Apple is great at keeping a lid on its new products and retail stores until it's time for the big reveal, but I was able to learn a few things about the store that's expected to open early next year at Crossgates Mall in suburban Albany, New York.
Apple has been operating out of a temporary storefront at the mall since Sept. 1 as contractors renovate the permanent space.
Walls painted black shroud the new interior from prying eyes.
Considering the 6,600-square-foot is one of the top-performing tenants at Crossgates in terms of sales per square foot — and the crush of customers at the temporary location — I'm sure many people are curious about the new digs.
So I paid a visit to Guilderland Town Hall this week and sat down with Lou Vitelli, a building inspector who patiently answered my questions.
Spread out on a table before us were the drawings that Apple's representatives submitted to the town to get its building permit. The design team includes Dennis Heath at MBH Architects in Alameda, California and Hennessy Design in Portland, Oregon.
The thick packet of engineering and architectural details were on over-sized sheets of paper — the kind you could lay on the floor and let a child color to their heart's content.
The cover sheet identified the project as the "Apple Imperial Prototype."
Goldmine, I thought.
My excitement quickly diminished as Vitelli thumbed through the pages (he had to stand to do this).
The sheets were chock full of information about every conceivable aspect of the new store — "soffit panel reveal," "interior vinyl signage" and "hinge diagram" were among the headings — but there was no "Wow!" moment.
Vitelli wasn't surprised. He's seen countless drawings of new stores at Crossgates and other retail locations. His focus is on making sure customers and employees will be safe.
"A lot of this is boring on paper," he said. "When you see it in person, it really comes together."
The drawings showed what appeared to be the same wooden tables arrayed in the middle of the store that customers are accustomed to using.
Fortune has reported the new Apple store in Brussels, Belgium, includes a "pop-up secret compartment" with electrical outlets that can be opened with a swipe of the hand. I'm not sure if we'll see those at Crossgates.
Here's what I did learn:
- Apple initially planned to keep the Crossgates store open as it renovated the space — creating a walled-off "store within a store" as the work progressed — but decided against it.
- Four structural columns were removed, giving the interior that clean, unobstructed view that Apple loves. In place of the columns are steel beams holding up the ceiling. "It looks like something on a bridge," Vitelli said.
- Apple says the bottom-line cost will be $2 million, based on its permit application. That's a whopping $303 per square foot. For perspective, I called Bill Rosch of Rosch Brothers Inc., a general contractor in Latham who has done a lot of retail and bank fit-ups but has no bite of the Apple project. "We've done a lot of display stuff in stores," Rosch said. "Maybe they're spending every penny of that. It just sounds crazy."
So we'll have to continue waiting to see exactly what Apple's designers dreamed up.
As for Vitelli, he admires the company's products, but isn't a customer.
"I've always been a PC and Android guy," he said.