Apple has announced that the Apple Store is dead: from now on new locations for the retail outlets will officially be dubbed “town squares.”
The curious rebranding was announced by the company’s senior vice president Angela Ahrendts at the launch event for new iPhones. The name change is part of an overhaul of the stores to make them more welcoming or pretentious, depending on your perspective. Ahrendts also noted that the locations should be places where you can “relax, meet up with friends, or just listen to a local artist on the weekends.”
It’s the latest development in the Apple stores, following on from larger outlets adding “boardrooms” that can be hired for business meetings, and some Genius Bars being renamed a “Genius Grove” thanks to the addition of trees.
Ahrendts added that the Apple “town squares” will be “places where everyone’s welcome,” which certainly sounds like a claim that will be tested.