Filed under: Odds and ends, Blast From the Past, Apple History
From a parallel universe: The Apple Cafe
If things had turned out just a bit differently in the late 1990's, we might not be visiting Apple Stores. Instead, we'd be talking about the food we ate and the movies we watched at the Apple Cafe.TUAW reader and Guifx Director of Operations Morgan Strauss told us about his post on the Guifx blog recalling a retail concept that Apple announced on November 12, 1996. No, they weren't planning on selling Macs, iPhones, iPods, and the occasional Apple TV -- instead, Apple announced that they were going to open a chain of Apple Cafes throughout the world.
The Apple Cafe was to be a high-tech cybercafe where you could order healthy food while videoconferencing with people at nearby tables, surfing the Web, and pulling up movies or TV shows on a small kiosk screen at your table.
Strauss owns two architectural paintings (below) that were produced by artists for Landmark Entertainment Group, which was partnering with Apple and a company called Mega Bytes International in the proposed venture. The paintings show the proposed 15,000 square foot Los Angeles location, which was to be the flagship of the chain.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gabe said 1:06PM on 6-03-2009
That would have been horrible!
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Quine said 1:57PM on 6-03-2009
That looks awful. I'm glad the apple stores look nothing like that. A modern apple cafe might be cool, it'd be like starbucks but way better than everything else and fairly expensive.
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bobmarley101 said 1:59PM on 6-03-2009
It sounds like uWink, Nolan Bushnell's latest idea... There's actually one like a mile from my house, I should go check it out some time...
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Jason Martin said 2:18PM on 6-03-2009
Yeah, it looks bad to us looking at it in 2009, but 15 years ago, this was the sort of thing investors were really going for. Ultimately, most failed, and the Apple Cafe probably would have too. Hindsight is 20/20, but it's good someone saw the writing on the wall before Apple focused on this instead of the iPod.
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JC said 2:22PM on 6-03-2009
Actually this makes me think it would be cool to open a computer museum / restaurant. Apple is welcome to open a store next to it too...
owenmhv said 2:41PM on 6-03-2009
looks like they kept the stools for the "genius" bar :)
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Brian said 4:28PM on 6-03-2009
Wow. I so remember when internet cafes were all the rage. They were actually kinda nice for fast internet, but home DSL hit the scene and they dried up.
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required said 5:19PM on 6-03-2009
I knew a guy named Niko Bellic that used the TW@ Internet Cafe in Liberty City until he had network at his safe house. He said it was okey-dokey.
KevRev said 5:00PM on 6-03-2009
Okay but I wouldn't be opposed to the idea of Apple Stores selling coffee drinks (in spill-proof containers, of course) and having a nice lounge area with free wi-fi. I mean, I miss the theater area my local Apple Store used to have. I remember watching the MacWorld keynote live there as Jobs announced the 12" PowerBook. Making it an even more social place wouldn't be a bad thing IMHO. They'd probably sell even more and discussing software, OS tips, general usage, etc. with other Mac users is always a good time in my book!
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Tim said 8:55PM on 6-03-2009
It looks exactly like the restaurant in Back to the Future II. Tons of video screens, late 80's/90's-ish design sensibilities. All that's missing is the wacky clothes, Ronald Reagan waiter avatars, and exercise bikes.
I dearly love BTTF both sincerely and ironically, so I'd eat there if the employees there were in on the joke.
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ron said 9:04PM on 6-03-2009
Have I been listening to the new Depeche Mode record just one to many times, or are there some references to the song "Perfect" in this article?
if so, then thats very cool.
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geochick said 9:08PM on 6-03-2009
So that's where the Apple retail store ideas came from... Kinda reminds me of a junkier version of the typical Apple stores popping up all over. They are in the cafe business except they don't sell coffee...
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brian said 11:08PM on 6-03-2009
"The Apple Cafe was to be a high-tech cybercafe where you could order healthy food while videoconferencing with people at nearby tables, surfing the Web, and pulling up movies or TV shows on a small kiosk screen at your table."
The designs shown are a bit out there but otherwise this is pretty much exactly like where I worked in 1996. Cybersmith was a small chain (4 stores) of high-end Internet cafes in the mid/late 90s. Food, Internet access, networked gaming, videoconferencing, and more. That chain didn't survive long, and Internet cafes in general are not around like they used to be, so it's probably best Apple didn't go this route. :-)
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dpswireless said 7:29AM on 6-04-2009
i say do it.
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Dathan said 2:13PM on 7-03-2009
It would've work as well as an Internet Cafe or a Cine-Grill, yet it appeals to a nitch market and the fan boys would've loved it. It would've worked, not like Starbucks, but enough to stay business in the right location.
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