Two Apple Stores in U.S. Permanently Closing Today

[MacRumors]

As previously announced, Apple will be permanently closing its Infinite Loop and Royal Hawaiian retail stores in the U.S. later today. Apple said all employees at both stores would be given the opportunity to remain with the company.

Apple Infinite Loop​

Infinite Loop served as Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California from 1993 until 2017, when Apple Park opened nearby. The store on the campus is located at street level near the entrance to the main office building, and it has sold a mix of Apple products and Apple-branded merchandise, such as shirts, reusable bottles, mugs, and notebooks.

After the Apple Park Visitor Center opened in 2017, the Infinite Loop store became redundant. The newer and larger Visitor Center carries Apple-branded merchandise, and it features a café, a rooftop terrace, and an augmented reality model of Apple Park. Apple also has a store at the Valley Fair shopping mall to serve customers in the area.

"After many years of serving customers at our stores in the Bay Area, we plan to close our store at Infinite Loop," said Apple, in a statement shared last month. The store will permanently close its doors at 6 p.m. local time today.

Apple's store at Infinite Loop first opened in 1993 as The Company Store, and it mostly sold Apple-branded merchandise. The location became a more traditional Apple retail store in 2015 following renovations, but it still lacked a Genius Bar.

Apple Royal Hawaiian​

Apple Royal Hawaiian in Honolulu will follow suit and permanently close its doors at 9 p.m. local time today, after over 15 years of operations.

"Apple continuously evaluates its retail footprint to ensure it is in the best possible position to provide exceptional customer service and support for its customers," the company said in a letter to Hawaii's Department of Labor and Industrial Relations last year. Apple has two other stores in Honolulu at Ala Moana and Kahala.

Apple operates 271 other retail stores across the U.S., and it opened a new store in Seoul, South Korea earlier today.

Article Link: Two Apple Stores in U.S. Permanently Closing Today

 

[jlc1978]

I remember the Company Store. I still have an Apple logo wall clock from there.

 

[lkrupp]

As long as you can still buy Apple branded merch like coffee mugs and t-shirts at the Apple Park Visitor Center I don’t care. Time marches on, things change.

 

[Born Again]

But the history! /s

 

[Pasqualem]

I was planning on visiting the infinite loop store in may before they announced it was closing im sad

 

[arkitect]

Meh.

Life moves on.

I have often in my life been accused of being terribly sentimental — even about my electronics — in this case… not so much.

As much as I have issues with Apple the current behemoth Corporation it is, I would like to visit the big donut at Apple Park one day.
Architecturally it is by far the more interesting building of the two.

 

[Born Again]

Meh.

Life moves on.

I have often in my life been accused of being terribly sentimental — even about my electronics — in this case… not so much.

As much as I have issues with Apple the current behemoth Corporation it is, I would like to visit the big donut at Apple Park one day.
Architecturally it is by far the most interesting building.

My thoughts exactly. I was attacked by my fellow macrumor fans for being insensitive. “tHiS is WhErE iT aLL sTarT3d!!!” lol

It’s an ugly corporate building. It’s not like Steve Jobs was born there.

 

[jlc1978]

It’s an ugly corporate building.

For a corporate office the architecture isn't that bad; it's at least interesting.

 

[apparatchik]

For a corporate office the architecture isn't that bad; it's at least interesting.

I agree, It’s not that bad considering it’s from a corporate building from 1993.

 

[Spotlighter9]

Well, they also recently moved (as in relocated) the original (First) Apple Store in Tysons Corner, VA.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Well, they also recently moved (as in relocated) the original (First) Apple Store in Tysons Corner, VA.

I used to go there a few times per year and had no idea it was the first store.

 

[Spotlighter9]

I used to go there a few times per year and had no idea it was the first store.

...And now it's history!

 

[webkit]

I used to go there a few times per year and had no idea it was the first store.

...And now its history!

Below is a video of Jobs introducing Apple's first retail store:

 

[LeafsFanNL]

I can’t believe there’s closing the store in Honolulu. It’s probably one of the busiest ones I’ve ever seen.

 

[technole]

It was practically just a regular Apple store after Apple Park Visitor Center, aside from shirt display. No Genius Bar, no Apple-Hermes display things.

 

[ThomasJL]

The Apple Store Infinite Loop should've never become an Apple Store. It should have stayed as The Company Store. But Tim Cook, lacking in taste as usual, ruined that.

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

The Apple Store Infinite Loop should've never become an Apple Store. It should have stayed as The Company Store. But Tim Cook, lacking in taste as usual, ruined that.

Do we know it was Cook, and not Ahrendts, who was responsible for that change?

 

[ThomasJL]

Do we know it was Cook, and not Ahrendts, who was responsible for that change?

Cook was the CEO who hired Ahrendts—which was yet another one of his numerous mediocre decisions. He should've gotten Ron Johnson to fill that position.

Ahrendts idea to remove the word "Store" from Apple Store names can be confusing. When looking up an address, "Apple Store [location name]" is not confusing, but "Apple [location name]" is confusing because it's not easy to know if it's an Apple Store or an Apple office. "Apple [location name]" is how Apple names many of their offices.

Also, naming an Apple Store "Apple [location name]" is pretentious. It's trying to sound like a high fashion brand.

Cook and Ahrendts: two mediocre peas in the same pod.

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

Cook was the CEO who hired Ahrendts—which was yet another one of his numerous mediocre decisions. He should've gotten Ron Johnson to fill that position.

Ahrendts idea to remove the word "Store" from Apple Store names can be confusing. When looking up an address, "Apple Store [city name]" is not confusing, but "Apple [city name]" is confusing because it's not easy to know if it's an Apple Store or an Apple office. "Apple [city name]" is how Apple names many of their offices.

Also, naming an Apple Store "Apple [city name]" is pretentious. It's trying to sound like a high fashion brand.

Cook and Ahrendts: two mediocre peas in the same pod.

I disagree. I think Ahrendts is one of the best decisions Cook made. Apple retail has gone downhill since her departure, focusing on upselling services and very little care for the customer experience.

 

[technole]

Ahrendts was great, that Burberry background certainly showed in making Apple retail more classy. She made sure the preorder process was seamless too.

The Apple Store Infinite Loop should've never become an Apple Store. It should have stayed as The Company Store. But Tim Cook, lacking in taste as usual, ruined that.

When it turned into the sterile cookie cutter in 2015, it lost it's charm.

 

[jonblatho]

He should've gotten Ron Johnson to fill that position.

You mean the guy who sent JCPenney spiraling and got fired after less than two years then founded Enjoy Technology, which also failed? Sure, sounds like a great plan. I suspect Apple's retail success during his tenure had less to do with him and more with Apple's overall success in those years. Retail drove further success, though.

Ahrendts idea to remove the word "Store" from Apple Store names can be confusing. When looking up an address, "Apple Store [city name]" is not confusing, but "Apple [city name]" is confusing because it's not easy to know if it's an Apple Store or an Apple office. "Apple [city name]" is how Apple names many of their offices.

Also, naming an Apple Store "Apple [city name]" is pretentious. It's trying to sound like a high fashion brand.

Most Apple stores are named with some identifier more specific than a city name, even in cities which don't have multiple locations. My nearest Apple store is Apple Penn Square, named after the shopping mall it's located inside, even though it's the only location in Oklahoma City.

 

[miguel cortez]

Well, they also recently moved (as in relocated) the original (First) Apple Store in Tysons Corner, VA.

First to open (due to timezones) but store 001 was opened three hours later in Glendale, CA 😜

 

[Alexander_im]

I wonder will they sell all the mugs, pens, etc. in a store next to the Spaceship from now on. A couple of months ago I went to the one at Campus – and apart from the fancy cafe with arguably the cheapest coffee in Palo Alto, there was not much to buy merchandise wise. The only merch they had was a collection of t-shirts made in collaboration with designers. And the only place with Apple-branded things was the store at Infinite Loop.

 

[SSDGUY]

"Apple continuously evaluates its retail footprint to ensure it is in the best possible position to provide exceptional customer service and support for its customers" What a buncha horse dooky. Everyone knows it's about profits, just like any other company, and rightly so.

 

[bakamitai]

I can’t believe there’s closing the store in Honolulu. It’s probably one of the busiest ones I’ve ever seen.

There are 3 Apple Stores in Honolulu. The Royal Hawaiian location closing is definitely not the busiest. The Apple Store at Ala Moana Shopping Center a mile away is much busier at any given time consistently.