First look at the Apple Orchard Road store

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Apple Orchard Road is the first of it's kind in South-east Asia. Preview its two floors before the official opening on May 27.
The interior of the Apple Orchard Road store was unveiled to the media on Thursday (May 25). ST PHOTO: TREVOR TAN
The interior of the Apple Orchard Road store was unveiled to the media on Thursday (May 25). ST PHOTO: TREVOR TAN
The curvy stone stairs leading up to the second level, which draws its design inspiration from Apple Park in Cupertino. ST PHOTO: TREVOR TAN
The interior of the Apple Orchard Road store was unveiled to the media on Thursday (May 25). ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
The exterior of the Apple Orchard Road store. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Apple Store Orchard brings more than 60 new,free, hands-on sessions to customers. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO
After a long-anticipated wait, Singapore's first Apple store will finally open for business on May 27, 2017 at 10am along Orchard Road. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO
After a long-anticipated wait, Singapore's first Apple store will finally open for business on May 27, 2017 at 10am along Orchard Road.
ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

SINGAPORE - Details of the Apple Orchard Road store opening on Saturday (May 27) at 10am have finally been revealed in a media preview on Thursday.

This comes after news of the Apple retail store here first broke in October 2015, after a former tenant of the mall, the Pure Fitness gym chain, sent a letter to its members informing them of its closure to make room for the store. Four other tenants were also moved.

Apple Orchard Road, the first official Apple store in Singapore and South-east Asia, will take up two levels in Knightsbridge mall.

The first level will sell Apple products like the iPhone, iPad, MacBook, iMac and accessories, such as Beats headphones and phone cases.

A set of stone stairs spiral up from the first floor to the second level, and its design is inspired by Apple Park, the new Apple campus in Cupertino. For one thing, the stairs are designed such that they appear to have railings etched into the wall, with smooth seamless lines.

The store's second level is dominated by a large space called the forum where free hands-on sessions, such as for iPhone photography and iPad illustration, will be conducted.

These sessions, collectively known as Today at Apple, will be conducted by Apple's Creative Pros and Red Dot Heroes, who are local creatives appointed by Apple.

The forum is flanked by two Genius Groves peppered with living trees. Here, Apple technical Geniuses will answer customers' technical questions on their Apple products. While other official Apple stores have only one Genius Grove, this is the first time an Apple store has two.

The area has many seats for customers to sit and talk to the Geniuses about their technical issues or just chill.

One of the main features of the Apple store is its 36.6m long glass facade made up of 13 glass panels. Each panel of glass stands 14m tall.

Mr Denny Tuza, senior marketing director of Apple Retail, said that Apple has painstakingly made each panel extremely clear, so as to blur the line between being inside and outside the store. "We want to remove any obstacles between us (Apple store) and the local community," he said.

A 7.62m-long canopy was also specially built to protect the store from sunlight as well as provide shelter from the rain.

There are nearly 500 Apple stores around the world in 20 countries, as of April, that welcomes more than a million visitors a day.

"We believe that Apple Orchard Road will be among the most popular in the world," said Mr Tuza.

Apple Orchard Road will run on 100 per cent clean energy using rooftop solar installations provided by Singapore-based solar energy provider Sunseap Group.

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