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First Photos of Apple's New Covent Garden Retail Store in London

Its about time. The Regent Street store is completely overwhelmed, I think they sometimes have lineups outside even when there are no product launches.

The Regent Street building is also a good example of preserving a historic building (or at least the facade of one).
 
What is he holding in the screen?

This is from the Covent Garden pix. What is that?
 

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To one poster, yes it used to be the rock garden and next to that the Covent Garden Brasserie (at the far end under the arches) I used to work there during my studies in London. Covent Garden is touristy for sure, but at least there used to be independent shops and restaurants there. Everything turns corporate and I don't think an Apple store will bring anything to the area to keep a nice atmosphere. It's a shame in my opinion. And am I the only one thinking that the Apple store design looks soo last century?
PS the restaurant was pretty ******, but I had some fun nights after hours there.
 
Yes, the image on the screen. The item he is holding is much smaller than an iPhone, or iPod. Is it a new Nano? I don't know what it is, but it's small, and it looks like it has a touch screen. Look where the headphone jack is. I can't make out the writing on the screen.
 
blortax said:
Yes, the image on the screen. The item he is holding is much smaller than an iPhone, or iPod. Is it a new Nano? I don't know what it is, but it's small, and it looks like it has a touch screen. Look where the headphone jack is. I can't make out the writing on the screen.
Click to expand...

Hmm, still looks too big for a nano to me? I would highly suspect the new touch to have the same frame as the new iPhone, maybe it's that? I'm getting my mum a new iPod for her birthday so if they launch a touch nano may get her one.
 
blortax said:
This is from the Covent Garden pix. What is that?
Click to expand...

It's an iPod touch. It's from one of the commercials. The reason it looks small is because you're seeing a shot where it's held at an angle (either pulling away to another shot, or showing off the accelerometer controls).

Take a look at the one on the left, it's much clearer, but just an earlier shot from the same commercial.

EDIT: Also, look at the writing behind it. It says (once the iPod is pulled out of the way), "The funnest iPod ever." It's from this commercial.

Screencap:
content


jW
 
Looks awesome! I always love new Apple stores, and new UK ones are even better! :D
 
Mal said:
It's an iPod touch. It's from one of the commercials. The reason it looks small is because you're seeing a shot where it's held at an angle (either pulling away to another shot, or showing off the accelerometer controls).

Take a look at the one on the left, it's much clearer, but just an earlier shot from the same commercial.

EDIT: Also, look at the writing behind it. It says (once the iPod is pulled out of the way), "The funnest iPod ever." It's from this commercial.

Screencap:
http://cl.ly/b1d465e91063759f31c6/content

jW
Click to expand...

Boooo! Don't ruin it! :D
 
NightFox said:
Was killing time in the Regent Street store last week and couldn't believe a middle-aged bloke having a work conference call on one the the MacBooks in the training area with his work papers spread all over the desk - he must have been in there for the best part of an hour, can't believe he wasn't shown the door - it was like he was just treating the store as his personal office! :rolleyes:
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I hate people like that! To me those are very rude people thinking the world owns them something or the world revolves around themselves.

Even Peter Cohen wrote an article titled A new sign of the times: “No computer” policies in cafes that I have even seen in Coffee Cafes near me. I wouldn't be surprised if the Apple Stores changed their policy if the problem gets to bad.
 
Hi, Nice article, however it would be nice to include more pictures, maybe one of the whole store front and a gallery of the insides? From the two included, i can’t tell what the store looks like at all
 
I like it when old buildings are treated respectfully. This looks like they have done a nice job, but my favourite still has to be Zara in Salamanca, Spain.(silly flash website doesn't let me link directly to the right page)
 
jonnyb said:
I like both approaches. On the one hand, with older cities like London and Paris full of architecture that's protected, it's great to see Apple contributing to restoration and renewal. I love how the essence of a historic building can be preserved while introducing modern elements.

It has a downside though. plots that can be levelled completely to make way for something completely new are much rarer in London than in somewhere like,say, New York. Even if a completely new building gets the go-ahead in the City of London everything has to stop if they find some Roman remains as they're excavating the foundations.

In newer cities, Apple (and architects in general) have much more scope to create completely new buildings. I'd love for London to have something as iconic as the 5th Avenue cube but the planning application hops that something like that would have to go through in central London would be enormous.
Click to expand...

With buildings like Swiss-Re (the Gherkin) in London you really can't complain too much! I believe the scarcity of sites to develop raises the bar for architects and means the few "new" buildings you get are much less likely to be dross. Where building sites are a dime a dozen, there tends be be a whole lot more mediocrity.
 
Nice store set to blend into Covent Garden surrounding environment, stylish and tradition equilibrium.
 
dsut4392 said:
With buildings like Swiss-Re (the Gherkin) in London you really can't complain too much! I believe the scarcity of sites to develop raises the bar for architects and means the few "new" buildings you get are much less likely to be dross. Where building sites are a dime a dozen, there tends be be a whole lot more mediocrity.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. In fact the City of London (that is the square mile of the financial district) is a fantastic example of the blending of ancient and modern. The Corporation of London does a great job of giving permission to striking buildings like the Swiss Re Tower while protecting and preserving ancient monuments nearby.

Almost at the base of the Swiss Re tower is St Helens church which dates from the 13th century. The two buildings, at polar opposites stylistically, co-exist beautifully.

What gets my goat is where modernity is opposed for its own sake when it can have an enhancing effect on the environment. Further west in London the Iranian consulate has submitted plans for a striking new Embassy building which is being opposed by the sort of idiots that believe every new building in London must look as thought it was built 200 years ago. Some people have this notion that in order to 'fit in' a building has to look the same as the one next to it.

It's a frustrating and backward looking point of view. Had this idea prevailed after the great fire of 1666, Wren would not have been allowed to build the, radical for the time, new cathedral of St Paul's. We would have ended up with an inappropriate reproduction of the medieval original.

Where an historic building can be preserved, it ought to be. Where a new building is appropriate, everything should be done to create a great building that is iconic in its own right.
 
This actually raises the look of the area around the Piazza IMO. The Rock Garden always looked a bit shabby in that site, and I wonder whether the Apple Store opening instead may cause a replacement of surrounding stores and cafés over the next three or four years as leases come up for renewal. I can certainly imagine the classy look and increased traffic could have a knock on effect on the rents in adjoining units.

I also love the way London (and Paris too) incorporates its history into its architecture. There are places tucked away all over The City where you can see the historical remains of buildings either sticking from between modern offices or even where the offices have been built over the archaeological site. A good example is under the Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer building on Fleet Street, where medieval houses have been preserved in the basement and can be toured with permission.
 
Queso said:
This actually raises the look of the area around the Piazza IMO. The Rock Garden always looked a bit shabby in that site, and I wonder whether the Apple Store opening instead may cause a replacement of surrounding stores and cafés over the next three or four years as leases come up for renewal. I can certainly imagine the classy look and increased traffic could have a knock on effect on the rents in adjoining units.
Click to expand...

The 'Apple effect' did exactly that in Regent Street. The street had become moribund as a shoppng destination and Apple switched it around.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23772203-apple-changes-regent-street-to-its-core.do
 
I like the AppleStore but I wish they had more purchase options in Mac hardware. For example I went into my local store at the weekend hoping to buy a new iMac. They only had the 2 basic versions of the 21.5" model. You can't upgrade the processor or the hard drive as you can on the Apple website store. In fact the only thing they can add to the basic model is more RAM. I wanted to pay the extra £160 and go for the 3.6 i5 model rather than the 3.0 i3 but they said I couldn't do that and would have to buy online instead. Why? Why can't I specify available upgrades get them to order it in and buy it that way? The most frustrating part was that in the same shopping mall there is an Apple Reseller and they said sure no problem. We sat there at one of there demo iMacs on the Apple website store, I specified what upgrades I wanted and paid for it there and then. All they do then is order the fully configured iMac from Apple and store it until I collect it. How crazy is that.
 
Buying a CTO option online isn't that painful. My order went in Monday afternoon and according the website it should be delivered today.
 
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