Apple Birmingham, England
Continuing the episodic series on famous Apple Stores, visits Apple Birmingham in England to see a great example of how the company is preserving architectural history.
Apple has occupied the New Street building in Birmingham since 2016, but it was first built in 1879. Then it was the imposing offices of Midland Bank with a luxurious, open, huge banking space.
Subsequent owners have reduced this space and filled it with retail shelves, but Apple has been keen to restore it. According to plans seen at the time by the local Birmingham Evening Mail newspaper, the architects specifically wanted to return the space to what it once was.
“We intend to return the space to a single spacious volume and character when it is used as a banking hall by Midland Bank,” the plans say. “Retail will be limited to the basement and lower floors in order to impose on the public the impression of a space that was originally intended to be used as a banking hall.”
Birmingham New Street
Even a few locals know about it, but the place where Apple Birmingham is located is, strictly speaking, called Queen’s Corner. This name is written on a stone high up on one of the other buildings at the intersection where New Street and Corporation Street meet.
Corporation Street then immediately becomes Navigation Street as it and its new tram tracks run down and behind Apple Birmingham to reach Birmingham New Street station. It is one of the busiest train stations in the country, and yet New Street itself has experienced a decline in traffic over the years, caused by the construction of the Bullring Shopping Center at the other end of the street.
When it was new in 2003, it sucked the life out of New Street and High Street so much that more people wondered if it was spelled “Bullring” or “Bullring” correctly than went to the old shops. .
Apple also played a role in this: in 2005, the Apple Bullring arena opened in the mall. This store as a whole was modeled after the original US stores, in a narrow, albeit rather long, space.
The original Apple store in Birmingham, UK.
It was also a two-story store, but only one floor was used for retail. The rest may have included areas for support and repairs, but it was all adorned with a large glowing Apple logo.
This store occupied its 4,000 square feet until the day Apple opened its 20,000-square-foot New Street Birmingham Apple Store.
For months, the bullring could not fill the space left by Apple. So at that time, instead of the glass doors of a small store, the room was boarded up with boards, and Apple showed a note.
“We will never leave you,” he began before directing people to his new store.
Walk through the 19th century bank doors at the Apple Store
Outer Bank, Interior Bookstore
Records of how often the Midland Bank building changed hands are scattered, but ask a local and they’ll tell you the building went from a bank to a Waterstones bookstore and now to Apple. Although there may have been other bookstores there for a while.
However, in reality, Waterstone turned the bank into a trading space, and for most residents and visitors to Birmingham, they saw the building for the first time.
Waterstone’s took over in the 1990s and by some estimates had 100,000 books on its shelves. These shelves were spread over five floors plus a two-level basement, and if that wasn’t enough, there was another Waterstone’s store next to the bullring.
That other store remains open and busy to this day, but the huge store in the bank building is gone.
As it was before. View from the stairs at the Waterstones bookstore, shortly before it closed in 2015. (Source: Flickr)
Or, rather, overlooked by its sheer size and wide selection of books. There is one thing at the bookstore that Waterstone management said they couldn’t do anything about, but Apple did immediately.
A huge part of the main hall used to be occupied by long, wide, wide and decidedly steep steps leading to the next level. However, once you got to a certain height on the stairs, you could see the tops of the shelves around the floor.
Compared to the very neat front and sides, these shelf tops were extremely dusty and even looked unpleasantly dirty.
However, after Waterstone closed the store and Apple bought the vacant space, these shelves were completely removed. So it was with the stairs.
Thus, today Birmingham residents, accustomed to wandering over more than five levels, now only go to one.
On a dark day, these chandeliers are essential, but the huge windows make it all very light and airy.
Employment, open space
When visited on a Sunday afternoon in early March 2023, the roof of the main entrance looked like a cathedral. And the floor looked full.
About 80 customers were assisted by about 15 employees. On a cloudy day, the interior of the room was bright and cozy.
Even if there are more than 90 people there, the space is still like a cave.
Several decorative chandeliers were lit here, but the light also came from nine huge windows. Arranged around two walls, nine start just above head level and then extend almost to a very high ceiling.
You might have seen this original skylight when it was a bookstore, but Apple has made it more interesting.
From the center of the sales floor, you can also see all the way to the top of the building and what appears to be a carefully restored and definitely elaborate skylight.
Basement
Although it initially appears that Apple only occupies the first floor, it is noticeable that there are no shelves on the walls. This space is completely devoted to food tables, and the walls, which do not have huge glass windows, are instead decorated with huge posters of Apple.
Stone staircase leading from the basement to the first floor
This is because all the accessories that are usually displayed on wall shelves are in an almost hidden basement. Its entrance consists of gray stone stairs, wide and open, but since it’s right at the back of the store, it’s easy to miss until you get to it.
If you then go down the stone stairs to the basement, you will enter a much smaller and much darker area. It probably extends for about a fifth of the same length of the main trading floor, but appears to be narrower.
It is also interrupted by four large columns that roughly divide the space into zones for different products. Shelves hold the usual range of accessories and surround a row of tables.
You can’t really see it in the photos, but the basement floor is a bit darker than the main floor.
Most of these tables display almost the same lineup of MacBook Pro and iPad models as the main space, but it’s also where Today at Apple takes place.
Compared to stores like London’s Brompton Road, the Today at Apple space is tiny. This is really one shop table with a movable monitor at one end.
While I was there, Apple Genius hosted a Today at Apple session about using Procreate on the iPad. Even though it was small, the space was filled and there were spare iPads, each with an Apple Pencil.
It’s definitely a downside that this area is so small, but overall the atmosphere is welcoming, even cozy. It was also busy, with about 30 clients working with about 9 employees, and a bit of darkness made all the screens seem brighter.
outside the store
New Street in Birmingham is typical of many English cities in that everything is modern and new at eye level, each shop window is made of glass. But raise your head a little, and almost every building is clearly at least decades old.
Another view of the exterior
These are all buildings except Apple. Apple Birmingham looks its age, in every sense of the phrase, standing there as if it was designed in the 1800s but so clean and fresh it looks like it was built today.
The street has yet to fully regain its position as Birmingham’s busiest street as the bullfighting ring has taken the attention of visitors and COVID has had an impact. But he restores it, and every December the whole way from the mall and past the Apple to Birmingham City Hall is lined with stalls for the Christmas market.
Like many other Apple stores, Apple Birmingham is unique even within the UK. Compare it to the newest Brompton Road Apple store in London and the completely different Marina Bay Sands store in Singapore.