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There’s something strangely comforting about walking into an Apple Store and seeing a blue-T-shirt-clad Apple Genius smiling back at you, ready to fix your water-damaged iPhone. With two spacious flagship stores in Covent Garden and Regent’s Street, Apple have added another UK flagship, this time it's in Knightsbridge.
The store, which opened today, is at 17-27 Brompton Road, formerly Brompton Arcade, which dates back to 1903. The Apple outlet is one of seven new flagships, part of the recently developed Knightsbridge Estate covering 1.5 acres of retail land, where designer retailers rub shoulders with famous luxury department stores. This new Apple Store is the first in the country to have an ‘Apple Pickup’ click-and-collect system where customers can collect their items without waiting around, which will be useful for gadget-heads panting to get their hands on the new iPhone 14 in September.
Just as with its other flagship locations, Apple’s new Brompton Road store will also host free events, which range from training to talks, focusing on fitness, creativity and more. To mark today’s opening, Apple’s VP of fitness technologies, Jay Blahnik, will be leading an Apple Fitness+ Q&A session, followed by a three-kilometre walk and a five-kilometre run around Hyde Park. Fancy a run-walk, anyone?
After the opening sessions, the store will be transformed into an events hub on the last Thursday of every month. Music workshops in connection with Apple Music’s Up Next series will invite emerging London artists such as Kali Claire, Olivia Dean and Rachel Chinouriri to break down their songs using spatial audio.
And the new store is all about sustainability, its powered by 100 percent renewable energy and has an interior design theme inspired by wild woodlands and trees. You won’t leave with just a shiny new iPhone; customers are being handed a packet of wildflower seeds to plant at home... or, if you don’t have a garden... maybe try the park?
After some more things to do in west London? Check out the free Paddington Bear sculpture trail.
A long-abandoned west London bridge over the Thames might open.