

Been to Reading a few times over the years for work purposes, pretty decent place especially considering you can get to and from Central London in 20 minutes

Oracle always struck me as a slightly confusing name for the shopping centre as coincidentally Oracle (as in Oracle Java) have or used to have one of their head offices in Reading!

Microsoft also have a HQ based there which we had to attend once for a work event - one of the presentations was about how great Windows 8 was...

 

[Reason077]

Oracle always struck me as a slightly confusing name for the shopping centre as coincidentally Oracle (as in Oracle Java) have or used to have one of their head offices in Reading!

Yep, they're still there:

Oracle Corporation UK Ltd
Oracle Parkway, Thames Valley Park (TVP)
Reading, Berkshire
RG6 1RA

 

[bobtamboo]

I had read they’re opening in a bigger unit in the Oracle, so I’m assuming the existing one stays open until the new one is ready. Will most likely pick up an iPhone ultra there on release

 

[cambookpro]

The Oracle was looking a bit sad with the amount of empty units the last time I was there, but the Apple Store is always busy so hopefully moving to one of the bigger units (perhaps the old Topshop site) can reinvigorate it a bit!