This weekend saw the grand opening of Apple's Lincoln Park store in Chicago. The store which is located just a few minutes away from the flagship North Michigan Avenue store is unique in its appearance and story.
The opening of the Lincoln Park store was attended by Rahm Emanuel, former Chief of Staff to President Obama and now Chicago mayoral candidate and that just went to prove how special this Apple store was. Gary Allen from ifoAppleStore was at the store for several days leading up to the opening and noted a concerted effort from Apple to use this store for promotional material.
Not only did Apple build a new retail store in this end of Chicago but the company also reportedly spent $3.8 million renovating a subway station, repaving the surrounding area and creating an open plaza. The subway station has been taken back to its 1940s look with red brick on the outside and white tile on the inside. Apple also reportedly has advertising rights for the entire station including platform level and has been seen to be making use of the opportunity.
The store itself is not unique in its appearance, it shares the same design as the Scottsdale Quarter store in Arizona with two large glass walls at either end of the store with large stainless steel walls to the sides. Much like many other Apple stores the Lincoln Park store has a green roof to help with building insulation, watering of trees in the plaza and helping reduce the carbon footprint of the building.