It’s clear to anyone who has ever stepped into an Apple store that they have a fixation on glass. In 2016, Apple opened its first retail store in Southeast Asia, in Singapore.Despite rumors that the store in Dubai may become the largest Apple Store in the world, Covent Garden in London still retains that honor at 40,000 sq ft across 3 storeys.The most recent additions to the family are the first two Apple Stores in the Middle East, namely in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

By mid-2016, the company plans to open 40 stores in China. China only had its first Apple Store in 2008, in Beijing.A year later, the first Apple Store was opened in Europe on London’s Regent Street.The first Apple Store outside of the US was opened in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan.By the end of 2015, Apple has 463 Apple stores in 18 countries, and counting. In 2001, 25 Apple Stores opened in the US.Steve Jobs himself showed journalists around at the store in Tyson’s Corner.Both stores opened at 10 am, but due to the different time zones, the store in Virginia was opened three hours before the one in California and thus was considered the first store technically.The first two Apple Stores opened in the US on May 19, 2001, one in the Tyson’s Corner Center mall in Virginia and the other in Glendale Galleria in California.To undull history, I cheated and turned this section into a 10-item list. To understand the allure, let’s delve into the architectural history of Apple Store design, and to do that, we will have to start at the beginning. Steve Jobs was not only the brains and vision behind many of Apple’s early and iconic products, he also directed his attention towards glorifying and glamming up Apple retail stores (as they were called in early press releases) to the point where even today, fans still queue up for hours, sometimes days in advance to be one of the first to enter a newly launched Apple Store. That said, many Apple Store designs worldwide break the mold and truly outshine their predecessors with amazing architectural leaps of faith – carefully calculated deviations that do nothing but impress loyal fans and dissenters alike. This design and layout was actually patented in 2013. The majority of Apple Stores are standardized: each store has a clear glass front with panels stacked on either side of the main door, lighting that cuts across the front of the store to the back, and the same make and design of shelves and tables, a high ceiling and an overall minimalistic yet boxed up feel. Nearly 15 years later, Apple has more than 400 of their retail stores worldwide. When it was first announced, the idea of Apple having its own retail store was not received well by many quarters – here’s a commentary by Bloomberg business on why ' Apple Stores don’t work' dated May 20, 2001, published a day after the first two Apple stores were launched by Steve Jobs himself.

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