If you live in the New York Area and are looking for something to do this week, Apple Computers has quietly opened a new store – taking over the entire Eastern and NorthEast Balcony at Grand Central Station – one of the most amazing locations to put a retail store. They will be renting 23,000 square feet at $1.1 milion the first year, more the following years.
The MTA math of $140/sqft doesn’t work out 🙂 $1.1m / 23000 = $~47/sqare foot…. if we spread the buyout of $5 million over 10 years, that would be another $21 per sqft…. the math comes close if you take the ~$5 million buyout and that includes the first year’s lease. Perhaps the 10 years only requires 1 year, and then 9 years of optional renewals, so the buyout is front loaded.
If you haven’t been to the Main Concourse room at Grand Central, it’s an amazing place that oozes history. You can almost feel the spirit of Cornelius Vanderbit and Dagny Taggart with John Galt walking around through the tunnels below.
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/143671/metrazur-out–apple-store-in-at-grand-central-terminal
If you have been there and can’t remember what used to be on those balconies, it was an upscale restaurant called Metrazur. To get this prime piece of real estate (a briliant idea!), they had to pay close to $5 million to the restaurant and agree to a 10 year lease
Hmmmm, Apple is in, Sears is out. Is apple stores as annoying as sears is on check-out when you try to pay for a $15 ratchet, with CASH !
Does Apple have anything for $15?
Radio shack was bad for that. They would want name address phone number for purchase of a AM transistor ‘Flavor radio’ , $5.97 cash (mowing money) with R-S $1.00 coupon from monthly sale paper, 1976.
Service plan available for extra $4 bucks.
Now Radio shack sells cell phone plans now, and Sears, well, they don’t have a Heavy Duty Garden tractor any more. They are going away like Monkey Ward.
I don’t have any apple products, but I do have that Flavor-radio in the closet upstairs somewhere.
A few months ago, I visited my local Sears to window shop at refigerators. Sales guys were the same 70 year old men who were selling stuff 40 years ago using the same bait and switch tricks.
A real man can never have too many tools.