Melbourne CBD Apple Store. Where? When?

It’s an oft posted topic of mine, but Where and When in the Melbourne CBD are Apple going to open a Store?

Rumours come and go, Emporium was a strong possibility but that’s not happening now.

Rumour that it’ll be in the Emirates House Building on Collins, or maybe Australia on Collins (both of which are currently having work done - well, Oz on Collins has closed but nothing appears to have happened since that time.)

Then today I walk by the old Angus and Robertson on Bourke/Elizabeth and there’s major works happening there. It’s a great location but certainly not the type of building I see Apple moving into (especially after so long a wait) unless it’s going to have massive work done.

Anybody got any goss or even better insider knowledge? How awesome would it be if Appletalk were the place that breaks the news of the Melbourne CBD store?

No goss, but keep an eye on skyscraper city; those guys are always on top of this kind of stuff.

I think Bourke/Elizabeth is going to be a Bank of Melbourne. I think they rolled out quite quickly and they are now doing some of their stores up properly. The one at Elizabeth St entry to Melbourne Central is also another one under going renovation.

Bump. The “St Collins Lane” development is going ahead in leaps and bounds all of a sudden. Something of interest: On the Collins Street side, there is a separate pair of doors that has suddenly appeared, independent of the main part of the development. They’re right next to the Novotel. I’m wondering if they might be for a particular retailer to access their space, on that side of the building.

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I’ve heard Apple prefer shopping centres - easier parking access etc. Not saying that means no Apple CBD in Melb city, but just that it’s probably not a priority.

Well Perth, Sydney, Brisbane all have Apple Stores in their CBD’s that are independent of Shopping Centres. Assuming there is going to be one in St Collins Lane, well that actually goes against that. They’re certainly missing a big slice of the market by not having one, there are many people (myself included) who rarely visit suburban shopping centres. The only reason I really go there is for the Apple Store.

Bump. St Collins Lane looks pretty closed to finishing, I would say by June at the latest. But both front and rear don’t look any kind of Apple, so if there’s going to be a store there it’s certainly not going to be the Flagship street fronty type one.

The glass bit one floor up on the Collins St side would be perfect for a big hanging Apple logo.

Escalators are in. Can’t be long until interior fit outs begin.

How many street front tenancies are there going to be? I know one of them is going to be a multi-level Coach store. How exciting.

Bumpage. St Collins Lane seems very close to opening, some of the store fronts on Lt Collins already have mannequins in them. From Lt Collins you can see through (though the Collins entrance is still boarded up though probably not for long).

If Apple is going to be here it won’t be as a Store Front, well not that I can see. But remember there is a massive basement area in this place… wonder if by chance it might go down there?

EDIT just checked, it’s opening on May 12. But Apple, unsurprisingly, isn’t in the Directory of Stores. http://www.stcollinslane.com/directory

I can’t see Apple in a basement.

As for the lack of Melbourne store, after moving here in 2014 I miss being able to walk down George street and pick up my Apple gear… or do crazy things like line up outside the store (then walk to work afterwards).

No way IMHO that’s an Apple Retail store. Not just because the glass isn’t clear. It has some pattern.

I’ve heard from more than one person at Apple that Apple are happy being in shopping centres (parking, etc.).

I reckon other than halo stores - and rarely is there more than 1 halo store per country (i.e. the kind of store on this front page: http://www.apple.com/retail/) - they are happy being in ‘malls’.

Aren’t some of the best Apple Stores in the world in basements?

Fifth Avenue - basement. This one in China - basement. Zorlu centre - basement.

They’re certainly not the norm, but Apple doesn’t shy away from them, either.

well there you go :slight_smile:

Well, one way or another we’ll know very soon now. If we walk through when the centre opens next week and there’s an obvious Apple like space, or even better, the famous black hoardings. But surely we would have heard by now if one was definitely opening when the whole shopping centre opens.

There’s been multiple opportunities for excellent spaces for an Apple store in the Melb CBD.

The GPO building really should have been an Apple store. I’d love to know how the fuck Apple either let that slip, or the owners of the building made the terms so awful that Apple wouldn’t want it.

Then there’s the Collins Place development - large frontage on Collins Street between Swanston & Elizabeth. Oppose Tiffany’s and a whole bunch of fancy jewellery stores. Somehow that isn’t going to be an Apple Store either.

Are they waiting for Telstra to give up the corner of Bourke and Swanston? Maybe something large further up Collins Street towards Parliament station/Spring Street?

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And just off-topic, how about an Apple Store at Eastland’s fancy new part and Werribee Pacifc’s fancy new part?

See I’m beginning to wonder if it’s a symptom of a bigger problem.

I don’t often go to the suburban stores because I don’t drive and it’s a bitch to get to most of them on Public Transport, but I did go to Doncaster a few weeks ago. I wasn’t going for any particular reason apart from looking a the new ipad pro 9.7", and I’m not in the market for anything at the moment. Anyway It was Friday night about 7pm or so.

The store was pretty dead… a few tyre kickers like me just taking a look. I got asked if I needed help at least 5 or 6 times. Looking around there weren’t many people buying stuff.

I’m wondering how well the Australian Retail stores are doing. With the high cost of Apple Products due to the dollar, they simply can’t be selling as well as they might otherwise be. They employ a lot of staff so running the place isn’t cheap.

I’m wondering if the reason we haven’t seen a Melbourne CBD store yet when several great opportunities have passed Apple by (Emporium, St Collins Lane) isn’t because they’re waiting for the right place, but they simply don’t see the need to open a city Store when the other stores aren’t screaming beacons of success.

I could try and work this out later, but how many stores does Australia have per head of population compared to the US/UK etc. We might well already have more than we need.

Going out to Eastland later today, another part of it just opened, will see if there’s any Apple like spaces going begging. There was one next to H&M which I was really crossing my fingers for (as Eastland is very easy to get to on the train) but I’m thinking we won’t see one there for the same reason.

I still think a CBD store would be more successful than a suburban store, but we might have to lose one of the Surburban ones to get it.

Do Apple Stores ever close??? :slight_smile:

Suburban stores are great and all, Eastland is pretty close to my house too, but Doncaster isn’t that much further and I’d still rather have a city store. After all, I spend 5 days a week in the city.

When I was in Sydney it used to be very convenient to rock up to the George Street store as they open the doors at 8am for a “standby” appointment. Someone usually didn’t show and you got seen within 15 minutes and were out the door with a shiny new (refurb) phone.

I’ve never heard of an Apple Store closing permanently. But moving and closing temporarily for renovations/expansions, sure.