Once again, several retailers have accepted generous relocation offers from Apple, and will vacate their spaces to make room for a new Apple store inside the Festival Walk shopping center in Hong Kong. The future store will be the second for the city of 7 million residents, after the IFC Mall store opened last year. The new store will be located in crowded Kowloon, across the bay from the IFC Mall store on office-oriented Hong Kong Island. According to tipsters, three retailers on the LG1 level are moving to other spaces within the mall, which has 217 retailers, an ice skating rink and office spaces. The mall is also adjacent to the busy Kowloon Tong subway station and the City University of Hong Kong. Specifically, the adjacent HSBC, Agnes B. and Izzue store vacancies will create a wide space that will rival the IFC Mall store in width, and be substantially deeper. A nondescript construction barricade now covers the three empty spaces, and at least one of the retailers has already re-opened elsewhere in the mall. Apple has previously convinced other retailers to relocate, including recently at several malls where Apple wants to move an existing store to a larger space. Based on construction schedules, the store could open in early 2013. map/mall plan
Hoping to take advantage of the 14 million annual visitors to Disneyland Paris, Apple will open a new store at the Val d’Europe shopping center, just a mile from Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The store east of Paris would be the seventh store in the greater Paris region, after the Les Quatre Temps store opens, perhaps next weekend. According to MacGeneration, besides generating tourism revenue, the area around Disneyland is a major business center and also hosts l’Université Paris-Est. Disneyland Paris ranks #6 among the world’s most popular theme parks, but has struggled to attract visitors and generate revenue since it opened in 1992. For the most recent six months, the company reported that both visitors and revenue were nearly flat compared to 2011. A store near Disneyland has been rumored for years, but an “East Paris” job listing posted on Apple’s Web site earlier this month provided the first confirmation of the future store. Based on hiring schedules, the store could open by October.
Former Apple Sr. VP Retail Ron Johnson recently recalled growing up in Edina (Minn.), and his 10-minute bike trips to the Southdale Shopping Center, where 40 years later the company would open an Apple store. Now tipsters say that store will move to a larger space in the mall, part of an on-going project to provide space for an increasing number of customers. The Southdale Apple store was among the first 50 stores in the chain, and is among five stores in the Minneapolis region. The current store has a 30-foot storefront and covers about 4,800 square-feet on the ground level of the mall. The future store location isn’t known, but the mall’s lease plan shows several large spaces that are available for lease. According to the tipsters, the move will be completed by year’s end. possible space
Employees of the Zara store at the Drake Circus Shopping Centre (Plymouth, UK) were shocked to learn on Tuesday that their store will close at month’s end, and were also surprised to hear that Apple will assume the remainder of the store’s 15-year lease. The new store would fill in Apple store coverage for the far southwest region of the country, specifically the Devon and Cornwall region. According to ThisIsPlymouth, the Zara stores occupies a two-level space totaling 21,045 square-feet, much larger than a standard mall-sized Apple store. It’s possible Apple will occupy only the ground floor of the Zara space. Apple is assuming the lease with nearly 10 years remaining, sources told the Web site, a practice Apple has done previously for buildings that are in desirable locations. The store would be about 45 miles from the existing Princesshay (Exeter) store. The timeline for the opening of the Drake Circus store isn’t known. mall plan
A reporter for the Salt Lake City (Utah) ABC-TV affiliate has confirmed with two sources that Apple will eventually open a store at the new City Creek Center mall, and has been offered a substantial incentive to locate there. In a report that aired tonight, ABC4/KTVX reporter Brian Carlson interviewed Coldwell Banker executive Brandon Fugal, who confirmed on-camera that Apple would locate at City Creek, and that a “major concession package” had been offered to the company. A second, unnamed source told Carlson the incentive offered to Apple was five years of occupancy, rent-free. A representative of Taubman, which manages City Creek, said the company does not reveal the terms of its leases. Tipsters pointed IFO to City Creek last November, and in February said The Gateway store would close when the new store opens. However, the timing of the new store opening is not known. In the retail real estate industry, it’s not uncommon for mall management to offer various rental incentives beyond lower rent, including construction allowances, a longer lease term, favorable lease termination conditions, a lower proportionate share of common area mall costs, and a lower percentage rental. That last incentive consists of both a set percentage of gross sales, and a breakpoint above which the percentage must be paid (e.g. 5.5 percent over $1,750,000 in year one). The breakpoint can change over the term of the lease, typically increasing each year, favorable to the tenant. It’s well-known in the real estate industry that Apple receives favorable treatment from landlords, who realize that an Apple store will increase mall traffic and sales at other retailers. In fact, some retailer lease agreements include “Apple proximity” as a condition of their signing a mall space lease. video report
Apple is moving forward to expand the size of its retail stores, and the Market Mall (Calgary) retail store is next on the list, according to tipsters. The store is now shoe-horned into a 36-foot wide space along one corridor of the single-level mall, with just 5,448 square-feet of total space. According to the sources, within a year the store will move to the now-empty space #R028 at the south end of the mall. That space is adjacent to a major mall entrance, has a curved 77-foot wide storefront, and offers 7,287 square-feet of space, or about one-third larger than the current store. Apple’s first stores were in the range of 6,000 square-feet, but trended smaller over the next eight years. About two years ago then-Sr. VP Retail Ron Johnson declared the stores to be too small. Since then even ordinary shopping center stores have trended back to the 5,000 to 6,000 square-foot size. A timeline for the expansion construction and the move for the Market Mall store isn’t known. expansion plan
The seventh Apple retail store in Spain will open this Saturday inside the Nueva Condomina shopping mall in the southern city of Murcia. The store fills in coverage along the Mediterranean coast of the country between existing stores in Valencia and Marbella. The first Spain store didn’t open until nearly 10 years after the retail chain was founded, but since then the roll-out has been among the fastest outside the United States. Insiders say four additional stores in Spain are scheduled to open within the next year, including a street-level store each in Madrid and Barcelona. This Saturday’s grand opening is at 10 a.m. and the first 1,000 visitors will receive a commemorative T-shirt.
Apple has officially updated its Web page of executive profiles with an entry for new Sr. VP Retail John Browett, at once establishing his official presence at the company and also creating a visual pecking order for the secretive company. Browett’s appointment was announced in January, and last week the company officially granted him stock rights. He’s the former CEO of electronics Dixons Retail in the UK, where he was tasked with bringing the company back from near-extinction. On the Web page updated today, Browett shoulders his way into the top of the executive line-up, visually right next to CEO Tim Cook. Previously, the photo for Sr. VP Retail was positioned three spaces to the right of Cook, behind Sr. VPs Jonathan Ive and Scott Forstall. When Johnson left the company last November, Sr. VP Eddy Cue appeared new on the page, to the right of Cook. Now, with the arrival of Browett to the page, all the executives except Cook have moved one space to the right to make way for his photo. But behind this visual presentation is a simple explanation—the alphabet. The execs are listed in alphabetical order by their last name after Tim Cook. Beyond these top executives, Apple keeps its employee organization chart completely confidential, preferring not to focus on levels of bureaucracy. Fortune famously create an org chart for the company last year, but the retail segment of the company contained just two entries. diagram
A design proposal for an unnamed retailer at the future Rundle Place (Adelaide, Australia) development is under fire from the state’s planning agency, and a rendering confirms the design is for an Apple store. The criticism of the stainless steel and glass storefront by planning officials isn’t unusual for Apple, and neither is Apple’s secrecy is presenting its proposal to South Australia state officials. As reported by AdelaideNow, planning for the office-retail development began in 2009, and exterior designs have already been approved. However, last month the developer submitted a revision for one specific space that drew immediately criticism from the Development Assessment Commission (DAC), which said the design lacked “identity.” State planning department chief architect Philippe Mortier was even more critical, calling the design “unimaginative and disappointing slavish application of generic corporate style—the manicured world image ahead of the local amenity.” Chief project officer Gabrielle McMahon called upon the DAC to defer approval of the design, and to ask the developer for an amended plan that addresses the criticisms. The development is scheduled to open in 2013. Download (pdf) the design proposal that includes maps, plans and photos of the development, along with the DAC response to the architect’s revisions. rendering
One of the few stores to open in the United States this year will be in California’s central valley, somewhere in the city of Bakersfield. The store will fill in coverage for a 180-mile corridor of agricultural towns that are now without any Apple stores. A job listing posted earlier this week has sparked speculation among Apple fans in the city, but as is now traditional, the listing doesn’t specify an exact location for the future store. One possibility is the Valley Plaza mall south of city center that has most of Apple’s usual neighboring retailers. Apple executives have said that about 40 new stores will open during fiscal 2012, with only about 10 of those within the United States. Based on hiring schedules, the store could open this October.
In the words of the late Steve Jobs as he introduced the first iPhone: “And boy, have we patented it!” Now Apple has submitted patent applications for two of its high-profile retail stores, hoping to keep others from using the revolutionary structural and component features of the designs. The patents are add-ons to design trademarks the company received last year for the Pudong (Shanghai) store glass entrance cylinder and the Upper West Side (NYC) glass curtain storefront. Those design trademarks are more general in description, and are intended to prevent others from creating look-alike structures. The new patent applications are focused on the structural and mechanical aspects of the two stores. Specifically, they patent the glass and support technology of Pudong, and the roof support structures that conceal utility pipes and cables at UWS. Both patents reveal that Apple’s aesthetic of being simple, transparent and unobtrusive is really a complex objective to achieve. read more…
A key employee in the development of Apple’s original retail store design has left the company, following his former boss to a positon with retailer JC Penney. Benjamin Fay, 40, will become JCP’s executive vice-president for real estate, store design and development, the company announced today in a press release. His departure and those of other long-time Apple retail managers over the past five months hints that they believe the challenges are over for Apple retail, and that their career excitement is located elsewhere. In his new position, Fay will report directly to CEO Ron Johnson, former Sr. VP Retail at Apple who left the company last November for the JCP post. According to JCP Fay will, “guide the development of the all new jcp store of the future intended to create an entirely new interface for retail.” Fay will also be responsible for the implementation of JCP’s new “Shops” concept, store remodels and maintenance. After college and design school, Fay began his career at interior design firm Gensler, which at the time was assisting Apple in creating the original retail store designs. In 2004 he moved to Apple as Sr. director of retail real estate, design and development. During his eight years with Apple Fay made frequent appearances before city planning boards to present new store designs. He is among just a handful of Apple employees who are officially credited with store designs in documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In JCP’s press release, Johnson praised Fay, saying he is, “an incredibly creative professional with extraordinary leadership skills. Having worked with him over the last 12 years, I am delighted to see Ben step into this new role at jcp.” Johnson left Apple last November, six months after the retail chain’s 10th anniversary and just a month after Steve Jobs passed away. Since then several of Johnson former staffers have followed him to JCP to assume management roles as the company re-invents itself.
It’s official—Apple’s new Sr. V-P Retail John Browett has been on the job since April 20th, when he was officially granted 100,000 shares of stock that could net him millions of dollars over the next five years. Browett took over the position from Ron Johnson, who left last November to become president of retailer JC Penney. Browett has been seen on Apple’s Cupertino campus frequently since last year, and has attended at least one retail store grand opening. According to documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this morning, Browett will receive “restricted stock units” that are vested, or redeemable, for common stock over a five-year period. After receiving the common stock, Browett is free to keep or sell the shares at any time, at the prevailing price. The vesting schedule is: 5,000 units on October 20, 2012, another 15,000 units on the first anniversary of the grant date, and 20,000 units on each of the second, third, fourth and fifth anniversaries of the grant date. The grants assume that Browett continues to be employed by Apple through each vesting date. Based on yesterday’s closing stock price, the entire stock grant would be worth $56,028,000. Browett’s annual compensation hasn’t been announced yet, although that information could be included in quarterly financial documents to be filed with the SEC later this week. Download (pdf) the SEC filing that details the stock grant.
The natural evolution of the personal computer industry has brought a rare change to Apple’s retail stores: the company has swapped out the Macintosh computers at the kids tables and replaced them with iPads. Store visitors have noticed the change-out over the last 10 days without any fanfare from Apple. The kids tables are an original fixture of the retail stores, accompanied by eye-catching black, spherical foam seats. The tables and Macs at the rear of most stores have been magnets to kids who visit the stores and find the computer screens engaging. But since the introduction of the iPad two years ago, the number of games and education software titles has skyrocketed for the device, while the same categories for the Mac have stagnated. The touch-screen of iPads has also proven to be even more attractive to kids than a Mac screen, bringing about last week’s banishment of Macs. Apple infrequently makes changes to its retail store designs, and only after careful study and consideration that it will continue an excellent customer experience.
At almost the same moment that Apple CEO Tim Cook was telling financial analysts that sales in Spain were weak during the latest quarter, the company was posting job listings for a future store in Zaragoza. The city of 700,000 is located in the northeast part of the country, between the existing Apple stores in Madrid and Barcelona. As first noted by Applesfera, the job listing doesn’t list a specific location for the store. However, it’s likely the store will be inside one of the region’s shopping malls, such as the Gran Casa mall near city center. During a quarterly conference call with financial analysts on Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that sales in Spain had been “weak” during Q2. He explained that sales in Spain were up during the quarter, but less than the growth rate in Europe or worldwide. In response to an analyst’s question, Cook said the weak sales weren’t related to changes in iPhone subsidy rules made by two Spanish carriers. Instead, the lower results were due to the country’s “terrible economic situation,” Cook said. Based on construction schedules, the Zaragoza store could open by October 2012.