Washington - Steve Jobs minted Apple as a top American
retailer by designing crisp, modern stores with features reminiscent of the
company's products. Glass boxes and aluminium panels abounded.
But as Apple moves to turn its stores into experiences places
for concerts, art exhibitions and photography classes, the tech giant has begun
to pursue distinctive yet familiar buildings that its customers might admire as
well.
In Washington, DC, Apple has set its sights squarely on the
Carnegie Library in Mount Vernon Square. One of thousands of libraries built
nationwide with funds donated by the steel tycoon and philanthropist Andrew
Carnegie, it opened in 1903 as the first desegregated public building in the
city.
There, Apple officials say they plan to restore the building
to its original grandeur and outfit Carnegie as a place to hold a slate of free
concerts, art exhibitions, and workshops for teachers and coding classes for children.
Trial programs at other Apple stores have included
presentations from community artists and photographers, as well as concerts and
talks from bigger names - the hip-hop producer RZA led an "Art of
Beatmaking" session at Apple's Brooklyn store last fall. The company plans
to release a fuller schedule of events around the country this month.
The ultimate goal, of course, is to sell more iPhones and
iPads. Where the Carnegie Library once housed the city's book collection, Apple
plans a "Genius Grove," a tree-lined sales floor where company
representatives will show customers how to maximize Apple products for music,
photography or other passions. What long ago were reading rooms would become places to
browse and sample Apple products?
"This is a way of creating a reason to come to the
store, to touch and feel our products, but also to have an engaging experience
with someone who is passionate about the same thing," said B.J. Siegel,
who is the senior design director for Apple's retail division.
Finding historic buildings with stories rooted in their
communities are part and parcel to the experience Apple is trying to create,
Siegel said. The company in recent years has opened stores in a former
restaurant bay in New York's Grand Central Terminal, a Depression-era brick
storefront in Brooklyn, and in a 130-year-old former bank in Paris.
Rather than plastering the buildings with the company's
logo, Apple's designers say they will focus on restoring the building's
historic character. It can take a little work to find the store's signage and
logo - which is the point.
"For us, it wasn't about coming in and leaving our
mark," Siegel said. "It was about bringing the history back out and
respecting it."
"We've discovered that big, garish logos on historic
buildings don't work very well, so often we try to find more subtle ways to
brand the building," he added.
That couldn't be further from the failed strategy of the
previous pursuit of the Carnegie Building. The International Spy Museum
proposed moving into the Carnegie Building more than three years ago, but it
sought to double the size of the 63,000-square-foot building by building two
expansive, glass-encased wings. The District's Historic Preservation Review
Board turned the proposal away.
Apple does plan to install a skylight in the Carnegie
Building's roof above a central events area, and there are bound to be
questions about handing one of the city's more cherished buildings to a
corporation.
But there is wide agreement among DC officials that the
Carnegie Building could be better used. Despite its visible location south of
the Walter E. Washington Convention Centre, it serves mainly as an office space
for the Historical Society of Washington DC and as a venue for the occasional
wedding or reception organized by Events DC, which manages the building.
undefinedWhen Apple signed a letter of intent in December to lease
the building, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, D, issued a statement saying that an Apple
store there "could link DC's rich history to our continued economic
renaissance, will demonstrate the strength of our retail market, and will tell
companies across the globe that the District is open for business."
Even the Historical Society isn't going anywhere; Siegel
said that Apple considered it a benefit to have such a unique community
institution as a neighbour and that the organization would maintain offices on
the second floor.
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Gregory O'Dell, president and chief executive of Events DC,
said he was "working to support Apple with its plans as well as our
partners in the Historical Society of Washington, DC" Apple is scheduled to present its plans to
the area's Advisory Neighbourhood Commission on Monday evening.
In New York, Apple picked up a historic preservation award
for its work restoring the sort of buildings that, in Jobs's era, it would not
have considered.
Angela Ahrendts, Apple's current senior vice president for
retail, considers it essential to the company's future that it be more than a
place to buy things.
"Starbucks figured it out, for being a gathering place,
right?’Meet me at Starbucks,' " Ahrendts told CBS in a recent interview. "I've
told my teams, I'll know we've done a great job if the next generation, of Gen
Z, says, 'Meet me at Apple.' "