Inside the new Apple Belfast — Image credit: Belfast Telegraph
Apple Belfast, which opens on Friday October 18, 2024, replaces the city’s previous Apple Store as the only one on the island of Ireland.
The city’s original Apple Store opened in 2008 as Apple Victoria Square. It closed on October 15, 2024, and has been replaced by Apple Belfast in a new location. That location is in Belfast’s Cornmarket, approximately one minute’s walk away from the previous location.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, the move follows a similar exodus of high profile brands from Victoria Square. Apple Belfast is now situated in a new shopping location called The Keep, which reportedly also recently added a multi-floor H&M store after that departed Victoria Square.
“We are thrilled to be opening our new store in Belfast, after serving customers in the city since 2008,” said Wendy Beckman, Head of Retail for Apple’s European operations. “Our new home will be a place for all of the community and serve as a destination to explore and buy Apple’s incredible product line up, experience unparalleled service and support, and learn how to get the most out of Apple’s devices.”
The new store is a single level instead of the old store’s two. It will employ more than 90 people, which reportedly includes poets, musicians, and singers.
That suggests that Apple Belfast will feature the kind of special, local “Today at Apple” sessions it has done for other store openings. Apple has yet to announce any sessions, however.
Apple Belfast is the sole Apple Store in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and so one of the UK’s 40 such stores. There are no Apple Stores at all in the rest of Ireland, despite the country being home to Apple’s overseas headquarters.
