Apple CEO Tim Cook greeted customers and opened doors at the reopening of the Fifth Avenue Apple Store on Friday. Lines of people formed early in the morning as folks waited for Apple's new iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max, as well as Apple's new Apple Watches. CNBC's Rahel Solomon was on location.
The flagship store in New York has been closed for renovations since January 2017 but reemerged with a colorful (though temporary) rainbow glass covering earlier this month. It first opened in 2006 and was renovated in 2011.
Customers enter through the glass cube, steps away from New York's Central Park, and take either an elevator or stairs down to an underground store. Apple said it worked with its architect to "reimagine the plaza" to "remove the boundaries from Fifth Avenue." Apple added 18 "sky lenses" and "62 sky lights" to bring light down into the store. There are also two new entrances, to the north and to the south of the cube.
The location will be open 24 hours a day. On Thursday, CNBC was invited to take a tour of the new store. Here's what it's like inside.
Here's the outside of the new store, with the Apple logo glowing bright:
This is Apple's redesigned staircase spiraling down into the store:
Here's the inside:
Check out this art piece. It's a wall of AirPods representing musical notes. Anyone know the song?
Apple says the LED lights and skylights help people feel like they're not in a store that's underground.
Look at them all!
The new iPhone 11 family is here, of course.
Here's the new Apple Watch Studio, where people can pick the bands and watch they want:
This is an augmented reality station where people can see how AR works on iPhones and iPads:
A bunch of iPads showing off Apple Arcade are hanging on the wall. The new gaming service launches on Thursday.
Beats headphones have a prominent position. Check out all those colors:
Apple has a section dedicated to its new fall color accessories, too.
That's it! The store opens at 8 a.m. tomorrow.
