Apple's London Covent Garden store to open on August 7

Calling fellow Londoners! The London Evening Standard is reporting that Apple is finally set to open the Covent Garden store on August 7th. The store will be housed in a building that was built in 1877 and feature a glass roof over a courtyard that was originally for delivery by horses. The new location is comprised of four floors, the top two for offices and exhibitions and the bottom two comprising the store itself.

Apple's store on Regent Street is currently the most profitable store in London based on sales per square foot, and if you've ever stepped foot in it, it shows. The Regent Street store is packed from open to close. Sometimes it's so busy, it takes you half an hour just to check out. Getting a Genius Bar appointment takes even longer -- many waiting times are measured in days, not hours. It is hoped that the Covent Garden store, which is located about a mile from the Regent Street store, will take some of the pressure off Apple's first European flagship location. Good luck to Apple with that, because most days it seems like there are as many people in Covent Garden as walking along the Oxford and Regent intersection.

According to the Evening Standard, Apple spared no expense in designing the store and restoring the building. They even reportedly removed a set of brick arches piece-by-piece and then rebuilt the arches exactly as they were on a new floor. Why? Because they wanted to lower the arches by a mere four inches. The Covent Garden store opens at 10AM on Saturday, August 7th. Its normal operating hours will be 9AM-9PM Monday through Saturday and Noon-6PM on Sunday.

Image from ifoapplestore.com.
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