Apple’s newly opened Beijing retail store looks absolutely stunning

Apple opened its first store in China back in 2008 at Beijing’s Taikoo Li Sanlitun mall. Now, more than a decade later, it has opened a spectacular new Apple Sanlitun store adjacent to the now-shuttered location of the original.

Apple Sanlitun is twice the size of the original Beijing store, and includes a viewing gallery, boardroom (for users to get advice from Apple experts), and a forum for future live events. Check out the pictures below.

The spectacular new store design, which opened today, offers some very neat features.

Like all Apple Stores, it runs on sustainable energy with Apple’s first integrated solar array in a retail store in China powering the store. In an accompanying press release, Apple notes that it is now “supporting enough clean energy in China to power more than 450,000 homes each year.”

Designing the new Beijing Apple Store

There are also some gorgeous design flourishes. Apple notes how:

“33-foot glass panels, fabricated in Xiamen, China, blur the barrier between inside and out, and signature staircases on either side of the store run parallel with exterior stairs to create further transparency and flow. The floors are clad in Padang Light stone from the Shandong province, and the west terrace is lined with Sophora japonica, the official tree of Beijing … A glass corner of the Apple Sanlitun and an outdoor tree-lined seating area show how seamlessly the store’s design transitions from indoor to outdoor.”

As with plenty of Apple Stores right now, there are various safety measures put in place to help during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors must wear protective masks, and there are temperature checks and social distancing policies.

Ready to welcome the world

The store has 185 “team members” who are there to help answer any questions and, of course, sell you on the latest products. While large, that number of employees is necessary to help deal with the massive influx of foot traffic the store is likely to receive.

Apple says that, since its original China store opened in 2008, it has had more than 22 million visitors. That number is “equivalent of every resident of Beijing passing through its doors.”