Apple Store Set To Open

by Melissa Bailey | Sep 20, 2011 3:10 pm

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New Haven’s new Apple Store, which has been rising on Broadway over the summer, is set to open this weekend, company officials announced. A grand opening is set for Saturday at 10 a.m. at the store at 65 Broadway in Yale’s business district. Apple announced the news in an email Tuesday morning. “The Apple Store, New Haven, will be open soon so you can shop, test-drive our products, ask questions, attend free workshops, and much more,” the email said. Like all other Apple stores, New Haven’s will feature a Genius Bar where customers can get “hands-on technical support” for their Macs, iPods, iPads, and iPhones. Building permits pegged the estimated cost of the project at $4.8 million, with a permit fee of $137,751.94 going to the city. On Tuesday morning, workers were still laying brick on the sidewalk outside the store. Other workers from Massey Glass could be spotted in the doorway, where a glass facade will be installed. Nearby stores have been awaiting the influx of foot traffic to the area to keep them afloat. (One couldn’t hold out long enough.)

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posted by: good on September 20, 2011 10:20am i was about to drive to hartford today to return a defective ipad! now i can go downtown to swap out an overly-priced, poorly made tablet! At least I’ll save $30 in gas.

posted by: Pedro Soto on September 20, 2011 11:14am I’m VERY excited for this, both as an Apple device owner, and as a resident. Anchors like this are vital to bringing other retail to the city. One small nit about the article…this store if anything is near the heart of the yale campus. It’s certainly not on the edge! Behind it are two yale colleges. it’s less than a block from the library, and across the street from another Yale college. Beyond it is Payne Whitney Gym. It’s surrounded by Yale on all sides! [Editor’s note: Right you are. Thanks.]

posted by: James on September 20, 2011 2:35pm Awesome! Overpriced environmentally unfriendly technology with a planned obsolescence timeline of less than two years!

posted by: dee on September 20, 2011 2:52pm God that gray box is ugly. Did they take a moment to even LOOK at the surrounding architecture before deciding to build that monstrosity?

posted by: J.T, on September 20, 2011 5:06pm what an ugly looking building.

posted by: haters on September 20, 2011 5:56pm Don’t you just hate it when one of the most wealthy and influential companies in the world opens a store in our city? It is just awful! And they sell what? Computers? How terrible! In fact I can’t believe I am even using one to type up this stupid little comment! I prefer the city add another dunkin donuts, subway, or maybe if we get lucky another pizza joint! New Haveners are just going to hate on everything… always! It is just in your nature. Biggest pack of whiners I have ever seen!

posted by: William Kurtz on September 20, 2011 8:57pm I’m neither an Apple hater nor one of their evangelists; in the interests of full disclosure, I use and like Macs but they’re just good computers, nothing more. Others are probably just as good. It’s great to see a high-end retailer moving into the area, but on the other hand, it would be nice to see some affordable retailers moving in, too. Yes, the building is pretty ugly and out of step with its surroundings. Don’t forget that Apple is basically a big-box retailer. They’re not going to hang around and wait out lean times should they come; they built that monolith to their specifications and it’s likely going to be there after they’re gone.

posted by: RK on September 20, 2011 9:31pm Hey James, I still use my circa 2004 Powerbook as a 2nd laptop. So much for obsolescence. It also still has value, which is more than can be said for any consumer PC laptop built in 2004. This is great for New Haven - whether you like or Apple or not.

posted by: Paul Martin on September 20, 2011 10:09pm Yeah, I mean it’s just outrageous that a popular brand with a desirable product that reaches a broad swath of the population is opening a store in our downtown retail district. And they have the gall to make it look like their other stores in other desirable metropolitan spaces, instead of respecting Frederick Law Olmstead’s new urbanist plan laid out in 1903. Don’t they know that this is the city where we fight the co-op we’re all going to line up to join and make it beg for the privilege to sell the same beer every other grocery store in the state can sell? Why would we want such an elitist thing when we could have another Dollar Store or another hair salon next to a nail salon next to a bodega? Why listen to local merchants who are thrilled about this when we all know better. This is just going to attract people from the suburbs who want a fancy obsolete computer. I bet they’ll be tempted to walk around or eat here, blissfully unaware that NHI readers hate everything about them and only want to find ways to give them parking tickets for not riding fixed-gear bikes. I bet even Yale people and union members will go to this store, and that John DeStefano and people who voted for him will shop there too. It’s an outrage. A big, walkable, well-sited outrage.

posted by: HhE on September 21, 2011 12:19am I’m sad they built that iconic eyesore, and threw all the old building into a landfill. I’m glad I won’t have to drive up to West Hartford sales and Service.

posted by: Name Withheld on September 21, 2011 5:44am http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eero_Saarinen

Amazed that without a single hearing, Yale was allowed to tear down a historic Eero Saarinen building as part of this “renovation”. And those that worry this new monolith will be here long after Apple leaves are completely right. What makes this exterior any better than the previous building?

posted by: Stephen Harris on September 21, 2011 7:50am I drank the Apple koolaid many, many years ago. I played the role of St. Paul and evangelized the office and over time everyone converted to the Mac religion. Welcome to town! :-) ps The store resembles a large Mac Mini.

posted by: Pedro Soto on September 21, 2011 1:19pm “Name Witheld” and “HHE”, it’s worth clearing up some misunderstandings in your assertions on the construction of this new building. The portion of building that was demolished was not in fact any portion of the original Morse and Stiles complex, it was a section built in early 2000, when the Yale Bookstore moved in that was built to match the Saarinen structure opposite it. What was demolished was not even actual stone, but rather stone veneer over duravit. There was very little to the actual building, except steel trusses, glass, veneer and styrostrife. If you go into the porition that’s still standing (Thali Too), you can see that there is not much to the building at all. Every time an article about this store comes up, I feel the need to reiterate just how big a deal this is for the city. Whether you like Apple or not. Dollar for dollar, Apple sees the highest retail sales per square foot of any retailer in the United States. Retailers are a conservative and sheepish bunch. They don’t want to be alone in a vaccum, they want to be as close as possible to other successful retail. Apple has never chosen to been a “magnet,” simply following the dollars and setting up in high-rent areas. However, in this case, they are opening up as store, basically as THE anchor tenant. Mark my words, other retailers are falling over themselves finding whatever vacant space is close to the Apple store. While it may be very difficult for local retailers who might be squeezed out, due to this rush in demand, there will be many national retailers who will now give New Haven and Broadway specifically a new look. For New Haven to grow it needs to be able to sustain national retail.

posted by: HhE on September 21, 2011 3:05pm Thank you Pedro Soto for setting me strait. I am relived that an architectural landmark was not destroyed. I remain distressed as how much building material ends up in landfills. So I remain a fan of adapting buildings and the highest build quality possible. (Which is one of the reasons I love old schools with their 12-12 roofs, solid white oak wood work, and all the rest.) In case I was not clear (I think I wasn’t), I are very happy Apple is here. I am writing this on one of their desktops. I also own a laptop made by Apple. If I get a smart phone, it will be one of theirs. I have been using their computers since high school, and the PC that was given to me aside, have never owned any other brand of computer. Did I mention I have an I pod? Driving up to West Hartford gives me an excuse to visit Amatto’s Toy and Hobby, but I much rather stay local. So “Welcome Apple to New Haven” and “Thank you Pedro Soto.”

posted by: Barbara on September 21, 2011 8:57pm Welcome to New Haven Apple!!!! Love my Ipod and Laptop.

posted by: Curious on September 21, 2011 9:17pm Apple doesn’t build ugly designs. The black front is clearly a protective coating for the all-glass front, which will look AWESOME. No one cares what the side of the building looks like, it’s the wall of an alley that leads to some dorms and Thali Too. Can’t wait for the unveiling and for everyone to realize how wrong they were.

posted by: christineorr on September 22, 2011 9:16am I think it a good idea but the parking lot.were u have to pay thirty five dollars for four hours who.wants to shop or even eat on broadway for thirty five dollars to park yale and hohn destefano and abigil they can afford it its soo sad to do that

posted by: Morris Cove Mom on September 22, 2011 10:12am Apple store’s been in the news for months! I’ll believe it when I see it, and probably go down there this weekend to check it out.

posted by: core_i7 on September 22, 2011 11:06am christineorr, facts? $35 to park? Where? At the Broadway lot, It isn’t $35 for the whole day (I think it’s $20 or $25), let alone 4 hours? I park there all the time and almost never pay more than $5 for a normal food or shopping visit to Broadway.

posted by: Thomas on September 22, 2011 6:34pm Wow did they cut the store out from the Stanford Mall and drop it on Broadway? OK just kidding glad Apple is here is suppose they could have saved the old structure and incorporated it into the Apple Store like the successfully way IKEA did with the Perilli building! Glad New Haven is the site of two do I dare say “progressive” corporations in town. Hey for you protesters I see that the “Free Store” has closed on Church Street.