A look inside the Eaton Centre’s colossal new Apple store

After nearly 14 years on the third floor of the Eaton Centre, Apple now has a shiny new home one level below, in the old Abercrombie and Fitch space. The new store—double the size of the previous digs—officially opened to the public on Saturday, with 325 staff ready to counsel you about Beats versus Airpods, or dish about the new content on Apple TV Plus. This is the first store in Canada to roll out the brand’s new design: it’s mostly as stark and minimalist as ever, with a few more more warm wooden accents and pops of colour. There are endless touch points throughout the store where customers can play around with the high-tech gadgets, and walls of accessories lined with kaleidoscopic iPhone cases, Apple Watch bands and cool gift ideas (like drones or high-tech bike helmets). They’ve also added a giant 20-foot video wall and a seating area for their educational “Today at Apple” series—free sessions teaching topics like photography or coding. Here’s a look inside.

The design team opted for a series of retracting glass and steel doors:

The store is more than 30 metres wide. Staff can serve customers in more than 28 languages, including Mandarin, Portuguese and ASL:

The walls of the store feature interactive themed displays inspired by the notion of a boulevard whose store windows change with the seasons:

There are also displays filled with more than 150 Apple-enabled products and accessories. There’s an iPhone case shade to match any mood:

Ditto with Apple Watch straps:

Beats by Dre headphones are also on offer:

Shoppers can test out the iPhone 11 Pro:

Here’s what Apple calls “The Forum,” where they run free educational sessions every day:

As always, customers are encouraged to play with the products as much as possible:

The space is accessible for those with visual or hearing impairments:

The health-focused section sells items like a smart Wi-Fi-enabled scale and a fancy bike helmet with LED lights: