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.
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'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.
Wednesday February 19, 2025 8:02 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today introduced the iPhone 16e, its newest entry-level smartphone. The device succeeds the third-generation iPhone SE, which has now been discontinued.
The iPhone 16e features a larger 6.1-inch OLED display, up from a 4.7-inch LCD on the iPhone SE. The display has a notch for Face ID, and this means that Apple no longer sells any iPhones with a Touch ID fingerprint button, marking the ...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 12:02 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Over the years, Apple has switched from an aluminum frame to a stainless steel frame to a titanium frame for its highest-end iPhones. And now, it has been rumored that Apple will go back to using aluminum for three out of four iPhone 17 models.
In an investor note with research firm GF Securities, obtained by MacRumors this week, Apple supply chain analyst Jeff Pu said the iPhone 17, iPhone...
Thursday February 20, 2025 5:06 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Now that Apple has announced its new more affordable iPhone 16e, our thoughts turn to what else we are expecting from the company this spring.
There are three product categories that we are definitely expecting to get upgraded before spring has ended. Keep reading to learn what they are. If we're lucky, Apple might make a surprise announcement about a completely new product category.
M4...
Wednesday February 19, 2025 11:38 am PST by Juli Clover
Following the launch of the iPhone 16e, Apple updated its iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia pages to give a narrower timeline on when the next updates are set to launch.
All three pages now state that new Apple Intelligence features and languages will launch in early April, an update from the more broader April timeframe that Apple provided before. The next major point updates will be iOS ...
Thursday February 13, 2025 8:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
In a social media post today, Apple CEO Tim Cook teased an upcoming "launch" of some kind scheduled for Wednesday, February 19.
"Get ready to meet the newest member of the family," he said, with an #AppleLaunch hashtag.
The post includes a short video with an animated Apple logo inside a circle.
Cook did not provide an exact time for the launch, or share any other specific details, so...
Apple today announced its first custom cellular modem with the name "C1," debuting in the all-new iPhone 16e.
The new modem contributes to the iPhone 16e's power efficiency, giving it the longest battery life of any iPhone with a 6.1-inch display, such as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16.
Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most...
Tuesday February 18, 2025 8:46 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is permanently closing its retail store at the Northbrook Court shopping mall in the Chicago area. The company confirmed the upcoming closure today in a statement, but it has yet to provide a closing date for the location.
Apple Northbrook opened in 2005, and the store moved to a larger space in the mall in 2017.
Apple confirmed that affected employees will continue to work for the...
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.
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.
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.
"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.