Apple to Open New Flagship Store in Melbourne, Australia

[ekwipt]

Melbourne hipsters are not happy.

Haha I’d say they are extremely happy, more jobs for them
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The Facebook page for the Premier of Victoria https://www.facebook.com/DanielAndrewsMP/posts/1620421274689069 shows what happens if you do a secret deal with a "tax dodging" multinational company that "peddles flimsy Chinese junk, made with slave labor, repackaged Samsung parts and resold to morons who are impressed by marketing" to take over public space, without public consultation.

Umm why are you on these forums?

 

[ErikGrim]

This one already has a use - it's public space.
I also find it kind of absurd that Apple, extreme tax minimisers, are somehow free to purchase land paid for by Australian taxpayers and replace it with a faux-public space to sell expensive gadgets

Yo yo yo. Federation Square is owned by a PRIVATE company since 1999, Fed Square Pty Ltd. It has a CEO, shareholders and a whole company department dedicated to commercial development. Of which there are already several including a 7/11 and a souvenir shops.

Apple is leasing a building from Fed Square Pty Ltd, not their private land.

 

[iOzzie]

Melbourne, Always one-up-ing Sydney

Fixed.

 

[magamen]

looks like a sexy new building!

 

[jabz10]

Dammit, still not even 1 in NZ!. Perfect opportunity while the Auckland inner city rail loop is being constructed!. FFS they missed out on Britomart.

 

[fermat-au]

Unfortunately this will be replacing the Yarra Building which houses the Koorie Heritage Trust - a building that promotes and exhibits Aboriginal culture of South-Eastern Australia. I'm a Apple fan, but this sucks.

edit: spelling

They’re demolishing an art gallery and award winning building for a shop. Apples lobbyists are worth their pay!

Apple can move to the central business district and still bring in those "new jobs" and "more income" or whatever is claimed about this new store.

Respectfully, that's very incorrect. Apple is not more than just a store. Apple is simply a retailer, focused on profits. All the other "community" engagement and events Apple holds at its stores, also known as marketing, are all geared towards supporting the Apple brand and promoting Apple branded products and services.

Apple is not a gathering place either. Federation Square is already Melbourne's gathering place. The art galleries, theatres, performance spaces currently at Federation Square are truely community focused. Believe it or not, Apple is the McDonald's of the tech industry and the community in Melbourne according to the reports do not want an Apple store in Federation Square. The community there do not want Apple to demolish a public funded building.

Apple should shut down its planned Federation Square store and consider opening somewhere in the central business district.

The planned store in Federation Square is a public relations disaster for Apple.

What ever people think about Apple, Federation Square and the proposal, I am surprised that Apple didn't see this negative reaction. Apple are known for the PR and controlling public perception of them. The headline of "building house Aboriginal artists to be demolished for Apple Store" is just bad PR. What ever the whole story is this makes Apple look bad and I am surprised that Apple let the announcement happen the way it has.

 

[knzVZyxf]

Yo yo yo. Federation Square is owned by a PRIVATE company since 1999, Fed Square Pty Ltd. It has a CEO, shareholders and a whole company department dedicated to commercial development. Of which there are already several including a 7/11 and a souvenir shops.

Apple is leasing a building from Fed Square Pty Ltd, not their private land.

According to their own website, Fed Square Pty Ltd itself is owned by the State Government of Victoria, and the company does not own the land but manages Federation Square on behalf of the government. It is public land.

 

[ekwipt]

There’s definitely going to be backlash but I really like the idea of the learning centre, the ACMI has similar programs. I can see Federation square being a bit more of an information/art/cultural centre hub of Melbourne.

 

[rochford]

For those interested a very good article by the original architect in support of the new building, and other interesting discussions on the issue…
https://architectureau.com/articles...an-apple-flagship-store-at-federation-square/

 

[ErikGrim]

According to their own website, Fed Square Pty Ltd itself is owned by the State Government of Victoria, and the company does not own the land but manages Federation Square on behalf of the government. It is public land.

No they are not. It was established by the Victorian Govt in 1999, and they remain a majority shareholder and operate under the original charter laid out by Vic Gov. But it is not govt land for precisely this reason, to allow for commercial enterprise while retaining the appearance of public land. Where you can see that this pseudo-public land is in fact not public at all is when protestors were removed for protesting Adani.

 

[knzVZyxf]

No they are not. It was established by the Victorian Govt in 1999, and they remain a majority shareholder and operate under the original charter laid out by Vic Gov. But it is not govt land for precisely this reason, to allow for commercial enterprise while retaining the appearance of public land. Where you can see that this pseudo-public land is in fact not public at all is when protestors were removed for protesting Adani.

After a bit more digging I see you are correct - it is land owned privately by the state government... They do a good job of hiding this, I lived in Melbourne for some years and had no idea. I guess this explains how Apple can get permission to use the land without public consultation.

So odd that a government can privately own so-called "public space". This actually makes the whole Apple deal seem even more obscene to me - a fake town square within an even faker one

 

[lowkey]

Giving civic space over to commercial activities is lame. When it's negotiated in secret behind closed doors it's even worse. Protest groups are organising and I wouldn't be surprised if this pos ends up not going ahead.

 

[Da_Hood]

Bad move Apple. I'm sure the final building will be a major improvement on the artist impression. But you will be surrounded by dross that looks it was designed by 1st year Architect students on their 1st day of Uni. Fed square is ugly AF, although befitting of Melbourne. If Apples architects were briefed to be sympathetic to the surrounds, it would clearly be the ugliest Apple store ever built, although Angela would probably never sign off on it.