Apple is set to make New York City&'s Grand Central Terminal even more of a chore to walk through. The company will build its next major Apple Store at the station, and the new store will have the honor of being Apple&'s largest retail space in the world, several sites are reporting.
Last week, the New York Observer and IFOAppleStore both reported that Apple was eying the space, and today Cult of Mac says it has confirmed the news via its own sources.
The new store will be only a mile away from the companya4‚¬a4„s iconic cube-shaped Fifth Avenue store and will apparently serve to offload some foot traffic from there.
Ita4‚¬a4„s yet another sign of Applea4‚¬a4„s retail dominance. Microsoft started opening its own stores a few years ago, which are definitely heavily inspired by Applea4‚¬a4„s. But thus far, Microsoft has managed to open only eight stores across the country. Therea4‚¬a4„s still no Microsoft store in New York City (although New York may get one of six new stores the company is opening this year).
This year is the tenth anniversary of Applea4‚¬a4„s first store, and it looks like the Grand Central location will be the new shining jewel on Applea4‚¬a4„s retail crown. It will be bigger than Applea4‚¬a4„s current largest store, located in Covent Garden, London, which according to IFOAppleStore features around 16,300 square feet of space available to the public (the store itself is around 40,000 square feet over four floors). When it comes to measuring the size of a store, public space is what matters.
The real question is where Apple will find more than 16,300 square feet of retail space in the crowded Grand Central Terminal. According to the Observer, Apple isna4‚¬a4„t expected to take any space away from existing retailers, which include Kenneth Cole and Rite Aid. Grand Centrala4‚¬a4„s leasing plan (PDF link) doesna4‚¬a4„t offer up many other available locations. Instead, Apple may place the store right in the terminal, which seems like an even more impossible task. A source tells Cult of Mac that walls may have to be taken down to make that happen.
Photo via Randy Lemoine
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Companies: Apple
Companies: Apple
Devindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.
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