Apple Retail

The Store

In 2001 Apple opened two shops in shopping malls and the press gave them two years to fail. A quarter-century later there are more than five hundred, and a few of them are the most photographed buildings in their cities. Here’s where they are, when they showed up, and the ones that stopped being shops and turned into landmarks.

The fleet, filling in

Two stores became a global map

Eight stores in 2001. A few hundred by the Genius Bar era. Then a decade of glass boxes on high streets everywhere. Press play and watch the United States build a lead it never gave back — while China goes from its first store in 2010 to second place in ten years.

Counts are approximate, compiled from Apple’s announcements, 10-K filings and public reporting · updated 2026-07-04

Where they are

The map, by country and by state

Every country with an Apple Store, shaded by how many. The gold dots are the flagships and the firsts — hover any of them for the story. Then the United States on its own, state by state.

The world

The United States

Regional counts are best-effort estimates, rounded, and easy to correct — hover a region for its number. Not affiliated with Apple.

Worth a detour

When a store becomes architecture

A 32-foot glass cube over Fifth Avenue. A carbon-fibre roof shaped like a MacBook lid, stepping down to the Chicago River. A glass sphere that floats on Singapore’s bay. Somewhere along the way Apple stopped opening shops and started commissioning buildings.

How it happened

From mall experiment to landmark

The ones I’ve walked into

My own visits

Wherever I travel I end up photographing the local Apple Store — not to shop, really, but to look at the building. Over twenty years and a dozen cities I have collected a lot of these, from the glass cube on Fifth Avenue to a store tucked under the Louvre. Here are the best of them, with what I know about each.

The United States

Apple Fifth Avenue

New York City · Fifth Avenue & 59th · visited 2022

The most photographed store Apple has ever built — and the whole shop is underground. From the street all you see is a 32-foot cube of glass with a floating logo. This is the 2019 rebuild: fifteen panes of glass to a face, where the 2006 original used ninety.

The cube on the GM Building plaza, across from the Plaza Hotel.
The cube on the GM Building plaza, across from the Plaza Hotel.
Up close the seams nearly vanish — each face is a single sheet of structural glass.
Up close the seams nearly vanish — each face is a single sheet of structural glass.
Down in the store, daylight falls through round skylights set into the plaza overhead.
Down in the store, daylight falls through round skylights set into the plaza overhead.
A circular glass staircase wraps the main skylight.
A circular glass staircase wraps the main skylight.

Apple Grand Central

New York City · Grand Central Terminal · visited 2017 & 2024

Apple took the whole northeast balcony of Grand Central in 2011. There is no logo on the marble and almost no walls — just wooden tables under the terminal’s 1913 painted sky. It may be the least Apple-looking Apple Store, which is exactly why it works.

The balcony store beneath Grand Central’s painted celestial ceiling, 2017.
The balcony store beneath Grand Central’s painted celestial ceiling, 2017.
Tables on the concourse floor, the terminal’s great arched windows behind.
Tables on the concourse floor, the terminal’s great arched windows behind.
A row of iMacs where a station concourse used to be.
A row of iMacs where a station concourse used to be.
Looking in from the marble passage off the main hall.
Looking in from the marble passage off the main hall.

Apple Michigan Avenue

Chicago · On the Chicago River · visited 2018 & 2025

Foster + Partners, 2017. The roof is a single sheet of carbon fibre, thin as a MacBook lid and shaped like one, floating over walls of glass. The store steps down the riverbank to the water — really a public staircase with an Apple Store attached.

The stone steps down to the river at night, under the carbon-fibre roof.
The stone steps down to the river at night, under the carbon-fibre roof.
The same steps by day — a public plaza that happens to be a storefront.
The same steps by day — a public plaza that happens to be a storefront.
Ficus trees grow inside, pressed to the glass and the river.
Ficus trees grow inside, pressed to the glass and the river.
The “MacBook lid” roof, 32-foot glass walls, and the logo on the core.
The “MacBook lid” roof, 32-foot glass walls, and the logo on the core.
The upper gallery, out over Pioneer Court.
The upper gallery, out over Pioneer Court.
Boardwalk floor and wood ceiling, the Magnificent Mile outside.
Boardwalk floor and wood ceiling, the Magnificent Mile outside.

Apple Lincoln Park

Chicago · North & Halsted · visited 2016 Closed 2018

A glass box at North Avenue and Halsted. It opened in 2010 and closed in 2018 once the Michigan Avenue store could carry the city — so this storefront is already history. Glad I stopped in.

The corner store in 2016, two years before it closed for good.
The corner store in 2016, two years before it closed for good.
Glass on two sides, brownstones across the street.
Glass on two sides, brownstones across the street.
Inside — the Apple Watch had earned its own table by then.
Inside — the Apple Watch had earned its own table by then.

Apple Boylston Street

Boston · Back Bay · visited 2010

Boston’s flagship, on Boylston Street in Back Bay: three floors of glass with a staircase hung inside. Shot on a very New England grey day in the spring of 2010.

The glass front on Boylston, from across the street.
The glass front on Boylston, from across the street.
Inside, heading up.
Inside, heading up.

Apple San Francisco — Stockton Street

San Francisco · Off Union Square · visited 2004 & 2010 Closed 2016

For twelve years Apple’s San Francisco flagship sat on Stockton Street, a block off Union Square: a stone box with the logo cut clean through the front, and a spiral glass staircase rising under a round skylight. It closed in 2016 when the Union Square store opened. These are from my first visit in 2004 and again in 2010.

The spiral glass staircase and round oculus, 2010.
The spiral glass staircase and round oculus, 2010.
Straight up into the skylight.
Straight up into the skylight.
The stone facade in 2004, logo cut through to the atrium behind.
The stone facade in 2004, logo cut through to the atrium behind.
Inside in 2004 — a Mac OS X banner by the door.
Inside in 2004 — a Mac OS X banner by the door.
The full-height atrium, back when a glass staircase was the whole show.
The full-height atrium, back when a glass staircase was the whole show.

The Americana at Brand

Glendale, California · Visited 2015

An open-air shopping street in Glendale — town green, trolley, a clock — with an Apple Store facing all of it. Half a mile away, inside the Glendale Galleria, stands one of the two stores Apple opened on its very first day, back in May 2001.

The storefront on the green, flags and clock and all.
The storefront on the green, flags and clock and all.
Out to the plaza from inside.
Out to the plaza from inside.

Apple Irvine Spectrum

Irvine, California · Visited 2025

Rebuilt in 2023 as a free-standing glass pavilion, with keyhole arches that pick up the outdoor centre’s Moroccan theme. Olive trees outside — a very sunny place to buy a phone.

The pavilion in 2025, carrier deals in the window.
The pavilion in 2025, carrier deals in the window.

Apple Arden Fair

Sacramento · Visited 2011 & 2016

Not every store is a landmark. This is the plain mall store, shot five years apart. The 2011 photo still has the iCloud cloud on the wall — that is how you date it.

2011 — iCloud had just launched, and there it is on the back wall.
2011 — iCloud had just launched, and there it is on the back wall.
The same store in 2016, tables rearranged.
The same store in 2016, tables rearranged.

Canada

Apple Sainte-Catherine

Montréal · Rue Sainte-Catherine · visited 2022

Apple’s Montréal store on Rue Sainte-Catherine, photographed in 2022. Apple has since moved it a block west into a restored heritage building — so this particular glass front is now the old one.

The glass facade with a street tree out front, 2022.
The glass facade with a street tree out front, 2022.
Looking up the full height of the glass.
Looking up the full height of the glass.

Europe

Apple Carrousel du Louvre

Paris · Under the Louvre · visited 2012

The strangest setting of any store here: underground, in the Louvre’s shopping concourse, right beside I. M. Pei’s inverted glass pyramid — La Pyramide Inversée. The travertine and the daylight through the pyramid make it feel less like a shop than a wing of the museum.

La Pyramide Inversée, tip nearly touching the floor, the store beyond.
La Pyramide Inversée, tip nearly touching the floor, the store beyond.
The logo hung against the pyramid’s glass.
The logo hung against the pyramid’s glass.
The travertine entrance, museum daylight above.
The travertine entrance, museum daylight above.
Inside, all Louvre stone.
Inside, all Louvre stone.

Asia

Apple ifc mall

Hong Kong · Central · visited 2013

Apple’s first store in Hong Kong, opened 2011 on the harbour side of the ifc mall in Central. On a clear day the tables look straight out over Victoria Harbour.

The upper floor of the ifc store, Central, 2013.
The upper floor of the ifc store, Central, 2013.
Two levels of glass balustrade over the mall atrium.
Two levels of glass balustrade over the mall atrium.

Apple Causeway Bay

Hong Kong · Hysan Place · visited 2012–2013

In the base of the Hysan Place tower, a sheer wall of glass on Hennessy Road in Causeway Bay — one of the busiest shopping districts on earth, and the crowds show it.

The glass facade lit up on Hennessy Road.
The glass facade lit up on Hennessy Road.
The corner at street level, mid-afternoon crush.
The corner at street level, mid-afternoon crush.
Up the full height of the storefront.
Up the full height of the storefront.

Apple on Nanjing Road

Shanghai · Visited 2016

Stores on Nanjing Road, Shanghai’s great shopping spine — a glass lantern set into the pedestrian street, glowing after dark. The West Nanjing Road store here is the earlier one; Apple has reshaped its Shanghai lineup several times since.

The Nanjing East Road store, 2016.
The Nanjing East Road store, 2016.
A glass storefront on Nanjing Road, a red iPhone in the window.
A glass storefront on Nanjing Road, a red iPhone in the window.
The full glass face from the street.
The full glass face from the street.
Inside on a busy afternoon.
Inside on a busy afternoon.

Beijing

Beijing · Wangfujing district · visited 2019

A glass cylinder threaded with a spiral staircase, dropping down through the floors of a mall near Wangfujing. I didn’t write down the store name; the tube of glass I remember perfectly.

The glass cylinder and its spiral stair, 2019.
The glass cylinder and its spiral stair, 2019.
Down through the glass floors to the store below.
Down through the glass floors to the store below.

Elsewhere

A few I can’t place

Not every photo came with a note. Two I love but can’t pin down:

A newer all-glass flagship, 2018 — the design language Apple rolled out everywhere after 2016, which is exactly what makes these hard to tell apart. City unrecorded.
A newer all-glass flagship, 2018 — the design language Apple rolled out everywhere after 2016, which is exactly what makes these hard to tell apart. City unrecorded.
An early store in 2004, green-tinted glass stairs — back when the staircase alone was worth the trip.
An early store in 2004, green-tinted glass stairs — back when the staircase alone was worth the trip.

All 48 photographs in this section are my own, taken on visits since 2004 and self-hosted here. Stores were identified from each photo’s embedded GPS and the landmarks in frame; where a location is uncertain the caption says so. Not affiliated with Apple.