Apple's Iconic Fifth Avenue Store Moving to Temporary Location on January 20 During Renovations

In June 2015 it was reported that Apple would renovate its iconic Fifth Avenue retail store, temporarily relocating its operations to the vacated FAO Schwarz toy store in the General Motors Building. A MacRumors reader spotted a new sign in front of the iconic store that reveals the relocation will happen on January 20.

fifthavenuestore
FAO Schwarz vacated its location in the General Motors Building in July 2015 due to the rising cost of rent. The space is just a couple feet away from the iconic glass cube, making the relocation largely seamless for frequent customers of the Fifth Avenue store.

Apple Store Fifth Avenue FAO Schwarz

Apple's Fifth Avenue store and the former FAO Schwarz space, far right (Flickr)

While the extent of the renovations at the Fifth Avenue store are unknown, the company has been expanding or relocating a number of its older stores to accommodate increased foot traffic. The Fifth Avenue location was last renovated in 2011, when larger, more seamless panes of glass were installed. The renovation was completed in November 2011.

Ahead of the closure, the store will have reduced hours of 6:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on January 16-18. The location is usually open on a 24 hour, 365 day basis.

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Thursday October 31, 2024 9:42 am PDT by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. ...
best early black friday deals

The Best Early Black Friday Apple Deals

Friday November 1, 2024 8:21 am PDT by
We're officially in the month of Black Friday, which will take place on Friday, November 29 in 2024. As always, this will be the best time of the year to shop for great deals, including popular Apple products like AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and more. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
M4 Pro on Blue

M4 Pro Chip Benchmark Results Reveal an Extremely Impressive Performance Feat

Thursday October 31, 2024 7:06 pm PDT by
The first Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the M4 Pro chip surfaced today. Impressively, the results that are available so far show that the highest-end M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. Here is a comparison of the results: Mac mini with M4 Pro (14-core CPU): 22,094 multi-core score (average of 11 results) Mac Studio...
Apple iPhone SE 4 5G Modem 1

iPhone SE 4 First to Get Apple-Designed 5G Modem, iPhone 17 Pro to Add Custom Wi-Fi 7 Chip

Friday November 1, 2024 4:04 am PDT by
The iPhone SE 4 that's set to come out early next year is expected to debut Apple's first in-house 5G modem, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers companies within Apple's supply chain. In a research note this week with Hong Kong-based investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said Apple is expected to roll out its custom-made 5G modem starting with the next-generation...
ios 18 2 chatgpt plus

iOS 18.2 Beta 2 Shows Siri ChatGPT Limit, Offers 'Plus' Upgrade Option

Monday November 4, 2024 10:54 am PST by
With the second beta of iOS 18.2 that's available for developers today, Apple has further fleshed out the ChatGPT integration that's available with Siri. In the Settings app, there's now a section that shows the ChatGPT daily limit, and offers an option to upgrade to the paid ChatGPT Plus plan. The beta includes an Advanced Capabilities section with a "Daily Limit" reading that shows up as...
M3 Pro Max vs M4 Pro Max Feature

Here's How Much Faster M4 Pro/Max Are for Graphics vs. M3 Pro/Max

Friday November 1, 2024 8:04 am PDT by
Apple's new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips are impressively fast in terms of CPU performance, topping the M2 Ultra, but what about graphics performance? The first Geekbench 6 results for GPU performance are now available for the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and the Metal scores reveal some impressive year-over-year gains. Based on the Metal scores that are available so far, the M4 Pro and M4 Max are up to...
imac video apple feature

What to Expect From Apple This November

Friday November 1, 2024 9:40 am PDT by
After a busy October in which Apple announced new Macs and Apple Intelligence launched, the calendar has now turned to November. Below, we outline what to expect from Apple this month as the slower-but-still-busy holiday season approaches. After seeding the first betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 with additional Apple Intelligence features last month, Apple will likely...

Top Rated Comments

chr1s60 Avatar
102 months ago
Too many clever words on that sign when a simple arrow would've sufficed (especially considering the number of non-English-speaking tourists that must visit that iconic store)
Perfect example for anyone new to Macrumors as far as what to expect in the forums. People will criticize Apple over the most ridiculous things and rarely is anyone happy.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ThatGuyInLa Avatar
102 months ago
No Apple. You're not, "still here."
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DevNull0 Avatar
102 months ago
I wonder if they're going to flatten the cube into a single sheet of glass flush with the ground level.

It will be courageously thin and think of all the money Timmy will make recycling the glass cube.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theipodgod16 Avatar
102 months ago
I worked in that store from 2010-2011. Even back then, the traffic and crowding was unbelievable. Each week, the FDNY would send a fire inspector to see if there were more people than was safe, in case a fire broke out. And each week, they were far over the legal limit. Apple didn't give a ****; they paid the fine each week.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chr1s60 Avatar
102 months ago
I know Wall Street and the myriad Apple-haterz continue to claim Apple is going out of business quite soon but these sort of things Apple is doing isn't quite indicative of a company going out of business. A company wouldn't keep renovating old stores and adding new stores at this rate. You can tell how Sears, J.C. Penney and Macys are having a financial crisis as they sell off stores and dump employees. Where is that happening at Apple. It's true I don't really know if Apple is having a financial crisis but spending more money on expansion wouldn't make any sense if they did have a crisis. So what is it that Wall Street knows that I don't? Of course, I also don't understand why Yahoo's share price continues to rise while the company's fundamentals are quite crappy. Yahoo has an EPS of -5.1 and yet the stock has risen over 25% this past year. Apple has an EPS of about 8.3 and the stock has risen just 3% in 2016. I just don't get it. There are so many mixed signals with Apple so it's hard to tell who's telling the truth about the company. If Apple were in financial trouble they shouldn't be doing any renovations or expansion.
Apple isn't going out of business, nor are they anywhere even remotely close to what it would take for them to shut down. That is something said by the 1-5% of the tech population that come on these sites and forums because they are angry the MacBook, iMac or iPhone didn't have the feature or specs they wanted or because they prefer another brand product and want to make Apple seem like they are in trouble. On a general consumer level, Apple is doing just fine.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MICHAELSD Avatar
102 months ago
Did some digging for data:

"Apple’s Fifth Avenue emporium probably has annual sales of more than $350 million, said Jeffrey Roseman, executive vice president of real- estate broker Newmark Knight Frank Retail. The location is 10,000 square feet, putting its sales per square foot at a minimum of $35,000, based on Roseman’s estimate.

Those sales trump tony jewelry sellers along the famed street — currently earning about twice as much: Tiffany & Co. rakes in just $18,000 per square foot, Harry Winston between $12,000 – $13,000."

Abercrombie pays annual rent of $12.5 million for a 25,000 square foot shop on Fifth Avenue. Apple probably pays more per square foot for its more prime location but regardless they are turning a serious profit in a location with incredible marketing value.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)