How the Apple stores stack up

Apple launched its stores in Delhi and Mumbai this week. Here are our first impressions from the two locations

- Tushar Kanwar

Ever so often, Apple's shiny new products find mention on these pages but there's a particular offering from the Cupertino giant that had been curiously absent even as the brand marks 25 years of operations in India...or 15 years since it first started selling its iPhone in India. It's no shiny gadget, though.

For all these years, Apple has relied primarily on third-party resellers to get its products physically in front of Indian consumers, a reliance that ended this week with the opening of the Apple BKC in Mumbai and Apple Saket store in Delhi. We went for a tour, and here are our first impressions of the two stores.

ICONIC DESIGN

The Bandra Kurla Complex store is in a prominent corner location in the upscale Jio World Drive mall, with a wraparound double-height glass wall that soars upwards of 25ft to its rather unique triangular ceiling. The ceiling, which extends outwards past the glass wall like a sombrero and gives the store a distinct look, is made from 408 pieces of timber, forming 31 modules per tile. A total of 1,000 tiles make up the ceiling. Each of the over 450,000 individual timber elements in the Mumbai store was assembled in Delhi. These join the two stone walls (sourced from Kota, Rajasthan) that greet customers as the two local Indian elements when they enter the store.

At one side of the store, a 14m-long stainless steel staircase takes you up from the expansive ground level to the cantilevered mezzanine which houses the Genius Bar (for resolving queries and issues) and a host of accessories for Apple products. On the other side, beside the indoor trees, is a large screen and seating for the informative Today at Apple sessions, where experts and customers can discuss Apple products and services.