?? Mark's Favourites: Apple Store Battersea Power Station Opening

Here’s a new curation from?Mark Faithfull, an expert in consumer behaviour, e-commerce, and retail real estate with years of experience as a retail analyst for clients like Forbes and The Economist. Don’t miss out on his invaluable takes on our industry and its development, and follow?#MarksFavourites?to stay up to date with this series!

There are not many store openings which are pure box office but Apple, even with its 40th UK store, continues to generate that kind of excitement with the public.

In fairness, quite a lot is new. Firstly, it’s located in the iconic Battersea Power Station which opened in the autumn of 2022 as the retail and leisure heart of a huge mixed use project in south west London, which we have featured previously in our online content.

It is also located just below the company’s new UK headquarters and will offer specialist services such as customising Macs, a choice of Apple Watch bands, engraving, Apple Trade In, plus getting started help with Personal Setup.

Secondly, it has a new and highly sustainable design by UK studio Foster + Partners.

The store is set on the ground floor of the shopping centre within the 1930s Turbine Hall A and is arranged around four original brick piers, with exposed steel roof supports on the ceiling.

Apple Battersea is the second store – after the recently rejuvenated Tysons Corner store in the USA, which replaced Apple's first ever store – to feature redesigned fixtures.

Sustainability, accessibility and mobility are at the heart of the design.

Around the edge of the store is an oak framework of shelving, while the timber structure also defines a space dedicated to watches, a pick-up area and a redesigned Genius Bar.

The latter has a counter for stand-up service along with a lowered area where people can be served sitting down. Along with its standard Parsons tables, which are made from sustainably harvested European oak, the store also has several lowered tables, reflecting its emphasis on mobility and accessibility. For the same reason, Apple also increased the amount of circulation around the edge of the store.

Along with the timber framework, Apple aimed to replace other more carbon-intensive elements in the store with biomaterials.

The floor is made from?aggregates bound together with a bio-polymer, while the acoustic baffles in the ceiling were made from biogenic material. These and the bright floor form part of a focus on improving visual and acoustic clarity in the store, with a dark band around the base of the walls providing visual differentiation with the flooring.

To go with the hype of the opening, Apple Music hosted live performances outside the store across the opening weekend, while a partnership with Battersea Arts Centre and Curated Makers supported eight local emerging creatives to bring Shot on iPhone and Made on iPad works to life.

In-store features include ‘Today at Apple’ sessions that teach the basics of using assistive technologies and features for people with reduced mobility, vision loss, and hearing disabilities.

Like all Apple Store locations, Battersea is operationally carbon neutral and runs on 100% renewable energy.

#AppleStore #BatterseaPowerStation #StoreOpening #RetailExperience #CustomerExperience #Innovation #Technology