BY ROBBIE SEQUEIRA
On Friday, 24, Apple product
touting Bronxites rejoiced
as the tech giant opened its
fi rst-ever Bronx-based Apple
Store on the ground level
of The Mall at Bay Plaza in
Baychester, offi cially bringing
a location to every borough
in New York City.
The Bronx location is the
company’s 11th store in NYC,
with other locations in Manhattan’s
Meatpacking District,
Grand Central, SoHo,
Upper West Side, Upper East
Side, the World Trade Center,
Williamsburg, Downtown
Brooklyn, Elmhurst, and
their fl agship store on Fifth
Avenue in Midtown.
Montez Philner, a Norwood
native, said that before
Baychester Apple Store’s
grand opening, he would often
need to travel 15 miles to the
Apple Store in Yonkers’ Ridge
Hill or commute to the oftenpacked
Apple Store on Lexington
Avenue.
“I fi nd it a little ridiculous
that it was until 2021, that
the Bronx fi nally got its Apple
Store,” said Philner. “But
I think Bay Plaza is a perfect
spot for it because it’s one of
the nicest shopping outlets
we have here in the borough,
so it’ll probably be frequently
busy.”
The 10,391-square-foot
store will operate between the
hours of 10 a.m. and 9 p.m.,
Monday through Friday.
Compared to existing NYC
stores, the Bronx location also
has a reimagined look including
a remodeled version of the
iPhone case bay — mounting
them vertically instead
of at an angle — and a pickup
drawer at the back of the store
that allows for easier shuttling
of products for customers.
Several of the borough’s
top Democrats were in attendance
for the store’s grand
opening on Friday, including
Bronx Borough President
Rubén Díaz Jr., City Councilman
Kevin Riley, state Sen.
Jamaal Bailey and New York
State Assembly Speaker Carl
Heastie were in attendance for
the store’s opening on Sept. 24.
BRONX TIMES R 2 EPORTER, OCT. 1-7, 2021 BTR
Apple offi cials did not specify
to the Bronx Times why
it took Apple almost 20 years
to bring a store to the city’s
northernmost borough after
it opened its fi rst retail store
in Manhattan’s SoHo district
in 2002.
The store, located at 200
Baychester Ave., will feature
a new area for Apple Pickup
and a “Today at Apple” section,
which offers free educational
sessions about specifi c
products.
Welco Realty, Inc. represented
the landlord, Prestige
Properties & Development Co,
Inc. during the deal to takeover
the location at the mall.
“We were thrilled that
we were fi nally able to sign
a lease with Apple to bring
them into the mall and to service
the Bronx population as
well as the southern Westchester
County,” Jerry Welkis,
president of Welco Realty
and exclusive agent for the
mall, said in a statement.
Anchored by JCPenney
iPhone users across the borough fl ocked to the the Bronx’s fi rst-ever
Apple Store location at The Mall in Bay Plaza in Baychester, which opened
on Sept. 24, 2021. Photo Robbie Sequeira
and Macy’s, the Mall at Bay
Plaza opened in 2014, the fi rst
enclosed regional mall to open
in New York City in 40 years.
Apple’s opening of its Bay
Plaza location coincided with
its rollout of the new iPhone
13 lineup, new iPad mini, and
iPad 9th generation. Additionally,
Apple employees and
shoppers were gifted with a Tshirt
during the store’s grand
opening.
With accessibility to a central
Apple location, Bronxites
are reveling in the prospect
of not having to commute to
fi x their Apple devices. Britney
Martinez, a Baychester
native who lives a few blocks
south of the Mall at Bay Plaza,
said she got a new iPhone 13
as an “early birthday present,”
after her boyfriend saw
the store was open over the
weekend.
“I didn’t even know that
Apple was bringing a store
to the mall, so when my boyfriend
surprised me with the
new iPhone and he told me
he got it at Bay Plaza, I was
pretty shocked,” she said. “It’s
just going to be so much more
convenient for iPhone users
who can’t access a Genius Bar
at our local Verizon or AT&T
store.”
Apple’s first-ever Bronx
store opens in Bay Plaza
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