Apple Planning New Retail Store in Lansing, Michigan

Friday February 21, 2014 9:23 AM PST by Kelly Hodgkins
Apple is preparing to open a new retail store in Lansing, Michigan, according to the Lansing State Journal. The plans for a 6,000 square foot store at the Eastwood Towne Center were discovered in paperwork submitted to Lansing Township officials by a contractor working with Apple.
A contractor for the Cupertino, Calif.-based technology company filed an application with Lansing Township officials to start work on a nearly 6,000-square-foot retail store at 3025 Preyde Boulevard, which is part of the shopping center near U.S. 127 and Lake Lansing Road.
Apple will remodel a vacant commercial space between Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret as part of a multimillion dollar project led by Chicago-based Pepper Construction Co.
lansing-michigan-store
ifoAppleStore

Apple started hiring for this new Lansing store several months ago and still has 13 available positions ranging from Store Leader to Specialist (Via ifoAppleStore). This would be Apple's sixth location in Michigan and would provide retail coverage for customers in the central part of the state. Other Michigan stores are located in Ann Arbor, Clinton Township, Grand Rapids, Novi and Troy.

As part of its annual 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple revealed that the company plans to open 30 new retail stores in 2014, with approximately two-thirds of these new stores located outside the U.S. This international push already is in progress, with the company opening its first retail store in Brazil last week. Over 1,700 customers visited the Rio de Janeiro location on its opening day.
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St. Germain
61 months ago
It's not often that I see Lansing mentioned on MacRumors.
Rating: 8 Votes
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invalidname
61 months ago

Edit: That's a terrible location. Near a congested highway that's 4-5 miles from campus. A campus whose student's primary method of transportation is not an automobile. I'm assuming the 45,000+ students in the area was enticing to Apple. Why not position the store on Grand River right next to campus? Stores open and close there every year, multiple times a year. Real estate wouldn't be hard to acquire.


Maybe Eastwood is more convenient to Lansing as a whole? Putting it on Grand River would be convenient only to MSU students, whereas anyone else would have to deal with East Lansing parking hassles (eg, find a spot in the Habitrail or some other parking deck and then walk a couple blocks). Furthermore, as you say, stores open and close there every year, and with the whole stretch west of Abbot now abandoned and boarded over, that area is starting to look seriously depressed… not the kind of environment where Apple usually sets up shop.

Also, wouldn't MSU students already have their own on-campus computer store? That's where I got my PowerBook 160 in 1993 while in grad skool at MSU.

Anyways, if they had to go with a mall location, interesting that they chose the outdoor (but centrally-located) Eastwood Town Center, rather than Meridian or Lansing Malls.
Rating: 3 Votes
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xJus10x
61 months ago
East Lansing resident here. Would have saved me a four hour round trip when the Retina MacBooks were released. :D

Edit: That's a terrible location. Near a congested highway that's 4-5 miles from campus. A campus whose student's primary method of transportation is not an automobile. I'm assuming the 45,000+ students in the area was enticing to Apple. Why not position the store on Grand River right next to campus? Stores open and close there every year, multiple times a year. Real estate wouldn't be hard to acquire.
Rating: 2 Votes
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chuxdaddy
61 months ago
Here at MSU, the campus does have on campus apple store, where at lot of MSU students shop. Many students including non MSU students will either buy their macs online or at best buy. I am happy to see an Apple Store here in Lansing. Driving to Novi is a chore and I miss being in Chicago where I had a choice of 5 stores to choose from. The eastwood towncenter is an up and coming residential and commercial area. I am happy to see Apple here. Thank you.
Rating: 2 Votes
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SandboxGeneral
61 months ago

No, Michigan has Apple Stores only in the lower parts of Michigan. Start getting some in Birch Run or Saginaw.


And Mackinac Island too! LOL ;)
Rating: 2 Votes
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rhstoddard
61 months ago

WTH is this? damn it apple. Apple is all about opening new stores and less about products being made and fulfilling demands.


I'm a former Lansing resident living in the DC area. Gotta tell you we would have never made the shift to Macs and other Apple products without first trying them out in one of the local Apple stores. (We're spoiled here with four within a 12-mile radius, one of which was the very first Apple store to open.)

You can read all of the reviews in the world, but I like to actually get my hands on a new product and play with it a bit before shelling out big bucks.
Rating: 2 Votes
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PinkyMacGodess
61 months ago

There is a large apple authorized dealer in Traverse City right next to the Grand Traverse Mall, so there really isn't a need for an Apple Store there.

http://www.citymac.net

This location in Lansing makes the most sense - I used to live 1.5 miles from there. Directly off the freeway, easy access for both Lansing and East Lansing residents, and the more upscale image that Apple likes to project (definitely more upscale than the Meridian Mall).


One of my first cool jobs was working at a computer shop owned by one of the math teachers at the high school there in that strip mall just down from the gas station in Traverse. Back when the Cherryland Mall was inside...

The Meridian Mall has gone down hill from when I lived there. It's somehow sad to go back to East Lansing now. All of the great haunts are gone. Doolies, Is Bilbo's Pizza still there, Crunchies, Denny's Schwinn, West Side Deli, Maurisaki, El Azteco, etc...
Rating: 1 Votes
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FreakinEurekan
61 months ago

And actually northern Michigan is dramatically under represented in the Apple Store area. I don't even know if there are any Apple dealers left in the area... Traverse City would be the obvious choice, as largest city...


There are a few. (https://locate.apple.com/sales/?pt=4&lat=44.7630567&lon=-85.62063169999999)
Rating: 1 Votes
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SandboxGeneral
55 months ago

I just saw the opening today. It was pretty cool and I got a T-shirt. Also it was awesome to experience being clapped in for the first time.


I like the from facade; it's elegant and minimalistic.
Rating: 1 Votes
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lostinjapan14
55 months ago
I just saw the opening today. It was pretty cool and I got a T-shirt. Also it was awesome to experience being clapped in for the first time.
Rating: 1 Votes
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