I honestly don’t care at this point where the store is, I just want a proper store in the CBD. I’m now doing a job where I support a bunch of people using iOS products and not being able to take them to the store easily when they break is increasingly annoying. There’s been cases where we’ve had urgent repairs required and you have to travel out to Chaddy or Highpoint.
I like the existing buildings, sorry that you don’t (ok… not sorry) 
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So do I, not wanting the Fed Square ruined by a non-matching building and wanting a CDB Apple store are not mutually exclusive.
This problem is being caused by Apple not settling for a mainstream store (which is all the customers need).
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The design really didn’t fit its surrounds IMO… It didn’t scream “Apple” either. Give me one of those big “G4 Cube-in-a-Building” designs and I’d knock down FedSq for it. 
Holy shit someone already thought of it… (but it’s behind heraldsun’s firewall…)
I’ll throw a theory out there.
I think it comes down to what those companies intentions are. The Apple Store was perceived as a massive “f-you”, a monument to commercialism and excess, directly in the middle of space allocated and intended for public use.
Looking at Federation Square, at least in the context of this discussion, I draw parallels with somewhere like Elder Park here in Adelaide. Bordered by the Torrens River on one side, Adelaide Convention Centre and Festival Theatre on the other, Adelaide Oval directly across, and various small restaurants and convenience stores. It’s a public space, intended for public use, surrounded by buildings that encourage and serve the local arts and culture scene, and businesses that - while privately owned - provide goods and amenities that directly complement the space, such as food and refreshments to the public.
I’d be livid if Apple announced their intent to set up shop there, or any multinational business that intended to use the surrounding space - our space, as residents of Melbourne, or Adelaide, or anywhere else - as nothing more than a means to exhibit their brand. Something that Apple’s flagship stores are designed to do and Apple was absolutely counting on:
“We’re thrilled to move forward in the planning process for our new home in Melbourne’s Federation Square and would be honoured to call the world-class galleries and museums of Melbourne our neighbours,” said Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president, Retail.
Apple wasn’t interested in establishing a retail location at Federation Square simply because it was a good location. (Bourke St Mall is nearby, after all.) They wanted to use Federation Square, a public venue and place of cultural significance within Melbourne, to make a bold statement about their brand and corporate image.
The citizens of Melbourne never approved of this. Nor did the citizens of Stockholm. It’s something that shouldn’t sit well with the public, no matter what company or brand is behind it.
Perhaps some things just shouldn’t be for sale.
At least, that’s what I think it all comes down to.
Also I’ve been curious about this myself, so I’ll pose the opposite question - would so many proponents of the plan to build an Apple Store in Federation Square have been in favour of it if it were another company behind it instead?
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For me that would depend upon the design, if it matched the existing buildings and ‘blended in’ then I don’t really care who sets up shop there (Apple or any other company).
The key is to be ‘low key’ if Fed Square is going to be the operating location.
A good overview of the issue @iMic.
Another example of a similar inappropriate location for an Apple Store would be the Opera House forecourt in Sydney.
Aside from Apple and perhaps the Victorian Stare Government, there do not appear to be many proponents of the idea. Even the members of this august group, who have a general like for things Apple, do not appear to be in favour of the location.
Aim for the stars and you’ll hit the treetops.
Aim for the treetops and you’ll hit the floor.
They’re gonna get what they want sooner or later.
They’re not trying to do either…
they’re trying to cut the trees down
Wait…you are comparing that abomination aka Federation Square with the Sydney Opera House?
Bwahahahahahah! You Melbourne People are so funny.
Good on them.
Too much heritage is lost in this country.
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I think this is exactly the issue.
Why couldn’t Apple just put a store somewhere else instead?
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I’m still laughing.
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If Notre Dame was in Australia, it would get sold to a developer, fenced off for 5 years, meanwhile falling apart getting vandalised and then declared too far gone and knocked down. We’d then get a ‘lovely’ (horrible) tower built in its place.
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Melbourne People. Hahgahahahaha!
Time for some of those New Zealand billionaires to step up LOL
Not sure who is being laughed at but I’m a Sydney person.
Congrats?
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