Apple Trials Express Retail Store Format for Genius Bar Appointments and Online Order Pickups

Apple is trying out a new retail store experience that puts express pickup of online orders and Genius Bar appointments front and center, while keeping customer and staff safety paramount during the ongoing global health crisis.

4express pickup apple burlingame

Images credited to PopVox co-founder and CEO Marci Harris via Twitter

Dubbed "Apple Express," the temporary retail format for brick-and-mortar stores is being trialed at Apple Burlingame in California. The location has an interior storefront hub with a partition at the entrance that includes serving counters with perspex window shielding, central display cases with popular accessories for purchase, and a surrounding wall that screens off the shop floor proper.

2express pickup apple burlingame
Black spots on the floor in front of the temporary facade indicate where visiting customers should stand in order to observe social distancing measures. Based on the pictures, the system allows one customer at a time to come up to each serving window, while customers with pre-booked appointments can queue up outside.

1express pickup apple burlingame
Customers are required to have their appointment-assigned QR code and government-issued ID ready as they wait for the next available Apple representative, while another sign displays QR codes that link to Apple's support app and official website.

3express pickup apple burlingame
It's not clear if Apple plans to expand the "Apple Express" retail system shown here to other stores within California or to other U.S. states, but if the trial proves successful we could well see it rolled out across the country as the U.S. continues to grapple with the pandemic.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Production Will Reportedly Begin Ramping Up in October

Tuesday July 23, 2024 2:00 pm PDT by
Following nearly two years of rumors about a fourth-generation iPhone SE, The Information today reported that Apple suppliers are finally planning to begin ramping up mass production of the device in October of this year. If accurate, that timeframe would mean that the next iPhone SE would not be announced alongside the iPhone 16 series in September, as expected. Instead, the report...
iPhone 17 Plus Feature

iPhone 17 Lineup Specs Detail Display Upgrade and New High-End Model

Monday July 22, 2024 4:33 am PDT by
Key details about the overall specifications of the iPhone 17 lineup have been shared by the leaker known as "Ice Universe," clarifying several important aspects of next year's devices. Reports in recent months have converged in agreement that Apple will discontinue the "Plus" iPhone model in 2025 while introducing an all-new iPhone 17 "Slim" model as an even more high-end option sitting...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Kuo: Ultra-Thin iPhone 17 to Feature A19 Chip, Single Rear Camera, Semi-Titanium Frame, and More

Wednesday July 24, 2024 9:06 am PDT by
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared alleged specifications for a new ultra-thin iPhone 17 model rumored to launch next year. Kuo expects the device to be equipped with a 6.6-inch display with a current-size Dynamic Island, a standard A19 chip rather than an A19 Pro chip, a single rear camera, and an Apple-designed 5G chip. He also expects the device to have a...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Less Than Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Thursday July 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
icloud private relay outage

iCloud Private Relay Experiencing Outage

Thursday July 25, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
Apple’s iCloud Private Relay service is down for some users, according to Apple’s System Status page. Apple says that the iCloud Private Relay service may be slow or unavailable. The outage started at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, but it does not appear to be affecting all iCloud users. Some impacted users are unable to browse the web without turning iCloud Private Relay off, while others are...

Top Rated Comments

calstanford Avatar
51 months ago
I hate living in this world
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chaos215bar2 Avatar
51 months ago

Don't worry. This super deadly virus (haha, yeah right) will be gone after the election.

I wonder how Apple in Sweden is handling things, given that they never shut their country down, nor mandated masks. They’re now at or near heard immunity and probably one of the safest countries now.
Cool, denialism and misinformation already.

No, Sweden is not at or near herd immunity. We don't even know whether herd immunity is possible without a vaccine. (How's that herd immunity going for all the various colds out there?)

And, if you still somehow don't understand why COVID-19 is dangerous, at this point you can even hear the words straight from our dear leader's mouth, if that's all you'll believe. (He would never admit it publicly, of course, but nevertheless he is on tape doing so.)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GLS Avatar
51 months ago
Thanks 2020. A piece about something benign as an express version of an Apple store is deemed political news worthy.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eatrains Avatar
51 months ago

Don't worry. This super deadly virus (haha, yeah right) will be gone after the election.
You are an embarrassment to the country.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eatrains Avatar
51 months ago

Says the person afraid of a virus that 99% of people survive. Macrumors is full of people that need a "safe space". I've learned to accept it. Sorry if you require therapy after reading my reply. :)
I'm glad you've learned to accept the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of people with many more to come, but the rest of us aren't so callous.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Chaos215bar2 Avatar
51 months ago

Malaria kills about 500,000 people every year but we never shut down the world because of it.
If people took COVID-19 seriously, we wouldn't need to shut down at this point. But regardless, COVID-19 has also killed about 1 million people in 6 months, and it's hardly finished.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)