(Photos: Razi Syed)
It’s out with the old and in with the new, near Barclay’s Center. Just a couple of blocks away from where Hank’s Saloon will close, a gleaming new Apple store will open on Saturday. It’s the brand’s second Brooklyn store following last year’s expansion into Williamsburg.
This morning, we got a tour of the new store at 123 Flatbush Avenue. It was already packed full of “Geniuses,” despite the absence of any paying customers to help. Jason Barlia, market director for Apple Stores in New York City, told members of the press how the floor was “engineered to be isolated from the rest of the building” in order to minimize vibrations. “The reason for that– as you know, this is a very busy neighborhood and, outside, Flatbush Avenue has a lot of traffic– is the five subway lines that travel below.”
The store has a distinctive angular design, with towering glass windows and sloping steel bars along its sides. The sloping ceiling, which has a height of 30 feet at its tallest point, was specially designed to absorb sound, Barlia said.
Inside the store, Apple fans will recognize the open spaces, wooden tables and shelves and cases packed with iPhones, Apple Watches, iPads and MacBooks and a carefully selected lineup of third-party accessories. However, the “Genius Grove” – wooden tables surrounded by indoor potted ficus trees – is unique, in New York City, to the downtown Brooklyn store.
A 6K screen is positioned at the back of the store and will be used for classes and workshops, like how to edit photos on an iPhone or on learning the basics of iCloud.
A team of 160 employees will staff the store, Barlia said.
The store’s grand opening is Saturday, Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. and the first customers will receive free t-shirts.