Apple Store To Open in Boston

After next Friday, Bostonians will finally have their own outlet for their Apple woes and whims.

A new Apple Store, expected by some online bloggers to be the largest in the world, is set to open on Boylston Street, where local businesses expect it will have an impact on neighborhood commerce.

A large green wooden cover, announcing the upcoming opening in colors reminiscent of local favorite Fenway Park, hides what will be a three-story glass facade.

Harvard students expressed little interest in the alternative to the Cambridgeside Galleria location.

“I haven’t had to go to an Apple store yet, but I guess I’d go explore if it was a big deal,” said Katherine A. Kuzma ’11.

Samantha R. Reiser ’11 was uneasy about the potentially “chaotic” crowd that accompany such a large opening, though she said she would likely see what the fuss was about.

Local businesses, however, were more optimistic about the prospect of crowds overflowing into their own stores.

“It’ll probably bring people from out of the neighborhood,” said Colin G. Quinn, of Best Cellars wine shop, which is one block away.

Likewise, Lisa D. Boch, a sales associate at Crate & Barrel, said she thought the Apple Store will be good for business.

“It’ll be so great for the city,” she said. “[Apple customers] are like our customers: modern and trendy.”

The store has been the subject of some online controversy, as some blogs have claimed that the site would be the world’s largest Apple store. Gary D. Allen, the founder and webmaster of ifoAppleStore.com, disagrees.

He explained that the claim does not seem plausible since the lot for the store is 6,834 square feet—meaning that the three stories of retail space could not reach the approximately 28,000 square feet of the Regent Street Apple Store in London.

“It would have to be five stories of public retail space,” Allen said. “I don’t see how it could be the largest.”

Construction workers on the Mandarin Hotel, opening this summer across the street, said they did not believe the store could open on time.

Officials at Apple declined to comment. Workers on-site declined to comment.

—Staff writer Alexander R. Konrad can be reached at akonrad@fas.harvard.edu