Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster attended the press event Apple held on Thursday, ahead of the opening of its new New York City store on Friday. He issued a brief research report recapping the event, leading off with a note that Apple is not planning to roll out the new storeis 24/7 format to other locations.
Ron Johnson, head of Apple retail, said that the company made the decision out of a desire to accommodate city visitors who might run out of time to visit the store if it maintained normal hours.
"Its glass cube looks more like art than a store," Mr. Munster said of the storeis entrance, which features the Apple logo suspended in a giant glass cube, inside of which are an elevator and staircase that take shoppers into the underground location.
Apple has another New York City store in SoHo, and the analyst pointed out that the new outlet has 100 Macs on display, twice as many as its sister location. Out of a 300-employee staff, 96 are assigned to the Genius Bar. The store had 5,000 job applicants.
Mr. Munster noted that Apple did not disclose financial details of the new store, but he did observe that its "location between 58th and 59th Streets (about a block before most of the Fifth Avenue retail begins) suggests favorable price per square foot for Apple."
The analyst maintained his "Outperform" rating on the stock, with a $99 price target. At 3:10 PM EST on Thursday, Appleis shares were selling for US$64.91, down 0.54% for the day.
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