Fifth Avenue Apple Store Getting Makeover & Upgrade

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The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan is one of the most memorable Apple Stores and probably for many folks, one of the most memorable structures in the world. It’s the one with that unique glass cube, which Apple has gone so far to trademark to prevent other companies from copying the design of the store. Now, Apple is going to spending $6 million to “upgrade” the cube.

Construction permits that Apple has acquired from the City of New York Department of Buildings show that the Apple is planning to spend $6.6 million to remove the all the glass and the sophisticated structure that supports it, then make upgrades to the surrounding plaza, and then replace the structure and the glass.

One commenter claiming to be an Apple Store Genius (such claims cannot be verified, so take with grain of salt) wrote on ifoAppleStore.com that the multiple panes of glass currently on the Fifth Avenue Apple Store will be replaced with single panes of glass on each side. Sounds pretty awesome, if true. Construction is said to have begun yesterday, and is said to continue through November. It appears that the Apple Store will stay open during construction.  Considering the foot traffic that Apple Store must get in the most expensive city in the world, closing it through November would surely cost Apple some revenues.

While it wasn’t the first, many consider the Fifth Avenue Apple Store to be the “flagship” Apple Store, considering that the glass cube is quintessentially Apple and that it’s also located in one of the biggest cities in the world.

This is just the latest in a flurry of Apple Store news. Not only was it recently the Apple Store’s tenth anniversary recently, but Apple VP of Retail (and the so-called “Father of the Apple Store”) Ron Johnson is leaving Apple to be JC Penney. There’s also a small movement among Apple Store employees to unionize.