Apple Park Visitor's Center Now Open to the Public

[mgauss7]

At the old Apple Store they sold Apple hats and shirts and so on. Now will they maybe have a website to purchase those items? Why not at the retail stores? I feel someone buying an X will also get a whole ensemble.

The Visitor's Center at Apple's new Apple Park campus opened up to the public this morning, allowing Apple fans to visit the Cupertino location to check out the campus and purchase souvenirs and snacks.

It features a cantilevered carbon fiber roof that was designed to look like it floats, along with staircases, stone walls, and terrazzo floors that match the aesthetic of the rest of the campus.

Inside, there's a large 3D model of Apple Park that provides guests with information about the campus through an augmented reality experience provided through dedicated iPads.

A store area offers the a range of Apple products and accessories, including Apple Park-exclusive T-shirts, hats, postcards, baby onesies, playing cards, and tote bags. A cafe built into the Visitor's Center offers coffee, tea, and snacks.

On the roof, there's a roof terrace that offers views of the main building and the landscaping, which includes more than 9,000 trees. While visitors can view the rest of Apple Park from the Visitor's Center, the other areas of the campus are off limits.

The Apple Park Visitor's Center is open from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Monday through Friday. On Saturdays, it opens at 10:00 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m., and on Sundays, it opens at 11:00 a.m. and closes at 6:00 p.m.

Article Link: Apple Park Visitor's Center Now Open to the Public

 

[flat five]

i've seen quite a few images of Apple Campus by now but i still haven't seen where they're using these tables:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...oot-tables-inside-collaborative-pods.1966228/



does anybody know?

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Visitor's Center AKA "The Gift Shop." What Apple really should have is a museum like Coke, BMW, etc have. There is a lot of computer and CE history in just 40+ years. That would be interesting, educational, and a true homage to Steve Jobs rather than the rote crap TC frequently spews. T-shirts and baby bibs, doesn't really do that, even the retro designs.

 

[Arran]

Ugh. Well that was a dumb decision to place it outside the Spaceship campus. The vast majority of tourists, global Apple admirers, and Apple fanboys who would make a pilgrimage to the Spaceship campus actually want to be inside the campus, even if their access to the other 98% of the campus is restricted. What a wasted opportunity for Apple brand fandom.

I agree. How to visit somewhere without actually visiting it.

They may as well have put the visitor center in Iowa.

 

[XW61982]

I would love to visit the Apple Campus some day and see how well they have blended high tech materials with architectural beauty, true functionality and energy efficiency.

 

[jujufreeze]

Nouveau Minimalism with hipsters and phones . I much prefer Gothic cathedrals spiraling to the sun, vast castles dotting the misty hills, or Colosseums with rich histories. To each his own.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Why anyone would waste their time visiting there is beyond me. It's like the most obnoxious Apple Store conceivable. I guess people are really bored.

See the buildings of the televangelists, including legendary ones such as the Crystal Cathedral. I would not be surprised to see future pics of some visitors in Apple logo'd white robes & sandals, etc., crying & blabbering as if they have finally made the pilgrimage to holy ground.

I imagine decades later, when they are rolling "highlights of my life" tales to their grandchildren, this visit may be some's highest, high point.

I imagine claims that the air seemed cleaner, the birds chirped heavenly melodies (but only for Apple Music members) and a few will claim that some unhealable issue or sickness was miraculously healed there.

For some of "us," I suspect it's like that.

 

[Bart Kela]

Thanks for the tip. I’ll check them out. Uber is coming out about $90 each way.

Caltrain from SF to Mountain View, take Uber/Lyft from there. It's a straight shot down Highway 85 to I-280.
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How much is a coffee from the cafe?

Unsurprisingly, the prices are within the price range with other upscale coffee shops in the region.

https://9to5mac.com/2017/11/17/here...ks-visitor-center-gallery/#jp-carousel-509028

$4 for a cappuccino.

 

[markhort]

Caltrain from SF to Mountain View, take Uber/Lyft from there. It's a straight shot down Highway 85 to I-280.
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Unsurprisingly, the prices are within the price range with other upscale coffee shops in the region.

https://9to5mac.com/2017/11/17/here...ks-visitor-center-gallery/#jp-carousel-509028

$4 for a cappuccino.

Excellent, thanks. I did look at public transport, but it was like 2 hours and about 4 changes.

Your way looks a lot easier.

 

[Bart Kela]

Those trip planning services (apps, Google Maps, Apple Maps, etc.) aren't very creative or knowledgeable about reasonable and sane alternatives.

Often it's better to ask a local.

People have come to rely on smartphones and the Internet too much.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Unsurprisingly, the prices are within the price range with other upscale coffee shops in the region.

https://9to5mac.com/2017/11/17/here...ks-visitor-center-gallery/#jp-carousel-509028

$4 for a cappuccino.

But how much is the cup (practically essential accessory sold separately) to hold that cappuccino?

 

[Bart Kela]

Not sure if the Company Store sells the same cups that they use in the Cafe.

They do sell some coffee mugs

https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/21/apple-1-inifinite-loop-campus-store-merchandise/

but they are not the right design for a cappuccino.
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I shudder to think how much an Apple Park-specific tote bag costs. Or attempt to understand the people that would spend money on such a thing, along with most of those items. I wonder if Ive designed them?

The tote bags are $25 apiece according to this 9to5 article.

 

[imnotarobot]

I worked at Apple briefly the year before Steve came back. Watched everything not needed for work like plants removed to save money. The final kicker was taking our popcorn supplies. I left thinking it was all over. Well, gee, look who's an idiot now. What a lovely place.

 

[Rogifan]

Ugh. Well that was a dumb decision to place it outside the Spaceship campus. The vast majority of tourists, global Apple admirers, and Apple fanboys who would make a pilgrimage to the Spaceship campus actually want to be inside the campus, even if their access to the other 98% of the campus is restricted. What a wasted opportunity for Apple brand fandom.

Wait, big corporations allow the general public to walk around their campuses? Where?

 

[Bart Kela]

At the old Apple Store they sold Apple hats and shirts and so on. Now will they maybe have a website to purchase those items? Why not at the retail stores? I feel someone buying an X will also get a whole ensemble.

Nope, the merch here can only be purchased at this location, just like the now shuttered Company Store at 1 Infinite Loop. That makes it special.

If Apple wanted to sell Apple-branded apparel and knickknacks online, they would already be doing so.

You have missed the point: some things gain value because they are unique or tied to a specific place, time or event.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

At the old Apple Store they sold Apple hats and shirts and so on. Now will they maybe have a website to purchase those items? Why not at the retail stores? I feel someone buying an X will also get a whole ensemble.

I love many Apple products but hell if I'm doing any other advertising for any company unless they pay me -- even then unlikely. I'm not that desperate for a few bucks. The only exception is road race shirts but I only wear them when running and that is usually at dawn or dusk so no one can see it anyway. Ha.

I think it would be really desperate and kitschy if Apple started selling shirts at stores. Store space should be exclusively for tech and related accessories not tchotchkes.

 

[Bart Kela]

Wait, big corporations allow the general public to walk around their campuses? Where?

In a dreamworld completely disconnected with reality.


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I think it would be really desperate and kitschy if Apple started selling shirts at stores. Store space should be exclusively for tech and related accessories not tchotchkes.

Nah, Apple has consciously decided not to sell logo-ed merch in its regular retail stores.

After all, the gross margin (as a percentage) on a $29 t-shirt is going to be way higher than an iPhone's gross margin.

 

[CharlesShaw]

I appreciate how the t-shirts on display resemble an array of iPod Shuffles. That photo in front of the t-shirts reminds me of a 1960's vision of the future.

 

[Bart Kela]

How much do those t shirt cost?

$29 according to another Apple blogger.
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Looks like a glorified Apple store.

Similar architecture and interior design which is utterly unsurprising.

Glorification is actually appropriate here, this venue is the public's view of Apple's physical presence in Cupertino.

However it's not a full blown Apple Store. It's not in the right neighborhood for one of those. There is a store section but there is no Genius Bar, not do they sell the same range of products as a regular retail Apple Store. The hours are shorter too.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Nah, Apple has consciously decided not to sell logo-ed merch in its regular retail stores.

Obviously. Apple Stores have been around for 16 years and have never sold shirts. OP was suggesting they should. I was commenting on that comment.

 

[sjinsjca]

Roofs made of carbon fiber. Sigh. No wonder the iPhone X costs $1000.

No, the X costs $1000 because people are willing to pay $1000. Including me.

 

[Leguna24]

That looks stunning.

 

[sjinsjca]

In hindsight he said he wishes we had gone in and wandered around. All in all, it was better than nothing, but not really anything to see. If you look at the experience they had to offer then and compare it to now, it's fairly comparable. It's fancier now, but it hasn't changed in substance—you're not going on tours of the campus, for example.

Not many companies offer "tours of their campus." Right down the street is Intel, with its excellent museum... but you won't make it past the security guard without an invitation and a host.

I haven't been to the new Apple campus or its Visitor Center yet, but it seems you're selling it a bit short. Unlike the current Infinite Loop store that has Apple products and a few swag items (and some extraordinarily welcoming and friendly staff), this new Visitor Center also has a cafe and places to enjoy the spectacular views of the site, and demonstrations of the company's very latest technology including the virtual-reality tour of the Spaceship building, which you can virtually disassemble on-screen. IIRC there will be occasional cultural and community events in the Steve Jobs Theater, and I fully expect some of these will be broadcast to iTunes users, just as Tim Cook's iPhone X introductory keynote event was.

To my eye, the Visitor Center seems much more ambitious than the Infinite Loop store was. Let's not underplay it at this early stage. Very likely, the vision for it is large, and the role it will play in the company's plan and image may surprise us.

 

[KENESS]

I just want to know how they created an airtight seal between the top of the glass walls and the wood slats that make the ceiling... The gaps between the slats seem like they'd be an issue.

 

[truthertech]

That building will stand as a monument, should Apple ever find itself on hard times/broke.

????
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How about fixing recent peoduct issues and launching the new speaker before opening a shop?

Good idea. If only Tim Cook could have figured out that folks running this "retail" store could be redeployed as engineers working on perfecting the Homepod. If Apple could have held off on opening the Visitor's center, we would have had the Homepod for Christmas. Boo to Tim. How did Apple ever become the most valuable company in the history of the world when they miss such obvious things?