Inside Apple's first India store: Fine architecture, environment-friendly approach and every Apple product available

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Inside Apple’s first India store: Fine architecture, environment-friendly approach and every Apple product available

Apple’s first physical store in India opens on April 18 in Mumbai’s Jio World Drive. The store aims to offer a unique customer experience under a beautiful roof, quite literally.

In Short

Apple BKC is first Apple store in India.
It will run on 100 per cent renewable energy.
The store will showcase every Apple product.

By Manas Tiwari: As Apple completes 25 years in India, it is set to open its very first physical store in the country — the Apple BKC, located at the Jio World Drive in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. The new Apple store is a perfect blend of fine architecture, great consumer experience and is in line with company’s environment-friendly policies. It’s everything Apple stores stand for and aims to provide the best shopping experience to Apple customers.

“At Apple, our customers are at the center of everything we do, and our teams are excited to celebrate this wonderful moment with them as we open our first retail store in India,” said Deirdre O’Brien, Apple’s senior vice president of Retail. “Apple BKC is a reflection of Mumbai’s vibrant culture and brings together the best of Apple in a beautiful, welcoming space for connection and community.”

We, at India Today Tech and FIIBER, were among the very firsts to enter the new Apple Store. The store will open for public on Tuesday, April 18 at 11 am IST. But, here is what you should expect.

A one of its kind store
The Apple BKC almost feels like a college library — with benches for customers to sit and experience the Apple products — a lot of sunlight coming through the windows with the only difference of local Mumbai music playing in the background. It is definitely a place you can spend hours experiencing the products or just sitting around, working on your laptop.

The design of the store is inspired from the local Kaali Peeli Mumbai Taxi art. It features a triangular handcrafted timber ceiling that extends beyond the glass façade to the underside of the exterior canopy. Apple has used a total of 1000 tiles on this ceiling which consist of 4,50,000 individual timber elements, all of which were assembled in Delhi.

The next thing you see after entering the store is a stainless-steel staircase which connects the ground floor to the first level. Other than this, there are two stone walls sourced from Rajasthan which just add to the beauty of the store.

With the opening of the Apple store, customers won’t have to worry about the shortage of products. They can simply walk in and buy their desired Apple product or accessory – in almost any colour they want. They will also be able to hold these products, use them and get the required assistance around them.

The store has display tables and avenues featuring the latest iPhone, Mac, iPad, AirPods, Apple Watch, and Apple TV line-ups, as well as accessories like AirTag. Apple BKC also offers Apple Pickup, which allows users to order Apple products online and pick them up from the store itself.

On top of it, the store will have 100 Apple members available to help the customers. These members can collectively speak over 20 languages and will be able to help customers around the world, helping them learn about Apple products and offering advice on the Apple Trade in program.

Environment-friendly approach
It’s incredible that the entire Apple store in Mumbai will run on renewable energy. Apple claims that the Apple BKC is designed to be one of the most energy-efficient Apple Store locations in the world, with a dedicated solar array and zero reliance on fossil fuels for store operations.

Additionally, the store is operationally carbon neutral as part of Apple’s commitment to turn the company carbon neutral by 2030.

Apple will also be opening a similar store in Delhi, later this week on April 20.