X

Apple readies new retail store design in Arizona

Apple will showcase a new retail design in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Friday when it opens a new store that features some firsts for the company.

Jim Dalrymple Special to CNET News
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop.
See full bio
Jim Dalrymple

Apple has chosen Scottsdale, Ariz., to showcase its latest retail store designs. The new Apple store is opening Friday night and features some firsts for the company.

Pictures of the Scottsdale first appeared on The Loop late last night. With its cube-like structure, the store, which is set to open at 6 p.m. local time, is reminiscent of the company's popular Fifth Avenue location in Manhattan. The difference is, in Scottsdale, the cube is the store, instead of just one of its architectural features.

Apple's Scottsdale retail store The Loop

When looking through the wall of windows on one side, you can see straight through to the other side of the store and out another wall of windows. If that wasn't enough to give you a feeling of space, the Scottsdale store also has a 75-foot long skylight.

While design is important to Apple, there are some enhancements to help customers in the new store, too. Like most stores, the new location will have a Genius Bar to assist customers--but this Genius Bar is 50-feet long.

With so much space, Apple will use some of it to train customers, offering free courses on its professional photography, music, and video editing applications.

In May, Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail, said the company was going to continue to renovate its retail locations through the recession. He said the company plans to remodel a total of 100 locations this year and continue to open new stores.