Apple will open its first store in Kyoto, a cultural and technological hub for Japan, Saturday on Shijō Dori. The street, surrounded by many of Kyoto’s famous shrines and temples, has served as the city’s main shopping corridor since the 1600s.
Apple Kyoto’s architecture takes inspiration from local design and materials, with the upper levels clad in a translucent envelope inspired by Japanese lanterns. The use of lightweight timber frame and special paper on the upper facade also draw reference to the country’s traditional houses. The building is centered around a multi-level atrium that is also where the store will offer free Today at Apple sessions daily on photography, music, coding and more.
Japan was home to Apple’s first store outside the US, opening in Tokyo in 2003. Apple is in the midst of a retail expansion in the country, opening several new stores, and remodeling many others, in the coming years.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: Congratulations, Kyoto!
Very cool looking store, best of luck …
what a great looking store in a great country Japan. This is the kind of expansion Apple should be concentrating on, places like Japan, China and others. Wasting time, money and effort on filthy countries like India should be stopped by Apple, let Android have that cheap market. Apple should open more stores like this is Japan and China
What did India ever do to you, Snoop Dog? You seem to have a personal and rather extreme grudge against the country and its people.
What India’s rich and powerful, world largest democracy does to its people will also do the same to Apple, through unfair taxation and back ward laws. Microsoft, Nokia and other have gone though hell in India and Apple should avoid this cess pit and expand in excellent countries like Japan. Which is why this story of a new store in Kyoto Japan is great news. Japan and China also greatly benefits Apple by supplying labor and high tech components to Apple.
Yes, there are things we consider disgusting – even inhuman – that are widespread in India… as there were in ALL our countries only a tiny handful of years ago (historially speaking).
And there are still many disgusting things that remain here… like raping children, beating wives, murdering people just because they are of a different racial group, KNOWINGLY spreading dangerous products and foul poisons, and much, much more.
I think Wall Street considers Apple retail stores as nearly worthless. I have never heard anyone on Wall Street praise Apple for being practically the only tech company with a large number of brick-and-mortar stores and very profitable ones at that. It’s unlikely any other tech company could duplicate that feat. In this case, I would say that Apple has no peers. I think those retail stores could also be considered as having a wide moat and certainly as wide as Netflix’s monthly subscription moat. Apple’s P/E doesn’t come anywhere close to Netflix’s P/E despite those Apple retail stores being rather unique for a tech company.
Despite the naysayers, Apple successfully combined online retailing with its own branded stores, and I agree that the stores are a core strength of Apple’s retailing approach. You can also purchase Apple products at numerous third-party retailers, of course.
I was very happy when an Apple Store was added to the nearby mall. While the people staffing the Genius Bar may not always be actual geniuses, they have always been pleasant and helpful to me. When they don’t know the answer to your problem, they have ready access to high-end technical help, resulting in much better customer support that you are ever going to get from online or phone support. It is also great to have warranty service handled immediately, in many cases. My daughter took in her new 13″ MBP for an intermittent display issue and we walked out shortly afterwards with a brand new replacement MBP, still in the shrink-wrapped box. This solution was suggested by the Apple rep without even being prompted. I love Apple support!
Apple Kyoto s architecture takes inspiration from local design and materials, with the upper levels clad in a translucent envelope inspired by Japanese lanterns. The use of lightweight timber frame and special paper on the upper facade also draw reference to the country’s traditional houses. The building is centered around a multi-level atrium that is also where the store will offer free Today at Apple sessions daily on photography, music, coding and more.