Genius Bar Logos Are Being Removed From Apple Stores ⇥ ifoapplestore.com

Gary Allen:

An original and significant element of Apple’s retail stores is disappearing. Over the past month workers have been removing the “atom” symbol that has pinpointed the Genius Bars since the first store opened in 2001, and they are replacing it with wall graphics to match those recently installed in back-lit wall displays.

It might just be the crappy photo used to illustrate the new behind-the-bar backlit photos installation, or the store itself not being one of Apple’s nicer ones,1 but this looks decidedly low-rent to me.

  1. Speaking of which, have you seen the Westlake store in China? It’s not as distinctive as, say, Fifth Avenue or Shanghai, but it might just be my new favourite non-historic Apple store. More photos from Apple, and take a look at the evolution of these store design in the renderings for the new San Francisco store — just look at those big-ass sliding doors on the front. ↥︎