Apple's Grand Central Terminal Retail Store to Open as Soon as Black Friday?

grand central terminal store rendering
Rendering of Apple's Grand Central Terminal retail store

9to5Mac reports that Apple is set to announce tomorrow its plans for opening the company's new retail store in the historic Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. Apple had been said to be trying to get the store open by mid-November for the holiday shopping season, but it still appears to be unclear whether it will have the store open in time for Black Friday later this week.

From what we have now heard, Apple will be filling the store with stock and applying the finishing touches this week putting the the actual opening of the store on Black Friday or shortly thereafter. The goal all along has been to get the store open for the holiday shopping and to make a big splash with Apple’s new crown jewel of retail.

The store's 300 staff members have been in training for some time now, and are currently dispersed to other New York City stores for final training ahead of the store opening.

grand central terminal store barrier
Photo from techfootnote

techfootnote grabbed some photos of the black screening surrounding the under-construction store, which reveal some large panels on the front of the barrier that are said to potentially be hiding large video display boards to highlight the store's opening.

Related Forum: Community Discussion

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 21, 2025 2:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are around three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices from credible sources. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X...
iPhone 16 Battery Life Feature

iOS 26's New Battery Life Mode Available Only on These iPhone Models

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:02 am PDT by
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode. Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer." The full description of...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

iPhone Reportedly Moving to All-Screen Design in Two Stages

Sunday June 22, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
Apple has long been working towards an iPhone with an all-screen design, and it might finally achieve the feat in a few more years from now. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple will shrink the size of the Dynamic Island on new iPhone models released next year. A year after that, he expects Apple to release a redesigned 20th-anniversary iPhone model....
ios 26 control center b2

Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 2

Monday June 23, 2025 2:57 pm PDT by
Apple provided developers with the second beta of iOS 26, introducing the first changes and refinements to the new operating system since it debuted after the WWDC keynote. Because we're early in the beta testing process, there are quite a few tweaks to iOS 26, which we've rounded up below. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Control Center The background behind the...
ios 26 control center b2

iOS 26 Beta 2 Fixes Control Center Design

Monday June 23, 2025 10:58 am PDT by
With the second beta of iOS 26 that Apple provided to developers today, Apple addressed one of the major complaints that people have had with Liquid Glass. iOS 26 beta 1 on left, iOS 26 beta 2 on right The Control Center buttons are now slightly more opaque, making it easier to see the different control options even on a multicolored background. The new, more opaque look is apparent with the ...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro's Alleged Vapor Chamber Cooling System Partly Revealed

Sunday June 22, 2025 6:37 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models are rumored to be equipped with a vapor chamber cooling system, and a leaker known as Majin Bu today shared a photo of an alleged copper thermal plate for the system. Many high-end Android smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra are equipped with a vapor chamber cooling system, which can manage heat dissipation inside the...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Tuesday June 24, 2025 3:40 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

watchOS 26 Adding a Smaller Yet Useful New Watch Face Setting

Monday June 23, 2025 9:39 am PDT by
watchOS 26 is adding a new "Show Data When Locked" setting to the Apple Watch. MacRumors contributor Steve Moser discovered the new setting within the code for the first watchOS 26 beta, and a Reddit user has seemingly found it in action, but we have yet to figure out where it is exactly. Leave a comment if you know. The new privacy setting allows you to toggle on or off the ability to...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adding Two New Wi-Fi Features, Allows AirDrop and AirPlay Alternatives

Saturday June 21, 2025 7:02 am PDT by
iOS 26 is gaining two new Wi-Fi features, including Captive Assist and Wi-Fi Aware. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered a reference to Captive Assist within the code for the first iOS 26 developer beta, but Apple has yet to enable the feature. It should be available by the time the software update is released later this year. In his Power On newsletter last month, Bloomberg's...

Top Rated Comments

JHankwitz Avatar
177 months ago
It's bound to be a winner. Convenient for so very many people.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yanki01 Avatar
177 months ago
i just wish we had an apple store here. :(
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rloechner Avatar
177 months ago
there is without a doubt a few or one giant monitor behind those black panels. Here are two pics I took just before getting on the train. One of the panels is moving and you can see behind.. Where there is a giant white display and what looks like a train schedule type of video playing.. Here are the pics. I tried to walk up and get closer but was denied! The third pic is from behind the panels .. And it looks like the displays are built in glass. Sorry for the poor quality photos.

http://p.twimg.com/AezLf6dCEAAo8LY.jpg



http://p.twimg.com/AezLrWqCMAAMuOH.jpg


http://p.twimg.com/AezPyt7CAAEN8O6.jpg
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Crazysah Avatar
177 months ago
Will it be open from 5AM-2AM? Just like the terminated itself?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zoetmb Avatar
177 months ago
That store is going be crazy busy with folks just killing time on the internet waiting for the train. Seems like it is going to closer to one big advertisement than an actual store. On the other hand, I could see a lot of folks just grabbing an Air on the way home, very convenient.

That's what all the Apple stores are about. It wouldn't surprise me if 60-70% of patrons are already Apple owners simply checking email or checking out a new app.

But eventually, those 30-40% who aren't Apple owners decide to buy something because they feel comfortable. And once they buy one, the others follow. Back when Apple first decided to open their own stores, I was a naysayer, even though I agreed that most other dealers presented Apple badly. But you can't aruge with massive success and they've maintained that success in spite of the fact that they've opened up selling in the mass merchants as well.

I think there's a fairly large body of commuters who walk (or ride) from their offices to Grand Central, are always in a rush and unless they visit an Apple store in a mall on a weekend, never get to an Apple store. This Grand Central store will service them and I think eventually will lead to big sales especially since a lot of those commuters live in the gold coasts of Westchester and Connecticut. But most commuters at Grand Central don't have a long wait - during rush hour, the trains leave every 15-20 minutes or so, so that could be an issue or it could help because one could simply wait for the next train.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ThomasJL Avatar
177 months ago
The store's 300 staff members have been in training for some time now...
I wonder if the store's 300 rats have also been training for some time now... :)
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)