Apple To Open Retail Store In NYC's Meatpacking District

Apple is scheduled to open its largest New York City retail store next week.

Apple has announced that the new store, in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, will host a grand opening at 6 p.m., Friday, Dec. 7. The first people to arrive at the new Apple Retail Store will get commemorative T-shirts and other surprise gifts, while supplies last, Apple said.

The store, on the corner of 9th Avenue and West 14th St., will be open from 9 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sundays.

One of the three floors will be dedicated to personal training, free workshops, and hands-on technical support, Apple said. The store will host free family workshops in January and a free iPhoto holiday workshop, which will show Mac owners how to turn their photos into gifts. And, of course, it will have a Genius Bar, Personal Shopping, and other amenities.

The day after its grand opening, the store will hold workshops on iPhones, Mac OS X Leopard and iPod and iTunes.

According to reports in The New York Post, Apple will fill a 32,000-square-foot area to occupy more than half the building, including nearly 235 feet of storefront space. That would make it the largest Apple Retail Store in New York City. Apple's Fifth Avenue retail space is 25,000 square feet and its SoHo space is about 21,500 square feet.

The underground Fifth Avenue store, with a glass cube above-ground entrance, opened last year across the street from the Plaza Hotel, near the southeast corner of Central Park.