The Apple store: first look at the iconic Regent Street space, filled with trees, gadgets and polished rock

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Life&Style Editor

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The Apple Store – now just called Apple – on Regent Street will reopen on Saturday after a multi-million pound refit by architects Foster + Partners.

The new shop banishes the famous glass staircase, instead opening up the space with a tree-lined central “boulevard”. There is also a living wall, a giant screen and an upstairs area where customers can chat with Apple experts.

The familiar banquet-style tables lined with iPhone and Apple Watches still fill the central courtyard, with diffused light filtering down from above.

An Apple representative described the new space as “calming… comfortable and curious”, saying they hope the store will become a social hub – or a “town square” – for fans of the brand.

The Regent Street Apple Store first opened in 2004, serving more than 60m customers before closing for the re-fit in June. Apple has not revealed how much was spent on the facelift, but online publication The Memo estimates it could have lost out on £37m of sales while the store was shuttered.

Apple design chief Jony Ive advised Foster + Partners on the design, with the two firms also collaborating on the new Apple headquarters in California.