When it comes to the most incredible retail experience you can find today, Apple stores are undoubtedly going to top many lists. As the most profitable retail experience per square foot, there is no question that Apple stores have helped grow the company into the $3 trillion global electronics behemoth it is today. 

The Apple store experience is also great because the employees don’t work on commission, so there is no pressure to buy. On top of that, you can go hands-on with every product Apple sells to see if it’s right for you. This includes not just the iPhone or iPad but every computer, virtual-reality headset, and all of the accessories Apple sells across its entire product lineup. 

10. Apple Shanghai

• Location: Shanghai, China
• Unique experience: Enter the store through a 41-foot large glass cylinder 
• Opened: 2010
• Designer: Foster + Partners

Glass Cylinder Entrance

Apple’s love of glass shines through at many of its stores, including its Jing’an store in Shanghai, China. Designed by Apple’s favorite retail architectural partner, Foster + Partners, the 41-foot glass cylinder entrance that takes you into the underground Apple store is breathtaking. There is something really beautiful about walking in and out of this location that takes the breath away. 

9. Apple Michigan Avenue

• Location: Chicago, Illinois
• Unique experience: The carbon fiber roof was designed to emulate the clamshell cover of the MacBook
• Opened: 2003
• Designer: Foster + Partners 

Looks Like A MacBook

Arguably one of the most unique Apple store locations in the United States, the iconic Michigan Avenue store in Chicago, Illinois, has one of the most distinctive elements Apple has ever made. While the store itself is beautifully designed and feels like an airy glass box, the roof of the building captures the imagination. Made to look like the clamshell cover of an old MacBook computer, it’s a design element that is uniquely Apple. 

8. Apple Dubai Mall

• Location: Dubai 
• Unique experience: Giant Terrace
• Opened: 2017
• Designer: Foster + Partners, Jonathan Ive

Sweeping View of Dubai

With a view of Dubai that includes the Dubai Fountain and Burj Khalifa, there is something spectacular about the Apple Dubai Mall location that opened in 2017. However, the real highlight of the store is its 60-meter-long terrace that runs 18 feet deep. What makes this element of the store’s construction so unique is that these “Solar Wings” can open or close to either allow sunlight to shine in or to be closed in the event of poor weather. 

7. Apple Central World

• Location: Bangkok, Thailand
• Unique experience: 80-foot glass cage spread across two floors with a spiral staircase
• Opened: 2020
• Designer: Foster + Partners, Architects 49 Ltd. 

Huge Glass Cage

You are transported to a unique world as soon as you step foot in the Apple Central World store in Bangkok, Thailand. The 80-foot tall glass cage that composes the entire store’s exterior gives you a full view of the whole Ratchaprasong shopping area where the store is located. There’s also just something incredible about the 1,461 European White Oak pieces that also make the central timber core of the store come together so well. 

6. Apple Marina Bay Sands

• Location: Singapore
• Unique experience: Dome construction looks like a floating lantern
• Opened: 2020
• Designer: Foster + Partners

The Dome 

To make the glass dome structure, Apple and its architectural partners had to utilize 114 glass panels to look like floating lanterns. This location is equally unique because sunshade rings are all over the store, enabling a 360-degree view of the cityscape around the Apple store. Better yet, it lets in plenty of natural light and provides one of the smoothest ambiances of any Apple store in Singapore. 

5. Apple Piazza Liberty

• Location: Milan, Italy
• Unique experience: 8-meter glass fountain, glass rectangular entryway is breathtaking
• Opened: 2018
• Designer: Foster + Partners

Chasing Waterfalls

The first time you see the 8-meter tall glass fountain above the Apple Piazza Liberty entrance, you’ll be forced to capture a dozen plus images. It’s so welcoming and relaxing that it stands out amongst the rest of the area. Jonathan Ive even played a hand in the store’s design, with light interiors that make every use of the natural light it receives to make it feel like a modern art gallery. 

4. Grand Central Station 

• Location: Grand Central Terminal, New York City
• Unique experience: Apple store and a train station
• Opened: 2011
• Designer: Foster + Partners

The Train Station 

It’s hard to ignore the wonderful experience at Apple’s store in Grand Central Terminal. The company’s fifth store in Manhattan, one of the largest in the world, first opened in 2011. At its opening, more than 2,500 people waited to be among the first to see the location. The store overlooks the terminal’s Main Concourse, an incredible feat for a 150+ year old train station. 

3. Apple Sanlitun Store

• Location: Beijing, China
• Unique experience: 10-meter high glass panels, viewing gallery, dedicated boardroom
• Opened: 2020
• Designer: Foster + Partners

Beautiful Glass Windows

The second of two Apple Sanlitun locations is instantly recognized thanks to the 10-meter-tall glass windows that adorn the entire front of the store. Apple’s design offered this location some of its latest retail updates, which include its Forum, Viewing Gallery, and Boardroom. This store will also regularly host “Today at Apple,” a focal point for some of Beijing’s greatest musicians and creatives who can show off their best projects at Apple stores. 

2. Apple Tower Theater

• Location: Los Angeles
• Unique experience: Converted 1927 theater was the first movie theater in Los Angeles to play talking pictures
• Opened: 2021
• Designer: S Charles Lee

The First Theater

As soon as you step into the Apple Tower Theater location in Los Angeles, something incredible grabs hold of you. Knowing this is the first theater in LA to play talking pictures, there’s something magical about the history. Of course, Apple, being Apple, kept this history primarily intact with a store layout that still feels like a movie theater, including second-level elevated seating and 1920s architectural detail that somehow blends right in with Apple’s beloved wooden product tables. 

1. Apple Fifth Avenue 

• Location: Fifth Avenue, New York City
• Unique experience: Full glass cube is instantly recognizable, open 24 hours, seven days a week
• Opened: 2006
• Designer: Bohlin Cywinski Jackson

The Glass Cube

It’s hard to imagine a more unique Apple store experience than that of the store on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Opened in 2006, this building is much of a tourist attraction due to the giant glass cube that awaits you before you go downstairs into the store itself. This store is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so if you ever need a charging cable right before bedtime, this is the exact Apple store you want. 

 

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