Apple Store Permanently Closing at Struggling Mall in Chicago Area

[roncron]

I live not far from Northbrook. It was a really nice mall, a real shame to see it in decline.

But there’s another Apple Store about 12 minutes’ drive from Northbrook, in an open-air mall called Old Orchard, that’s bigger and a bit nicer than Northbrook. I can see the logic in closing the Northbrook Apple Store.

 

[decafjava]

I hope not, the world is better without malls. Open space stores are the way to go. It works in Europe it should work in America.

Yes, actually shopping streets with mixed stores (electronice, clothings etc.) supermarkets, cafes, resturants is much nicer. I was recently in Bern, the Swiss federal capital and there is a wonderful shopping street near the main station and parliament. Also a medieval clock with moving figures, and chimes.

 

[alchemistmuffin]

Northbrook Court is considered to be a dying mall, as it has lost several major retailers over the past few years, including Lululemon last month.

Very likely Apple is looking for new location to replace the Northbrook Court store in Chicago. Unfortunately though it’ll likely be a further away location. Hence they are closing it now and hope a prime real estate comes up. (Which is normally Apple’s strategy. Whenever they have to close the store permanently, in MOST CASES Apple is looking to replace the store at new location but only at prime real estate location, which can be difficult to come by. Example, Apple is still looking for new location for its Sendai and Sapporo location in Japan but so far no they can’t find a good real estate location)

Apple also permanently closed its Infinite Loop and Royal Hawaiian stores early last year

The infinite loop store became somewhat of overflow store since Apple Campus store opened, eventually Apple realized having two store in super close proximity was unnecessary. They aren’t Starbucks.

 

[Princejb134]

Why? Malls were never a good solution in the first place.
I’d rather keep buying with next day deliveries and avoid overcrowded public places

your the reason why retails are slowly becoming a thing of the past. less retails = less jobs

 

[sodajerk2]

Brookfield started demolishing a portion of the mall in late 2019 in order to reinvent the mall as a mixed-use development. Then COVID hit, and Brookfield abandoned their plans. The mall has been sitting, half demolished, for 5 years. Not sure what took Apple this long to abandon ship.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

Northbrook is a ghost town, much like many malls across the country.

Apple may not much longer inhabit these malls across the country.

 

[adrianlondon]

I have to say, any Apple Store I have walked past or been in is hell on earth usually. Just packed out with people crowding around the tables and probably buying very little.

I go to Apple stores to see new products. Most recently, to stare for what seemed like ages at two MBPs - one with a nano screen one without. Also, to see the two colour options IRL.

After making my decision, I went home and bought it online; so Apple got their sale partly thanks to the store.

 

[turbineseaplane]

So funny thing: we have a couple large malls here in Anchorage, and while both have been slowly declining one of them has experienced a sort of revival in the last couple of years thanks to COVID and some thoughtful remodeling done by the mall owners. They opened up formerly closed in feeling parts, added more seating and table space plus trendy music and free WiFi across the entire complex. Now shopping there in the late afternoon/early evenings it feels like when I was a teen in the 90’s again: full of tweens and teens talking, window shopping, sucking down frappes and hot pretzels by the basketful. I think groups still want to congregate, you just need to provide what they’re looking for.

It makes me happy to hear this.

They are a great public space to gather, which is a really important thing for community and young people.

It’s probably hard for folks outside the United States to relate to, but we are sorely missing public spaces

 

[babalougots]

This mall was very poorly located on Lake Cook Road… the mall was on the boundary between Lake county sales tax (6.25%) and the Cook county sales tax (8%). Apple was on the wrong side IIRC.

I’ve spent time working in every single store in Chicagoland except for Northbrook. Having had many colleagues rotate in and out of that store, their entitled customer horror stories were enough to respectfully decline to pickup shifts there. Sorry y’all, I chickened out.

Still, an Apple Store is a close knit community of workers and the final days are going to be very hard days for everyone.

Don't think the sales tax difference doomed that location. It was other factors but not sales tax. The mall lost almost all of its tenants so it was inevitable; times change as it once was a bustling mall like so many others. Hope a new location is in the works.

 

[Razorpit]

Brookfield started demolishing a portion of the mall in late 2019 in order to reinvent the mall as a mixed-use development. Then COVID hit, and Brookfield abandoned their plans. The mall has been sitting, half demolished, for 5 years. Not sure what took Apple this long to abandon ship.

Just looked at it on AppleMaps. Looks like they tore down one of the anchor stores.

Close to me they are in the process of tearing down what was at one time, the third largest mall in the U.S. We use to hang out there when we were kids. Spent a fortune in the record stores and arcades. Later, worked at Radio Shack there while going to college. 🥲

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I go to Apple stores to see new products. Most recently, to stare for what seemed like ages at two MBPs - one with a nano screen one without. Also, to see the two colour options IRL.

After making my decision, I went home and bought it online; so Apple got their sale partly thanks to the store.

I've only ever bought iPods, iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches so haven't really needed to see prior to buying. It would be a lot different with a Mac no doubt but a Mac can't do what I need from a computer sadly. My wife uses them as shes in a more digital creative role, whereas I am an automotive engineer. I think she's generally bought blind though both for work and home.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

This was a beautiful mall and strangely just vacated over the years. This place seemed to face the decline of "brick and mortar" shopping more than others, but this will be a thing of the future where the zoomers and some millennials will do all of their shopping on their phone.

What Zoomers and Millennials like is a place where they can hang out while drinking coffee or some strange vegan tea while using their phones.
Apple just needs to add that little detail: serve food or a good coffee.
This attracts people to get out of their homes.

 

[adrianlondon]

Apple just needs to add that little detail: serve food or a good coffee.

In 2025: "People just buy one coffee then sit in the cafe all day on their laptop, taking up space"

In 2026: "People just buy one laptop then sit in the shop all day nursing a cappuccino, taking up space"

 

[Max Powers]

I frequent an Apple store just west of Chicago in Oak Brook, IL. It's located in a higher end outdoor mall and when I go it's usually jammed.

 

[npmacuser5]

The failure was in the design. Today shoppers do not want to enter a marathon walking experience to enter a three level store walking experience. The new, very successful malls today. Drive up parking to a much smaller store layout. The old designed malls are closing. The drive-up model very successful.

 

[lotzosushi]

As someone who grew up near that mall it's very sad to see it close. But last year when I went to that mall basically 90% of the shops were empty. There were more security guards walking around than customers. The only stores keeping that mall alive were Apple and LEGO. You could film an episode of The Last of Us or Walking Dead there it was so empty...

Btw this mall is not in the Chicago city, but a wealthy suburb outside the city. The mall used to be very high end with all name brand stores. Theft was not the issue to the downfall of this mall.

 

[emulator]

We have a mall about 40 minutes from me in Sarasota, FL that still enjoys good traffic and impossible parking during the Christmas season. But that's definitely propped up by tourists and seasonal residents. They have a nice Apple store, too.

UTC is always packed, winter/summer doesn't matter. But look at the other two, especially Square with Costco being the only tenant these days.

 

[mclaugaa]

I was at that store a few weeks ago. The mall was dead midday on a weekend. This is not a huge shock.

 

[Tonewheel]

This mall was very poorly located on Lake Cook Road… the mall was on the boundary between Lake county sales tax (6.25%) and the Cook county sales tax (8%). Apple was on the wrong side IIRC.

I’ve spent time working in every single store in Chicagoland except for Northbrook. Having had many colleagues rotate in and out of that store, their entitled customer horror stories were enough to respectfully decline to pickup shifts there. Sorry y’all, I chickened out.

Still, an Apple Store is a close knit community of workers and the final days are going to be very hard days for everyone.

So much for the prestigious North Shore. 😄 While the Naperville store is jammed and thriving.

 

[babalougots]

So much for the prestigious North Shore. 😄 While the Naperville store is jammed and thriving.

Old Orchard is North Shore and Deer Park (not exactly North Shore) also thriving... Northbrook Court is a dead mall... I'm sure a new location will open at some point. I vote for Vernon Hills!

 

[thefrost]

Sad to see.

 

[superberg]

So much for the prestigious North Shore. 😄 While the Naperville store is jammed and thriving.

There are so many Apple Stores in this area. Kildeer/Deer Park, Skokie/Old Orchard, and Schaumburg/Woodfield can easily fill the gap.

When I worked for an MSP we had an all-Mac client that had a ton of butterfly keyboard MacBooks. I was driving to the Northbrook Court location at least once a week with a broken laptop. This was in 2021, the mall was already in decline by then.

But Golf Mill and Lincolnwood Town Center are also both absolute ghost towns. The other malls I mentioned seem to be carrying on fine.

 

[BugeyeSTI]

So much for the prestigious North Shore. 😄 While the Naperville store is jammed and thriving.

If you have a house (especially on the lake) in Lake Forest, Highland Park, Glencoe, Winnetka, Kenilworth or Wilmette, I don't think you'd be envious of people in Naperville.. Northbrook location was living on borrowed time for at least 5 years and Old Orchard location is 15 minutes south so not a big deal IMO.

 

[cosmichobo]

That really sucks, we can choose somewhat though with inflation and the fact wages have not kept up is really going to mess things up. Yes I order online sometimes, but often try to buy from small shops. Wearing a sweater I found by change on sale while on break during our class study trip two weeks ago in a small Swiss town of all places. Plus tourists like shopping, Monastiraki in Athens comes to mind.

There will be places that bricks and mortar will survive... but most people, given the chance, if the price is cheaper online than right in front of them, will buy online. I worked in retail for about 6 years (behind the scenes, pricing, production quantities etc etc) and bricks and mortar have been in decline for some considerable time...

Amazon in particular has come along and changed the world of retail. Whilst you do have companies who simply use Amazon to sell products, it's all online, and as it grows, bricks slows.

 

[Agent_Apple]

Sad. As a child of the 80s, it's hard to explain how awesome malls were "back in the day".