Apple Opens the Doors at its MacArthur Chambers Store in Brisbane, Australia

Apple's long-awaited store in Brisbane, Australia finally opened its doors to customers today. The flagship store was announced in 2011, but problems with contractors and the historical nature of the site delayed completion.

brisbane-outside
Customers started waiting in line almost 15 hours before the store was schedule to open its doors at 10 AM local time, with many hoping to score one of the limited edition Brisbane store T-shirts that were handed out. The dedicated fans were allowed in by exuberant store employees who greeted them with high-fives and cheers. Store leader Jonny Walker told PerthNow that he is proud of what Apple has done with the historic site.

"We are so proud of this store at Apple, it's got a stunning space now and we're really extremely proud to call it our home. When we took over the store a lot of the original historic elements were missing or in disrepair. What we've done is we've painstakingly restored it to its original glory."

brisbane-inside
The store is located within the impressive MacArthur Chambers building, which was General Douglas MacArthur's South West Pacific headquarters for the Allies during World War II. The new retail space occupies the entire bottom floor of the building. It includes 200 display units and is staffed by over 100 employees, says a report by Brisbane Times, which toured the location before it opened.

(Thanks, David!)

Top Rated Comments

Sure, Not Avatar
127 months ago
I love historic Apple Stores.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dilbert99 Avatar
126 months ago
Yay!! I got an image published

Not my best images but published none the less, and a mention :)

I did think the store looked nice (perhaps a bit clinical), but not as nice as some of the other Apple stores I've seen on here...

David
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Steeley Avatar
126 months ago
Certainly looks nice. I wonder if they have any pics from before the restoration?

There are some out there of the previous tenant that'll give you an idea of what it looked like before. Mind you when the book store left it was rented out to fly-by-night bargain basement retailers for a while, but they didn't change anything from the book store they were just very messy. Note the tacky air conditioning pipes and gold detailing!

Pics courtesy of Skyscraper City (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1368979&page=26) (found them with google image search)





Note in this last image the placement of the trees and the garden:

Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
wikiverse Avatar
126 months ago
And people say the high street is dying? Pfft. Just do it like Apple.

The high street isn't dying in Brisbane and Apple are a bit late to the party. They would have been late even if the store opened in 2011.

The new store is across the street from Louis Vuitton, Tiffany's, Chanel, Hugo Boss, and scotch & soda.

I'm sure apple will do well here.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TyPod Avatar
126 months ago
Really cool looking store. I wish the Apple Store's by me actually looked cool and historic like this one!
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ksnell Avatar
127 months ago
Anyone else notice the Apple camera guy in the second photo? I guess we will be seeing this again in the next Apple Keynote.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 16 Mock Header With Dynamic Island

Skipping the iPhone 15 Pro? Here's What's Rumored for iPhone 16 Pro

Friday September 22, 2023 9:29 am PDT by
Are you skipping the iPhone 15 Pro and waiting another year to upgrade? If so, we already have some iPhone 16 Pro rumors for you. Below, we recap new features rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models so far:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped with larger 6.3-inch and 6.9-inch displays, respectively, according to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain...
Apple WWDC23 macOS Sonoma hero

macOS Sonoma Launching This Week With These New Features

Sunday September 24, 2023 12:45 pm PDT by
Apple previously announced that macOS Sonoma will be released this Tuesday, September 26. The free software update includes many new features and changes for the Mac, including the five that we have highlighted below. In addition to these five features, we have shared the full release notes for macOS Sonoma below for a complete overview of everything new. Desktop Widgets macOS Sonoma...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 double tap gesture 230912

watchOS 10.1 to Enable Apple Watch's New 'Double Tap' Gesture

Thursday September 21, 2023 12:52 pm PDT by
The new Double Tap gesture for the Apple Watch Series 9 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2 will be enabled starting with watchOS 10.1, according to Marques Brownlee, host of the popular tech-focused YouTube channel MKBHD. The first beta of watchOS 10.1 will likely be available by next week, and Apple announced that the software update will be released next month. Brownlee shared his impressions...