Snippet: The Shiny New Apple on North Michigan Avenue ☇

ChicagoArchitecture:

How well do you remember 2003? It was the year that 13 people were killed and 57 hurt when a porch collapsed in Lincoln Park. R.E.M. played the United Center. And in one of the most Mayor Daley events in Mayor Daley history, Mayor Daley ordered a team of bulldozers to destroy Meigs Field airport in the middle of the night.

It was also the year that Apple (then called Apple Computer) opened its Chicago flagship store at 679 North Michigan Avenue. It is store number 59, and the only Apple Store with an Apple logo-shaped window. […]

Soon the Apple Store that was the height of Steve Jobs’ retail aesthetic will be no more. The post-Jobs Apple is busy right now building a magnificent new semi-underground shopping experience a few blocks south. And right now the best guess is that the old Apple Store, and everything else on the western half of the block, will be bulldozed to make way for something grander. Better. Taller.

Growing up just outside of Chicago, this was the Apple Store in the area and I had the opportunity to visit a few times, but the most memorable visit was about a week after the original iPhone launch. It’ll be sad to see this store go, but if the replacement is anything like the other new locations, it’ll be an excellent upgrade.