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An Apple Store Finally Comes To Williamsburg, Brooklyn -- Here's A Look Inside

This article is more than 7 years old.

The Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn long ago shed its industrial roots for glistening glass towers and an endless stream of high rent-related jokes. So when looking at the neighborhood's new Apple Store, the biggest question that comes to mind isn't "Why is Apple opening a store here?" but "What took them so long?"

The new space is located on Bedford Avenue, a few blocks from the L train and directly across the street from a long-in-the-making Whole Foods that opened just a few days prior—effectively giving trend writers some extremely low-hanging fruit when describing the changing face of the neighborhood.

I was given a sneak preview of the store, prior to its official launch this coming Saturday at 10am. Here's a look inside.

Rather than building a glass box-style new construction, the store was built into a gut-renovated building with exposed brick walls and ductwork that is designed to be evocative of the neighborhood's industrial past. Local residents might remember the building as the former site of King's Pharmacy. As one of these local residents, I'm grateful for the the decision to repurpose an old structure, rather than add another generic building to the neighborhood.

The centerpiece of the store is the Forum: A multi-use space with numerous wood cube seats and a giant 6K video screen. Although the company has not yet announced what kind of programming will be presented here, it seems well-suited for the sorts of classes and presentations that have long been a staple of Apple Stores.

The Forum space has numerous seats and a 6K screen (photo: Seth Porges)

The interior walls of the store are lined a new feature (first built into the San Francisco Union Square location) called the Avenues, which are homages to department store-style window displays, presenting numerous Apple products in themed settings that will change seasonally.

Although the tables in the appear to be flat, they actually contain a touch-sensitive mechanism that causes power outlets and ethernet jacks to pop up when visitors place their hand on the surface.

In the back of a store is a space called the Board Room, where local small businesses will be able to come in and talk about their enterprise needs. With a growing number of startups popping up in Williamsburg (a new WeWork coworking location recently opened above the Whole Foods across the street), you can expect all sorts of companies to take advantage of this feature.

 

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