Hipsters rejoice, Apple's first Brooklyn store is finally here

WILLIAMSBURG, NY — Brooklynites will no longer have to travel into Manhattan to visit the Genius Bar. On Saturday, July 30, Apple's first retail store in Brooklyn opens in Williamsburg.

Located at 247 Bedford Avenue on the corner of N 3rd Street, the store is adjacent to Equinox, Duane Reade and the new Whole Foods.

This store marks Apple's eighth retail store in New York City. A ninth store — located in the Oculus of the World Trade Center — will open in a few weeks. Although New York City is hardly at a loss for Apple stores, it is notable that it took this long for the company to expand into Brooklyn.

The store itself has a distinct look and feel from the company's other New York locations. Many of the features in the store take cues from the flagship Apple Store that opened in San Francisco back in May. 

Apple Store Williamsburg

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Equinox and Whole Foods adjacent

Located at 247 Bedford Avenue, in Williamsburg, this is Apple's first retail store in Brooklyn. It's conveniently located near both Equinox and Whole Foods.

IMAGE: DUSTIN DRANKOSKI/MASHABLE

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Those include the "Avenues" (window displays that change during seasons), "The Forum" (a big open area with a 6K screen and seating) and the "Board Room" (where events and meetings can take place).

The warehouse aesthetic of the store is very much designed to fit the rustic style of the neighborhood, which has seen an influx of major chains over the last few years. 

The facade and interior of the store is all exposed brick. The floors are polished concrete — a first for any Apple store. Acoustic timber ceilings and hung lighting fill out the aesthetic.

And although this location is very much a store, the openness of the layout gives off a vibe of a place you can come to just hang out. 

Apple says it wants its stores to educate and entertain customers, not just sell them stuff. It's similar to Samsung's ethos at its 837 flagship in the Meatpacking District.

But make no mistake — there is plenty of product to buy. iPhones, iPads and MacBooks line the oak tables. Accessories and Apple Watch bands line the walls. If you want basically anything in rose gold, you have your pick.

The Williamsburg Apple store is staffed by 120 associates who come from three different countries and speak 38 languages. Apple says that 30 percent of the staff is bilingual. 

Apple Williamsburg opens Saturday.

How IoT is changing the fashion retail experience

It’s plain to see that emerging technology has changed the retail experience beyond recognition.

We can shop on the internet anywhere, and at any time, without a physical cash transaction and have it delivered to us in what can feel like the blink of an eye. In times where retail fashion can be bought in seconds and free returns mean that your apartment can be an at-home changing room, I was interested to talk last week to Healey Cypher, co-founder and CEO of Oak and creator of a hardware enabled platform that uses mirrors as a conduit to transform the retail experience.

Oak has creating the Oak Mirror, a connected device that turns the bricks-and-mortar retail experience into one that is closer in reality to what we have come accustomed to online. Cypher reminded me that while it’s easy to do your shopping online, it still only accounts for a small amount of all retail sales:

“In-store sales are still up to 95% of all retail experiences and e-commerce is less than 7% of all retail transactions. Retail is a $12 trillion industry that employs a quarter of the people in the US. and accounts for 50% of  expenditure of disposable income.”

It is an sector that Cypher is passionate about, particularly in regard to improving the customer experience. Usually trying on clothing means stumbling around a store semi-dressed to find a different size or dealing with the ministrations of an overeager sales attendant who whips back the curtain to catch you in your…unawares.

But Oak wants to make that a thing of the past.

They currently have embedded their technology in a range of Ralph Lauren stores in the US. All in-store items are connected to it with RFID chips. This means an almost self-curated shopping  experience. Any clothes you select to try on appear on a connected touch screen which is part of the dressing room mirror. Need a new size or a different color? Just tap the screen and a store assistant – each outfitted with a corresponding iPad – brings you your choice. The screen also offers you styling recommendations based on what’s available in store and you can email your selection to yourself for future consideration.

For those a little more discerning, the mirror even offered a variety of lighting experiences: Fifth Avenue Daylight, East Hampton Sunset and Evening at The Polo Bar.

It’s easy to dismiss such notions as gimmick but the reality is that Oak see the benefits of their platform far beyond novelty factors.

“The RFID gives perfect data. This means stores can always know what’s in stock at a glance, including size and colors. The average industry inventory accuracy is 65% in retail. It also enables buyers to see what other people bring into the fitting room and what items they are buying together. You learn whether certain items are always tried in one size but bought in another or tried but never purchased”.

All of which is especially important for fashion houses, especially those that stock “fast fashion,” defined as fashion cycles of six weeks or less.

Cypher admits that fashion is a traditional industry that has in some respects been slow to adopt technology. Two of the leading reasons he attributes this to are generational norms – “Younger, digital natives are more likely to adopt this technology than older store owners” – and also the difficulty in “getting retailers uses to expending capital on technology. They are more likely to see the value in expenditure on their front of house signage.”

Yet, as Cypher notes, “consumers want things fast, easy, beautiful, robust and personal.” This will be the reality of retail fashion, and Oak is keen to be part of this innovation, blurring the boundaries between the digital and physical retail experience.

Is retail sector ready for IoT investments?

The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to change a lot of industries, but retail might see the largest investments as businesses look to reduce labor costs, improve sales, and draw customers back to the store.

Retailers have already started investing in IoT, using Internet beacons to offer free Wi-Fi in stores in exchange for data harvesting or rerouting to the company’s online website.

That is just the beginning of the use of IoT in retail. Using big data, supermarkets will be able to figure out the perfect price for a product, the best place for it to sell, and the best time to have it in stock. Clothing retailers may use window scanners that detect interest in a product, and if the customer decides to enter the system can send the item to an assistant to expedite the sale.

At Starbucks, the coffee makers and ovens are controlled by a centralized system to lower human error. The chief technology officer expects IoT will allow the coffee chain to customize their menu, improve the taste of coffee, and let customers order without saying a word.

Retailers reporting above-average profiles think IoT will be huge

According to an eMarketer report, 54 percent of retailers reporting an “above-average” profit said IoT will dramatically change the retail industry in the next three years1. The report also suggests that retailers are also the most familiar with IoT, with 56 percent of businesses possessing some knowledge of IoT and its advantages.

Analytics firm Juniper Research seems to agree that retailers will be major investors in IoT, suggesting that $2.5 billion will be spent on IoT-related hardware in 2020, a four-fold increase on the investment in 2015.

Retailers that invest early in the Internet of Things might see massive increases in sales compared to the competition, as systems increase profit margins, lower time spent waiting for a product to come in stock, and more data for analysts to work with on customer behavior.