What: Etsy opens a photorealistic virtual place to experience the in-store discovery excitement online.

Why it is important: Such an initiative could add new content, products and experiences to department stores, by treating it as a virtual 'pop-up' complementing what is done in store. It is all about realism of the experience and imagination in terms of product curation.

Etsy, the online marketplace, has opened an augmented reality shopping experience that allows to walk through a digital home and shop products there.

All products are presented in a photorealistic and true to scale manner, allowing a fully immersive experience. Etsy aims to bring the in-store discovery experience to the digital world.

Customers are able to walk through 12 rooms curated with Etsy's holiday décor and gifts. A simple click adds products to their online cart.

Etsy opens Est House, a 100% AR shopping experience

What: The store, at 40 New Bond Street, carries men's and women's wear and is packed with raw, imposing sculptures and luxe materials.

Why it is important: Celine's store is a hybrid space, showcasing contemporary art as well as fashion, and captures the mood of the neighbourhood, which is filled with luxury stores, galleries and glossy jewellers.

The 40 New Bond Street store is also the latest unit to showcase Celine's latest interior concept, which made its debut in 2019 on Madison Avenue and has been rolling out worldwide.

The London store is packed with imposing, and thought-provoking, contemporary sculptures, and in a quirky contrast, houses a 17th-century Flemish portrait in one of the dressing rooms downstairs. The painting shows the image of a young aristocrat, in full armor, with a head full of long, lush curls.

The store showcases the work of some eight artists, all of whom are part of the Celine Art Project, which sees the brand commission or acquire pieces to fill its stores with the idea of creating a salon vibe. The Celine Art Project has around 80 pieces installed in its stores worldwide.

The art in the New Bond Street store is textural, powerful and raw. In some cases it dovetails with the natural wood, stone and metal that make up the store interiors, and in other cases it contrasts sharply with the original neoclassical arches and slim columns of the building.

Slimane chose granite for the walls and shelving, while basaltina, a Roman lava stone, covers some of the floors. Other fixtures, floors and fittings are made from types of marble, reclaimed oak, concrete, polished stainless steel, brass and gold mirror. The shelves, racks and other elements unhook from the walls and appear to float.

The overall space spans 5,016 square feet, with the ground floor dedicated to women's wear and featuring modernist furniture and design pieces from Jean Touret and Verner Panton.

Celine's new London store

What: This is the 14th store, after Milan in May 2021.

Why it is important: Since being snapped up by VF Corporation a year ago, the cult skateboard lifestyle brand has seen an accelerated growth.

Unsurprisingly, the shop opens its doors in the Mitte district, occupying a location on Torstrasse which was built in the 1930s as a car workshop. In the past two decades when Mitte quickly emerged as one of the planet's hottest shopping grounds.

The interior design, created by the brand's in-house design team, sees a signature industrial look with familiar elements, such as polished concrete flooring and a back wall plastered in iconography and overlaid with skateboards. Furnishings are few and merely include clothing racks and wooden shelving laden with coveted items line the side walls, in addition to a sales counter and a sculptural rock bench. The sound installation is a clear indication Supreme's new outpost isn't only a transactional space.

Supreme opens in Berlin

What: Canada's forward Cannabis Act, passed in 2017, has spawned interesting retail initiatives, and consumers have witnessed a slew of appealing design-led depositories.

What it is important: Cannabis-derived products are developing but usually lack of playfulness, or even basic store design. In that sense, with its unexpected design, SuperMarket is an interesting disruptive initiative.

The very latest outpost at Stackt Market, a happening shipping container shopping centre and cultural market place in the city's Fashion District, is aptly dubbed SuperMarket, and underscores the company ability to pair cannabis retail with playful design. The store obviously occupies a shipping container, measuring 800 sq.ft. (approx. 72 sqm.), and features an interior design that created in-house. Similar to its other retail spaces, the chosen aesthetic is inspired by a traditional neighbourhood grocery store.

A myriad of retro elements are infused with a palette of popping colours, but also include whimsical elements such as a Wheel of Fortune-style 'Super Spin' game and Rocket-shaped gumball machine. The newly opened SuperMarket carries a curation of weed, fashion, accessories and in-house collections, in addition to household staples like Super O's, Sup Spam, and more.

Toronto's SuperMarket, a cannabis retail brand

What: A new, hyper local concept from Ikea combining its traditional product offer with signature food.

Why it is important: Ikea is currently trying many different store formats (second-hand store in Sweden, shop in shops in supermarkets in France, "Home Experience of Tomorrow" in Shanghai; co-living spaces in China, mobile trucks in HK), which shows a frenzy in idea testing and data acquisition. Their latest development is all about hyperlocal.

Ikea has opened a 300 sqm "Close to you" concept store, mixing the traditional Ikea offer with a supermarket. Customers are able to buy more than 110 home furnishing products from the retailer's range, in addition to 120 Swedish signature gourmet products.

The concept relies on digital experience and a customer-first approach, including extended pick-up time (thanks to self-pick-up lockers), free shipping and an interactive screen providing inspiration and cooking recipes.

World-first Ikea 'Close to You' concept opens in Hong Kong 

Ikea's new "close to you" concept store opens in HK

What: Haus incorporates the experiential creativity and vision of Gentle Monster, while encompassing sensual artisan cosmetic brand Tamburins and fantasy-inspired dessert restaurant Nudake.

Why it is important: Haus is Gentle Monster's new innovative and disruptive step in upping the ante to develop shopping experience.

Haus, Dosan (South Korea)

The store occupies a monumental five-storey concrete structure by local practice BCHO Architects. The building has been fully redeveloped by Gentle Monster's in-house design team to meet the requirements of its so-called Unopened: Future theme. Upon entering the store, shoppers find themselves in a lounge space anchored by a collab artwork with Belgian artist Frederik Heyman. Here, shoppers also become instantly acquainted with another collaboration, a soundtrack to be precise, created by Barcelona-based Venezuelan producer, musician, and artist Arca. The second floor, home to the brand's optical eyewear collection, sees a different setting inspired by the notions of minimalism and moderation, embedding the Truth or Dare video installation by German artist Jonas Lindstroem.

The top floor with its latticed glass roof accommodates a new outpost of affiliated cosmetics brand Tamburins. Light and airy, oozing an art gallery vibe, the setting translates the brand's black and white aesthetic into dark timber flooring paired with pristine white walls and wooden display tables interspersed with art pieces by leading contemporary artists Chulan Kwak, Mercedes Vicente and Casper Kang, in addition to a kinetic object, created in-house, which is inspired by reed in the wind and reflects its core values of elegance and uniqueness.

Last but not least, the building's basement accommodates a facility that'll be much appreciated by power shoppers. Debuting on the premises is Nudake, a specialty restaurant and newly launched affiliated brand which aims to elevate the art of pastry to a whole new level. Understated and once again a space infused with art, this time courtesy of Italian artist Andrea Artemisio, it sees an elongated table crossing the room laden with various signature desserts and flanked on one side by an eclectic array of seating.

Haus, Shanghai (South Korea)

Haus, Shanghai (China)

The setting is both austere and whimsical, and sees an elongated stripped back space that's intentionally a little rough around the edges. An exposed ceiling and and pitch black concrete flooring are the backdrop of various seating areas to a number of lifesize kinetic horses, and, as a hint of what's to be found upstairs, Gentle Monster's colossal signature robot The Probe. The Nudake restaurant introduces local hipsters to its wide range of quirky desserts. One floor up, the planet's biggest Gentle Monster store unfolds, and the brand has pulled out all the stops to up the shopping experience with a space themed 'Circulation' and captured by a series of nifty installations and artworks interspersed with the brand's eyewear collections. The third floor is home to a large exhibition space.

The space, themed 'The Giant Who Arrived at the Bird Village', is anchored by a large robotic face, developed by the brand's Robotics Lab, and features additional sculptures and installations depicting the theme's bird village. Cosmetics brand Tamburins very first retail outpost in China can be found on the top floor, featuring an intimate yet elegant setting which fully captures the company's artistic vision. Situated right below the building's pointed roof, shoppers navigate an airy, art gallery-inspired space with a series of installations, including a wall art installation covered in tree branches which aims to express the intersection of luxury and rawness.

Haus, Shanghai (China)

What: The roll-out of Harmay flagship stores has shaken up China's retail scene, and particularly the country's high-end cosmetics segment.

Why it is important: Targeting a demographic of savvy young consumers and opening in first-tier cities, Harmay has a solid reputation as an influential incubator of consumer trends. Originally an online retailer, Harmay quickly gained a reputation for creating design-led retail spaces, aiming to boost the shopping experience of its target demographic.

Shanghai flagship store

Occupying a spacious 600 sqm. (6,458 sq.ft.) space spread across two floors smack in the middle of the popular shopping area, it features an interior design by Shanghai-based architecture practice AIM Architecture. Large windows allow in floods of daylight, but also enable the displayed merchandise to gain full attention from an abundance of foot traffic. Taking from a true market style, the Harmay store doesn't restrict itself to its prized cosmetics, but also offers healthy fruits.

Since Harmay started out as an online retailer and the company's turnover is largely based on online sales, the store also serves as an e-commerce fulfilment site. The store carries the brand's own line of cosmetics fragrances, but also equivalent items from a range of foreign brands, including Dermalogica, Botanist, Orezza, Rose et Marius and SG79|STHLM.

Beijing flagship store

Pre and post pandemic, China's cosmetics and beauty market has been booming and is expected to reach USD 38.7 billion in sales by 2024. Needless to say, foreign brands have traditionally had a large stake in the earnings, but in recent years a number of local brands and retailers have emerged.

The chosen design theme is 'chaos and order', and as such, the premises bear a transitional character, shifting from a dark and industrial dystopian aesthetic to contrasting settings marked by a sleek and even space-like understatement. Upon entering, shoppers find a 14-metre display table laden with products below a faux industrial installation and leading towards a corridor with barrow wheels and shelves brimming with more products.

The store also offers a new range of tech products in different categories, such as slimming, fat reduction, lip and eye protection and hair care. The store offers a creative space for emerging young artists which aims to increase the appeal for its young target demographic. The retailer's ambitious expansion is gaining steam, and although Beijing and Shanghai have two stores each, a third store for each city is scheduled to open in the very near future.

Chinese cosmetic brand Harmay

What: A 100% sustainable popup in downtown Manhattan

Why it is important: More than the offer, what is striking is the commitment to have a 100% compensated footprint (carbon, water consumption) from the store itself, to be audited by an independent third party at the end of operations.

A new popup store is due to open from September from December in downtown New York. Called Figure Eight, it is all about green and vegan goods, and backed by Fashion Makes Changes, a women's empowerment and climate action charity.

It includes brands such as 66°North, A shirt story, AERA, Alexandra K, Amur, Circumference, House of Fluff, House of Waris, Maisond'Ettoo and others, all dedicated to sustainability and social responsibility.

During the tenure of the popup, its founders aim to offset 100% of its carbon emission and water consumption, verified by a third party certification body.

Sustainable Pop-Up Concept Store Figure Eight Brings Eco-Conscious Goods To Soho

What: Being present in Japan for a few years, Italian food and hospitality company Eataly is accelerating its footprint in Tokyo by opening its largest store in Japan on the sixth floor of Ginza Six.

Why it is important: The 1,214 sqm (13,067 sq.ft.) store includes a 1,500 product supermarket, a restaurant with a terrace and a coffee shop.

Article Eataly opens at Ginza Six

What: Stüssy's latest Chapter Store transports California's surf allure to the streets of Tokyo.

Why it is important: The new outpost is the latest addition to the imprint's international Chapter network and the brand's only storefront in Shibuya.

Inside the ominous black facade, the interior design is defined by a bounty of industrial-yet-organic decor, including luscious plants, light oak panelling and straw sculptures, which complement wide-spanning mirrored walls and light-green-painted clothing racks. With floor-to-ceiling windows across the corner exterior, the woodsy inside glows like that of an artistic exhibition to those passing by on the street.

Aside from the standard seasonal collections, the Shibuya Chapter will also carry Stüssy's coveted collaborations as well as an exclusive T-shirt to celebrate its official opening on 9 July 2021.

Look Inside Stüssy's New Shibuya Chapter Store

Look Inside Stüssy's New Shibuya Chapter Store (pictures)

Fendi is making a major statement on the return of New York City with the opening of its 6,900-square-foot flagship on 57th Street and Madison Avenue.

The opening of the boutique, which was designed by Fendi's in-house design team in collaboration with artistic directors Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi, also served as the global introduction of Jones' debut women's ready-to-wear collection.

One highlight of the store is a jaw-dropping sphere suspended from the centre of the second floor with a modular ceiling and illuminated by round lamps. The sphere is visible from the street and accessible to customers through a floating mirrored walkway. Once inside the dome, two marble sculptures of the Fendi First bag are on display, alongside the real-life purses.

The interior is open and airy with industrial cement columns and beams accented with marble, brass and steel, and plush carpets. The first floor features small leather goods and accessories and a women's shoe boutique. A marble staircase leads to the women's rtw department on the second floor. The open space area in a soft palette of ivory and natural tones accentuated by gold is complemented by Italian-designed furniture. Tucked in behind sliding three-dimensional brass doors is a VIP room with curved ivory mohair walls and pink carpeting.

On this level is a special lounge with glass walls that can be closed off behind ivory curtains. The lounge can be used to host special private client or customer events. Adjacent to the lounge is the men's area, which has a different aesthetic with its leather sofas and wooden accents. Throughout the store, the fitting rooms are showstoppers with fur benches, different coloured marble walls and metal ceilings. In addition to the women's and men's rtw, the store offers leather goods, accessories, jewellery and shoes.

On 21 July, Fendi will also create a 360-degree virtual store tour of the flagship on its website so customers can shop the boutique from anywhere in the world. Visitors will be able to virtually experience exclusive services and spaces such as VIP rooms, create wish lists, and live chat with associates. In addition to the flagship, a new rtw shop is opening at Saks Fifth Avenue to showcase the collection.

Fendi's new flagship opening in NYC

Founded in 2015 by August Bard-Bringéus and Jakob Dworsky, two young Swedes with a penchant for clean, timeless and sustainably made garments, the brand basically is the result of what they weren't able to find while still in college.

Since the very beginning, the company has strictly adhered to a set of principles regarding slow consumption, transparency and accountability, setting new standards while successfully rolling out an online business which resonates with growing demographic of mindful yet style-conscious shoppers.

ASKET embarks on a new trajectory, adding physical retail to its operations. The store occupies a 116 sqm. (1,249 sq.ft.) unit on the ground floor of a landmark 1930s building.

The interior design aims to reflect the brand's core values, resulting in a clean, understated aesthetic captured by purpose built, locally produced ash wood shelving, paired with concrete flooring and an exposed ceiling, while also embedding a focus on the manufacturing process of the garments, fibre and material quality.

Asket opens its first store in Stockholm

What: The store concept is designed to speak to young and savvy consumers.

Why is it important:  After opening in first-tier cities and new first-tier cities, Luxemporium is opening in second-tier cities.

A number of places across China have significantly grown in affluence, climbing the ranks and spawning a matching retail infrastructure along the way. One of such cities is Changsha, a flourishing commercial and technology hub with a population of approx. 5 million. Luxemporium has a strong affiliation with Wangfujing, a shopping centre operator with properties nationwide.

Situated on the second floor, the store occupies a palatial 1,400 sqm unit with an evocative interior design by All Design Studio, an architecture practice based in Shanghai. The chosen design theme 'Parallel World' speaks volumes of a highly experiential setting. Featuring different sections, each one boasts a distinct futuristic aesthetic in which various metals play a dominant role. The new Luxemporium store carries men's and women's collections of a wide range of international luxury and premium brands, including Celine, BOYY, Thom Browne, Jacquemus, Balenciaga, Alexander Wang and Loewe.

Chinese retailer Luxemporium opens in Changsha

The French fashion house opened the doors to a temporary men's residency in the city's SoHo neighbourhood. While the space is open, it will play host to a selection of shoes, jewellery and sunglasses and other accessories created by men's artistic director, Virgil Abloh—think sneakers, Cuban link chains, a trucker hat and bold red shades.

This installation is the latest in a series of global men's fashion events that Louis Vuitton has hosted named Louis Vuitton: Walk in the Park, and is the first in New York City.

On 9 July, the residency will transform into a pre-launch of the brand's men's fall 2021 collection with previews of ready-to-wear accessories, leather goods and items for gifting.

Louis Vuitton's technicolor men's pop-up store in NYC

The American company has collaborated with local lifestyle retailer Issho46 to open a branded retail space in Hong Kong's residential Quarry Bay area. The so-called Pantone Lifestyle Gallery occupies a 56 sqm. (600 sq.ft.) at City Plaza shopping centre, featuring colour-infused setting full of merchandise. The shop is divided into different sections, each brimming with homeware goods from the Pantone Funmix Collection, ranging from various men's and women's apparel items and towels, to slippers and bedsheets, in addition to a limited edition tableware collection with a coffee cup set, bowls and dishes in four different colour pinstripes.

Pantone lifestyle gallery in Hong Kong

The two-floor store is 42,000-square-foot and combines hospitality and retail, in the shape of three restaurants and as many bars, with an Italian deli and a massive wine offering. The ground floor is largely focused on prepared foods with the bulk of the retail offer being on the upper level.

In total, this is an Eataly that has much in common with other branches, but has been tailored to fit the needs of London locals with confectionary and wine to the fore. Tourists will probably make the trek to the store as well but given its location, it will be financial workers and fashionable East Londoners, from nearby trendy Spitalfields, that will form that bulk of the shopper cohort.

Eataly opens in The City, London's financial district

Anya Hindmarch's audacious opening of not just one boutique, but five separate establishments in London's chic Chelsea shopping district. The endeavour is the result of two years of meticulously planning and has been baptised The Village as all retail spaces sit huddled together on Pont Street. The innovative cluster of spaces is anchored by Anya Café, a stylish yet informal place where to sit back and relax or meet a friend over breakfast, coffee, lunch, tea or evening drinks.

On the corner across the street, for three weeks only, sits the Anya Hair Salon, managed in partnership with nearby Neville Hair and Beauty salon. Further down the road, the original Anya Hindmarch shop and headquarters can be found. First opened in 1996, it's now called The Bespoke Shop, it offers a range of personalised gifts that are not about a season but mark a moment in time and can be embossed by a trained craftsman with anything you can write or draw. Across the street at number 16, The Plastic Shop is inspired by Hindmarch's passion for circularity of materials and reducing plastic going into landfill and exclusively stocking the brand's I Am A Plastic Bag sustainable collections. Right next door The Labelled Shop can be found, and this one's brimming with items from Anya Hindmarch's best-selling Labelled collection of cases and bags that keep anyone organised.

The Village is set up as an evolving retail concept, and as such the cluster of spaces will see regular tweaks aligned with Anya Hindmarch's creative scope as time goes by.

Anya Hindmarch opens a village

What:  The new Vans store capitalizes on tech and social media to provide an individualized experience to all customers.

Why it is important: The bottomline is that customers will expect such kinds of experience in the future. Whereas it is based on Chinese social tech or Western ones, matters less than making sure that the experience will be globally the same, even though the tech used will be significantly different.

GDR UK, a consulting company specialized in retail concepts and an IADS partner, has spotted the new customer experience in the Shanghai Vans store making the most of social networks.

Vans has created with Tencent, the owner of WeChat, a "smart retail system" that uses the customers' smartphone as the backbone of their shopping experience. Customers are able to scan QR codes on products, launching WeChat mini programmes which will give them more information about the product itself and its availability. They can also ask for sizes to try, buy the product, ask for a home delivery, in a similar manner to what Nike does in its Houses of Innovation (please link to the Nike Paris House of Innovation article).

Another interesting feature aiming at making the customers part of the Vans community, the soundtrack is exclusive to the store and can be downloaded through WeChat as well.

In Shanghai, Vans customers control their experience through WeChat (pictures)

vans customers in shanghai control their shopping experience through wechat

What:  Another iteration of ground-breaking store concepts from Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster

Why it is important:  Store experience is central to make sure customers are hooked to physical shopping. Gentle Monster has made this retail rule a real religion, and each of its store is a destination per se.

The new Gentle Monster store in Startfield Hanam (Seoul, Korea) is, again, stunning and keeps on breaking the rules. It was already the case with the existing stores, which are built in a completely unusual manner (products presented in the higher floors, after series of stairs, without lifts, to make sure that customers are going through each stage of the experience set up).

In Starfield Hanam, an army of androids welcomes customers and direct them either to screens with hyper real images or a giant metallic spider that is independently animated. The new store has already been spotted as a must-do in Seoul a few weeks after its opening.

Gentle Monster Breaks the Eyewear Retail Rules in Starfield Hanam Mind

The New Gentle Monster store in Starfield Hanam (pictures)

What:  Google opens its first ever permanent space to sell its home products

Why it is important:  The retail approach taken is radically different from its peers from the Tech world, by being immersive and enabling customers to project themselves in the usage of the product, just like what Ikea does. It's all about experience, not products.

Google is opening its first 500 sqm brick & mortar store in New York dedicated to its hardware division, designed by Reddymade architects and located below its NY headquarters.

Large windows are homes to cubes that show various product exhibits, in example of real-life usages, by mimicking interiors. Inside the store, spaces are divided and reproducing, again, parts of interiors: a living room, a kitchen… to show and test on site the products. Workshops can be held in a theatre-like space fitted with giant screens and cube-shaped seating units. Or course, the store is also taking into account all safety issues to comply with customers expectations (contactless payment and information, pickup services, etc…), sustainable features (LEED certification, flooring made with recycled bottles, energy-efficient lightbulbs…) and similarly to Apple, will also propose to customers sessions of information and (and this is new) also  to repair their broken products.

Overall, Google replicates the environments people would naturally use its products in, just as it did with its previous popups . Interestingly, the approach is radically different from Apple, Samsung or Huawei who prefer to enhance their products by putting them on large, clear tables, rather than reproducing interiors.

According to WWD, Google aims to use the location as a showroom, to help people use its technology, rather than pushing sales, like "an interactive museum". Tech-oriented media  Fast Company is quicky in asking if this new retail venture is here to last, when pointing out that many risks have been kept under control: the store is in a building owned by Google, where employees can keep a close eye on what is going on. Analysts see this new initiative as a trial balloon more than a retail launch.

Google Introduces First Physical Store in NYC 

Google goes offline (pictures)

What:  A new store concept from a specialised cosmetics brand, upping the game in terms of store experience, customer relevance and data collection.

Why it is important:  Department Stores cosmetics sections can not be anymore a place where many brands are put together in the hope to attract customers. Clinique is showing a retail example that is echoing what El Palacio de Hierro has set up with their Beauty Concierge earlier in 2021.

GDR UK, a retail intelligence agency based in London, spotted the new Clinique concept store.

Clinique Laboratories is a new retail concept from the skincare brand, that aims to personalise the store visit to each customer based on the results of facial scanning tools at the entrance.

Initially launched in China, the concept is now due for global roll out. Customers have their skin analysed before they enter the store thanks to a diagnosis made through a facial scanning system. The rest of the store experience is then determined by the result of the diagnosis: presentation of specific products and services, close to consulting, that will be unique for each customer.

This concept allows to maximize time spent with customers, allowing a greater collection of data for further use.

Clinique gives global rollout to new laboratories

Skincare brand Clinique opens a Laboratory store concept

What:  An innovative concept in Seoul providing a state of the art experience based on the full integration of technology within the store

Why it is important:  Department Stores are looking for ways to optimize their spaces, especially the low-services ones. The Uncommon store is a way to look at this spaces, through a cooperation with Amazon rather than competing with itL.

Hyundai teamed up with AWS from Amazon to open a 33sqm unmanned store at The Hyundai Seoul in Korea. It aims at young customers familiar with QR codes. The code is scanned to access the store, and provides a customized experience based on the shopping history on Amazon from the customer.

The store does not accept cash or cards, only QR-code payments, and there is no staff.

Hyundai Group launches contactless store 

The Uncommon store, a cooperation between Hyundai and Amazon

Japanese sneaker brand Onitsuka Tiger has unveiled its largest flagship store yet (864 sqm, two stories), on a prime corner of London's Regent Street.

Taking over the premises of affiliated sportswear brand Asics, the new store is the brand's first to house the brand's entire range, including its contemporary collection, the Nippon Made series and its luxury line, The Onitsuka.

The store is designed by London-based architecture and design practice milk. The first floor, where the entire collection is displayed, features marble interiors and a carved stone design. A light pillar with two colours of light connects the basement to the first floor. The first basement is more experience-oriented, as it acts as a showroom and gallery space where visitors can find artworks created by local and international artists.

World's largest Onitsuka Tiger flagship store launches in London

World's largest Onitsuka Tiger flagship store opens in London (pictures)

Apple Tower Theatre is a new Apple Store designed by UK studio Foster + Partners inside an abandoned 1920s movie theatre in Downtown Los Angeles.

Foster + Partners worked with the technology company to renovate a true historic building, the first theatre in Los Angeles to be wired for showing motion pictures with sound.

The project included restoring the theatre's corner clock tower and renovating the blade sign that projects from its side. Tower Theatre's terracotta facade was also cleaned and a canopy that extends over Broadway was rebuilt. Inside, a grand entry hall designed in the style of Charles Garnier's Paris Opera House, complete with bronze handrails and marble columns, has been restored to its former splendour.

At the centre of Apple Tower Theatre is the Forum, a large retail space with a display screen hung in the restored arch where the cinema screen would once have been. The movie theatre's original balconies remain in situ, and Apple plans to use the space as an auditorium for daily skills workshops and presentations from local filmmakers and musicians. Original cinema seating on the upper level has been turned into a Genius Bar.

apple converts historic theatre into stunning la flagship

Apple opens its 26th store in Los Angeles in historic building (pictures)