“The very first Apple Store opened its doors on May 19, 2001, at the Tysons Corner Center shopping mall in McLean, Virginia, near Washington D.C.,” Joe Rossignol reports for MacRumors. “Now, just over 17 years later, those doors may soon close temporarily.”
“Planning documents filed with the Department of Planning and Zoning in Fairfax County, Virginia this month, viewed by MacRumors, reveal that Apple plans to make significant interior alterations to the store, with demolition work involved, suggesting that the location is set to receive a facelift,” Rossignol reports. “Apple Tysons Corner has a lot of nostalgia attached to it, as the company’s first-ever retail store. Shortly before it opened to the public, the late Steve Jobs previewed the store to a group of journalists, including Walt Mossberg, introducing iconic features like the Genius Bar that still exist today.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple Tysons Corner, still going strong! Not too shabby for “a very painful and expensive mistake,” eh?
I give [Apple] two years before they’re turning out the lights on a very painful and expensive mistake. – David Goldstein, Channel Marketing Corp. President, commenting on Apple’s plan to open retail locations, May 21, 2001
The legions of Apple “is doomed”, or “going to fail” observations by so-called experts in their fields that failed to materialize, show just how badly the public is being served by “experts”.
This Apple Store has outlasted David Goldstein and Channel Marketing Corporation. If the rest of his business was as successful as his Apple predictions, we can understand why they folded.
It’s cool that you looked it and him up. What’s he doing now?
The Tysons Corner store is in desperate need of an overhaul; my wife is a zealous Apple fanatic, but she won’t set foot in the store because it smells like a used bathroom…
I got used to the smell after a couple minutes, but it was a barrier to entry.
The “face lift” is long overdue. Since 2001, Tyson’s Corner Mall appears to have quadrupled in size and is always jammed, even though there is another major mall practically within walking distance. Tyson’s Corner has so many high rises that it looks like a mini-Manhattan from the Beltway, and it is a major employment center in the region. On top of that, Metrorail has put a station near the mall so that it is convenient not just to commuters but to shoppers from DC on the weekend.
I don’t think it is possible to have an Apple Store that is too large for that location.
Visit an Apple “store”, every person is there because their purchase has failed them and they need to get a company employee to help them. Call them what they are, the Service Department.
Tom, are you a Windoz auto-bot?