New York City nightlife used to mean hanging out in smoke-filled nightclubs at the edge of town and stumbling home as the sun came up. But, from what we hear, you can't smoke in the clubs anymore (not that we're really too upset about that), the real estate boom has squeezed a lot of them out of town, and there's even been talk of more aggressively enforcing the city's
decades-old anti-nightclub statute. So, what's a denizen of the night to do? Well, it looks like Apple's come up with the answer. As previously rumored, the company's
new midtown store, which opens tomorrow, will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The store, which has gotten a lot of buzz for its five-story, glass encased, Jobs-designed, cube-shaped entryway, will feature 4,000 square feet of retail space, most of it underground, and will be able to satisfy those musical and computing urges, day or night. Word is that the store will also be giving away one MacBook an hour to lucky visitors over the next couple of days (starting with tomorrow's 6pm opening), so we expect some pretty sizable crowds to show up. Yo, Steve: Add a dance floor and teach your Geniuses to
really tend bar, and we may just drop by one night and pick up one of those pods of yours.
[Thanks, Jake]
Photo courtesy
Dave Thorup.
posted May 18th 2006 11:52AM
I bet you can get a MacBook or MacBook PRO there, today! At least in the first 12m its open!
Shameless (Dvorak) listing:
http://www.johnwaller.org/apple/macbook/
WOw!! Talk about an innovative design...love it!
That's gonna suck for the people that have to work on holidays like x-mas and new years eve. What better place to celebrate the birth of christ or zombie day than at an Apple store!!!1
I saw it it's huge!! And very cool. 24/7 365 :)
24x7x365 is redundant. 24x365 covers it just as well, how could it be open 365 days a year without being open 7 days a week?
How dorktastic would you feel walking into a computer store at 4am? NEEEEEEEERDS.
So perhaps the next Engadget meetup for NYC can occur one night/morning at the new Apple store.
You guys must not understand New York City. People are very much awake at 4am, and a lot of them have money. This will work, just you see.
Being that apple has such a small lineup of products...how in the world are they going to fill all that space. I thought the Pasadena Mac store looks pretty sparse and thats with like 5 of each item out on display.
It looks cool - I bet apple fan boys are gonna make a mess in their pants once they get inside.
The building looks like it was expensive to build, and being open 24X7X365 means paying and insuring three shifts of employees - is that why Apple products are so expensive? Recooping crazy overhead?
Alan, I live in NYC and would not be caught dead in the Apple store at 4am unless I had a business reason (like hitting a deadline after my laptop got stolen or something). But yeah, there are legions of uncool people here and no doubt they will flock to the 24 hour doofus box.
Now if they could only make their batteries last 24/7.
Yeah I know that was stupid.
Catch me at the Genius Bar at 3am.
Kevin-
Welcome to Marketing 101. The more numbers, the more impressive it sounds... in theory at least.
24x7x365?? That's nothin'. My store's gonna be open 60x60x24x7x12x365!
Would be great if the LA stores were open around the clock. Not that I'd want to go just hang out there, but it would be good to have that 24-hour genius bar available for those late-night tech emergencies. The Apple Store at the Grove has room in it for a small Starbucks too, I think.
looks like something david blaine would be trapped in!!,
Well, my site, cutterpillow.com, was suspended due to too much mysql traffic. It doesn't look like I exceeded my bandwidth but maybe they got surprised that all of a sudden 100s of people were accessing my site at once.
Anyway, hopefully it will be back soon but all of the photos are in the Flickr set.
Dave
Nothing against Apple, but their architect ripped off the Hayden Planetarium (or Rose Center for Space or whatever) on 81st Street.
Everybody rips off everybody these days. Everybody.
all the purse snatchers will be scouting for apple bags around the corner at 4am !
How many other computer companies have tried this idea of being open 24 X 7, At least apple have the guts to try it, if they don't get the numbers they're expecting at 4 in the morning, then at least they tried. Also it gives consumers much more option, they don't need to be rushing down to a store in their lunch breaks because a store closes at 5.
I think it'll work!
An Apple store open all day = free internet access 24 hours a day. In NY, that'll drive a lot of traffic into the store.
As it is, the SoHo store is filled with people checking their gmail. I expect the uptown store to be no different.
#19
I'm studying to become an architect, and as my studio teacher once said, architects 'borrow' from each other all the time. If you think you have come up with something new, that nobody else has done, there is probably a good reason for it not being done. It's all about compounded knowledge, and how you use that knowledge to your advantage.
That said, it's a pretty kickass cube, even if it is just a glass cube!
I guess *maybe* tourists will be there in the middle of the night and weekends, but that area of Midtown is DEAD (like Financial District dead) after 7pm.
seriously dudes i have spent hours walking in new york in the wee hours trying to figure out what to do...i have just found my answer!
Would love to see the washrooms for this place.
Would love to see the washrooms for this place.
That sure is one Big Apple...
Great, drunk people wandering into the store after 4 AM to play with exquisitely-designed, expensive gadgets. Perhaps a great place to inspect your late-night hook-up in the harsh, white glare of the Apple light prior to doing the deed.
But then again, given that part of town, it might induce drunk binge purchasing instead.
It's what's right about America.
Regarding the Macbook/hour giveaway:
That's just great. I had already planned on staying out all Friday to Saturday night getting horrendously drunk with my friends however - now I just have to hang around at AppleFifth and submit an entry per hour while taking one shot of whatever per hour at the Genius bar. A bar in a store with an all glass entrance? Sounds like my kind of calamity.
http://www.apple.com/retail/fifthavenue/sweepstakes.html
I guess it wouldnt funny to start making jokes about Apple employees throwing stones in a glass house.
I wonder if they have locks on the doors?
I wonder what will happen to this store once the iPod fad dies out...
My site is back up (the original source for the photos). There were some mysql configuration problems that threw the server into a fit. Hopefully things will be back to normal now.
http://cutterpillow.com/content/view/32/1/
Dave
32-feet does not equal 5 stories, except maybe on the Shire or something.
Anyway, I hope to enter the Macbook drawing at least once, but I am not a big fan of lines, so chances are I'll just say F it, even though I only work 2 blocks away.
What a beautiful store!!!
Now you can satisfy those late-night iPod cravings.
Cheers
they will fill the store it can get so crowded during time
I live in La so I hpoe they have something out here
but in LA "Financial District dead" that doesn'rt work out here
the place is crowded after 7 on more than a few nights- and wy more on weekends
Im 13 and both my parents work in LA - I know.
Pasadena store not big enough, there is a 2x in LA the is just as crowded
This will not be a problem
I could take advantage of a 24/7 apple store that way If I need I can get help at all time, or I can work on my homework on a Quad at midnight.
I would also go in then and just use the internet
A swank store that appears to be furnished by IKEA.
I dig the entrance, but what's with the dorm room decor?
So. Lame.
A giant glass monument to Jobs' ego set atop a concrete slab.
Different isn't always better.
They should have grassed the top side, planted apple trees (hyuk hyuk), benches and tables, free wifi, etc. What a wasted opportunity.
I guess it does suit midtown though.
It's a Seen and be seen type of place. Perfect for people like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan to hang there without purchasing anything. But, aren't all Apple stores like that? At least the Aventura Mall one is...
#3 start thinking about how other people live, not just you. Not everyone is christian (I happen to be and it is CHRISTmas, not Xmas -- don't abbreviate the most important part) so many Asian-americans could work that day (their is a reason many Jews have chinese food that day) and I'm sure working new years eve/day is fun and not much work (and again that is based off the Christian/Roman calendar).
Its going to be a bitch keeping all that glass clean
All that glass will help with lighting costs during the day :)
that is going to be one hot box!
if its not in the shadow of other buildings apple will have fun keeping it cool. that is the most urban greenhouse i've ever seen!
Cool store, but what the heck is 24x7x365? Is that 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, huh? The store would be open 24x7x365= 61,320 hours a year? Do you really mean 24x365=8,760 hours a year! Cool store but do the math, it just does not add up.
Bob, its not a math problem. Its a very common marketing phrase.
Just look at Google, 1,040,000 for 24x7x365, and only 137,000 for 24x365.
Not everything in life has to do with math, even if you wish it was.
you people are ridiculous....first of all, noones going to mug you on madison ave in the upper 50's....
i pass the cube between work and home, it was CRAZY as i was passing by, lots of media, lots of crowds...people probably think it's open to the public already..
i think they will do fine...i work in the music industry, im very much an apple/ipod person and there are LOTS of us here in the city, if im up at 3am and my computer has something tragic happen, you bet my ass i'll be at the apple store.... or if i cant sleep, def. a place i'll go to check things out...
as cool as the 247 thing is....if you know the area, anything uptown is pretty dead after midnight....after the craze wears off, im sure they will modify their operating schedule....
Beautiful, dare I say Landmark?
That clever Steve Jobs, always thinking different from the rest of the industry.
wow... opening up as a 24/7 store first is pretty gutsy. If the Genius Bar is also available 24/7, then that would be cool.
Can someone PLEASE tell me WTF you are going to put in a 5 story, underground, building? Seriously Apple's wares all told would take up maybe half a floor. Various accessories another half. And maybe, MAYBE, a floor for software. Maybe. That leaves 3 more floors of what? 1 accessory per 5 feet of space?
"That clever Steve Jobs, always thinking different from the rest of the industry."
Different != always mean better. In this case its called a waste of freaking space.
Hey Mikey,
I was mugged at gunpoint on 59th and Lexington at 1am by gang members, so I'd be a little bit careful with the generalisations.
Cool store though, wish I still lived in New York. Come on Apple open a store in Ireland!
I'm wondering how many pigeons will be either crapping on top of it, or flying into the side of it... especially with Grand Army Plaza across the street.
well with all the extra room, one can actully move now. i went into the soho store on a winter's friday night and it was packed for hours.
I wish i could go to an Apple store opening. I love that they give away iPods and laptops, and you can buy those grab bags that might have some really expensive stuff in them. The closest Apple store to me is in Chicago. And I didn't get to go to that opening.
Honestly the only upside to haveing a store like this is you ever needed to do last minute birthday or christmas shopping and the only place open at 3am is this store. Of course if the person hates Apple then your crap out of luck.
FYI: They changed it to 24/365
http://www.apple.com