Houston, Texas is about to get a new Apple Store that’s getting an early sneak peek thanks to a curious Apple fan. The Upper West Side Retail Store, a massive glass-roofed complex unveiled at the end of 2009 (and pictured above), appears to be the inspiration for the Highland Village Retail Store said to be currently under wraps on the west side of Houston. The same all glass front, limestone walls, and glass roof made up the construction of the retail space, though not at the same scale as it’s older NYC counterpart. There is a difference, however, as the back of the store will also be all glass (there will only be one entrance to Apple’s new retail space). Inventory will apparently be held in next door in an adjacent space instead of in the retail store itself.
The future Palo Alto (N. Calif.) and Third Street Promenade (S. Calif.) stores—both expansions of existing stores—will also feature the UWS design, according to renderings submitted by Apple to city planning officials. However, the scale of the stores will be smaller than the original Upper West Side store that opened to rave architectural reviews in 2009.
Photographs posted on ifoAppleStore show off the similarities in architecture between the NYC and Houston retail spaces. The open design, featuring high glass ceilings overlooking open spaces, looks like it’ll be a common theme for Apple heading down the road.
[ifoAppleStore via TUAW] image via Apple
