Commercial Klutch: November Edition
Our masked commercial correspondent serves up his monthly dish…Apple is waiting for the right site. Ever since the company signed a lease on 34th Street and then Steve Jobs came to town and cancelled the whole deal, their real estate folks are freaked. Jobs didn’t think the location was ‘Apple’. So team is very cautious…
Our masked commercial correspondent serves up his monthly dish…Apple is waiting for the right site. Ever since the company signed a lease on 34th Street and then Steve Jobs came to town and cancelled the whole deal, their real estate folks are freaked. Jobs didn’t think the location was ‘Apple’. So team is very cautious in BKLYN. Believe it or not, my bet is on Flatbush Avenue.
We love the Christmas Music on Fulton Mall. Heard Frank signing White Christmas, a movie we always watch every holiday season. Rather hear Bing do it, but Frank will suffice. Shake Shack news welcome. Time for a Burger Banger Taste Off. Jake’s, Five Guys, Checkers, Morton’s, Shake….. Marty M as judge? The Mall is part of the story now major retailers can’t find space. TJMaxx, Kohl’s, Best Buy trying…. Not many options. They should be looking Aeropostale opened the 19th and did gigantic numbers the first day.
Major office deals in the works in Brooklyn, from Fort Greene to MetroTech. The market has turned. Prices not moving up much, but ‘velocity’ is bubbling. Retail, condos, rentals, office, all moving more quickly. Williamsburg rentals out of control. Two Trees in dumbo, a key bellwether, had been doing a lease a week all summer. Now on a two a week pace lately. They’d had a 50% drop in inventory since spring. One last thing – which retailer is closing on Front Street in DUMBO? Inquiring minds want to know…..
Apple will have to zoneing laws reworked, take over the cold storage warehouse on Water Street, gut it, convert it and we’ll get endless ads featuring the apple logo against the brooklyn bridge, downtown NYC and Jane’s merry-go-round. It’ll all be bleached reconditioned wood inside and steam cleaned brick outside.
Apple tax on iOS devices? That argument works on computers (and then only if you don’t match specs), but not on iOS devices. But the real difference is that Apple products work well, are well designed, and well integrated. That’s why people actually care about a new Apple store opening – no one is rushing to be first in line at the Android store (and who remembers the Gateway stores?).
Android does not equal Verizon nor is the carrier open to “control mobile computing environment” but keep telling yourself that if it makes yo feel good about paying 2x the price in Apple tax.
No one here knows the answer (certainly not me), and anyone who does know the answer is restricted by a 3″-thick NDA, violation of which would quickly get them thrown off the job.
One Hanson is certainly large enough (in terms of SF, it is larger than most of the other showcase stores). But One Hanson is a landmarked interior, which would limit what Apple could do. OTOH, there are plenty of examples of bold interventions in interior and exterior landmarks, and if anyone can design a compelling, modern and LPC-appropriate intervention, it’s Peter Bohlin.
But as I said earlier, all this speculation really turns on whether (if) Apple is looking for a retail location (similar to the dozens of mall locations they operate) or a showcase location (like their Manhattan locations).
As far as Android goes, I’d much rather have Apple controlling my mobile computing environment than having Verizon (or any other carrier) do it. Unfortunately, “open” for Android means open for the carriers to exert their control.
what is big deal about having apple store anyway? why should I care?
I’m shocked that I’m joining this discussion!
It would seem to make sense if Apple located their store near Barney’s (to some extent…retail clothing can fold, as it were).
Maybe it would make more sense nearer to the LIRR/Atlantic/Pacific station because so many subway lines are there, no?
I could also imagine them working out a deal with BAM to build a new cube-like destination store on the parking lot where the hotel used to sit on Lafayette Avenue (next to Mark Morris’ studios). In fact, a new Hotel A could rise above it! They could build out a theater space and on and on and would have decades of branding/publicity. I can just imagine the field day the BAM graphics design person would have with “BAM MAC” typographically.
If Virgin Records can become an airline, mobile internet and who knows what else, why couldn’t Apple go into boutique hotels?
I wouldn’t mind if they took over the arena project, branded it as Apple, redid the design so it would be a lot nicer (or at least “clean” and mod) and set up a huge store as part of the project. Goodness knows Apple and Steve Jobs or whatever his name is, probably have as much, if not more money, than the current arena bunch.
And I, for one, would prefer the Apple logo on the arena to that of the bank…I find that eagle looks awfully 1930’s if you know what I mean. And the arena design makes it look like a bunker…
from what i hear, no one knows the answer and neither does apple one would hope they’d do an iconic store in BK and not a mall shop, therefore, very few sites available
No it means dominate the market by offering choice and not treating your customers like children who need to be told exactly how they are allowed to use a product they bought.
> Cant wait till Android “Microsoft Windows” there stupid iOS.
What does that mean? Dominate the market with an inferior product? Keep reaching for that dream!