PORTLAND — A giant video wall. Little boxes to sit on. Tall ficus trees, right inside the store.
Apple reopened its big downtown Portland store Friday after a two-month remodel. Most of the changes are subtle — except for that 28-foot-wide video screen, which is the first thing you’ll see when you walk in the door.
The video wall is the centerpiece of Apple’s efforts to make its stores more of a gathering place, anchoring classes on shooting photos, making music and designing art with the company’s gadgets. The classes are free — the iPhones, iPads and MacBooks are not.
The big screen dominates your view as you walk into the store but Apple says it won’t after hours; the company says it plans to turn off the screen at night, meaning it won’t shine through the store’s glass walls onto the street outside.
The downtown store now has sections devoted to speakers and headphones, automated systems to control lighting and fixtures in the home, and one for aerial drones and other Apple-friendly gadgets made by other companies.
There’s a new conference room in the back, decorated with photos of Apple’s new “spaceship” headquarters in Silicon Valley, for meeting with business clients to discuss purchases and training.
Apple has been steadily revamping stores across the country. Its glass-fronted, 23,000-square-foot Portland store has been open for five years, though, so the updates may be less dramatic here than elsewhere.
National publications have been critical of Apple stores recently, lamenting they have grown crowded and confused as customers jostle to buy new gadgets or have their old ones serviced at the Genius Bar.
Perhaps as a nod to such concerns, Apple has relocated its service to the edges of the store and now calls the Genius Bar the “Genius Grove.” The new name reflects the introduction of several living ficus trees at each service area, inside planters that have cushioned seats.
The idea is that its service people can sit side-by-side with customers to work through technical questions or ascertain repair needs, according to Vincent Policelli, Apple’s retail market leader for the Portland area.
