New Apple store in Barcelona centre

On the 28th of July a new Apple store opened in Barcelona on Paseo de Gracia 1 (on Plaza Catalunya). It has been opened a pair of weeks but I did not have the chance to stop by the store before yesterday.
The store is huge, apparently it is the biggest Apple store in the south of Europe. It has 3 giant floors and there are 300 people working there.

The Apple store has the usual Apple style of many wooden tables with Apple products, so as a client you can try the products before purchase. On the upper floor there are tables for new users, where they can give you training in how to use the products. There are also Genius tables (since I am not one, I am unsure of what they actually talked about at those tables). There were so many sales assistants around (it seemed like there was the same amount of sales assistants as customers), most with that "I am an Apple nerd" look.

It is definitely worth the visit, especially if you are an Apple fan. Nevertheless, on a warm summer day, the upper floor just gets too warm, so for a longer visit maybe wait a until fall.

Most awaited store openings in Psg. de Gracia Barcelona

Paseo de Gracia, the most luxury shopping street in Barcelona, is always in movement. More and more interesting stores have opened or are in the process of opening. According to the newspaper Lavanguardia this is what we can look forward to for the near future:


The second Apple store in Barcelona will be opened just next to Plaza Catalunya (more precisely on the corner of Paseo de Gracia and Plaza Catalunya). The size is of 3200 square meters and they will be distributed on two floors. The construction of the building of the former bank Banesto is ongoing and the store will most probably be opened in the second semester of 2012.




Apparently Abercrombie & Fitch will be opening a store of 2500 square meters distributed on several floors. They will install themselves in the building of the headquarters of the insurance company Generali, located at Paseo de Gracia, 11 (Paseo de Gracia crossing Gran Vía). The construction has not yet started as the brand is waiting for the licensing they have applied for at the city council.



Mango has during quite some time advertised that a new store is opening on Paseo de Gracia (next to Tiffany & Co., between the streets Diputació and Consell de Cent). Nevertheless, all though the signs have been on the facade for almost a year, there is no news to when exactely the store will actually open. To be continued....

Hollister in Barcelona - part 2

As I before have announced on the blog; Hollister opened their doors in Barcelona last week. This, along with the newly opened Apple shop, I had to go and check out. So along with many, many other people, I decided to spend my Saturday afternoon in the shopping centre, la Maquinista. (To get there, take the red metro line to Sant Andreu).




After arriving my friends and I went directly to the Hollister shop. There, as much expected, two nice looking guys, only wearing red surfer shorts and sunscreen on their noses were standing in the entrance. As we entered, they greeted us with a "Hey, what's up?" with a well studied American accent (not entirely hiding the fact that they were Spanish though).


(unknown girls on the picture)

The shop was darkly lit with a TV screen in the back with a beach and very crowded. I started to search around for the guys who in an American shop just would stand around to say Hi and look good, but to my disappointment all the sales assistants were actually busy selling, and not all of them were that good looking.
I am not really a fan of the clothes, nevertheless, I had a look. The clothes were quite basic, some of it okay, but I would never buy anything in there because of the prices. 40 euros for a normal cardigan and over 20 euros for a basic t-shirt! Yes, sex sells but not to that extent!
Anyways, that was my opinion. A lot of people seemed not to share it as there were long lines by the dressers and by the till. Some of my friends tried to buy some clothes, but after waiting for 20 minutes to try the clothes on and then an additional 15 minutes in the queue without moving one meter, they gave up. So my advice would be, don't visit the shop on weekends!



I also visited the newly opened Apple store. The shop was nice and huge and looked exactly like any Apple shop you would find in the States. The only thing I can say about the shop is that I think it is a shame it is not in the centre of the city.



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From this experience I can only say that I probably won't be taking the trip to La Maquinista before/if Forever 21 opens there.

First Apple store in Spain opens in Barcelona

Great news for all fan boys in Spain; The first Apple store in Spain has finally opened in the Maquinista, Barcelona. It opened yesterday, the 4th of September, and there was a great turnout of Apple fans.

More than 1000 people visited the 1300 square meter store, where they were invited to dounought and coffee. The most nerdy of the crowd even showed up with t-shirts saying "Barcelona 04.08.2010 I was there".

The next Apple shop in Spain will open in Madrid next Saturday.There are already around 35 Apple stores around Europe in countries such as the UK, France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany.

Forever 21 opening in Barcelona

It's seems like it's finally official: Forever 21 will be opening a shop in Barcelona in the beginning of next year. Sources from the real estate sector claims that Forever 21 just signed a lease for a huge shop space of 4000 square meter in the shopping centre Maquinista. This will be their first shop in Spain and the rumours has it that they are also searching for spaces in Madrid.

Another American shop that also recently has signed a lease in the shopping centre Maquinista is Abercrombie & Fitch. They will be opening their sister shop Hollister in a 500 square meter shop space.

There are also rumours that Apple shop might be opening in the same centre.

So with all these exciting new openings why go to the States when you can take a trip to Barcelona and find the same shops!

NY part 1: Shops to visit on 5th avenue

I am back again in Europe from holidays in New York. It was my first visit to the "big apple" and I found the town amazing - so many things to do and see, so little time.

I want to share with you my shopping experience from New York, which will be a series of blogs recommending shops as well as sharing with you what I actually bought there.

This first blog in the series will show you different recommendable shops on the main street, 5th avenue in NY.


5th avenue is known for its exclusive designer shops and the fact that this is very the stars are often spotted shopping. Nevertheless, lately also many high street shops have found there way to 5ht avenue, which means that there are shopping possibilities for everybody.

On the avenue you can find European high street shops H&M and Zara, but I prefer mentioning the typical American shops instead. Also worth mentioning is that in the end of June there are sales almost everywhere, which means that you can get more for less (recommendable time of year for travelling to NY). Especially the high street shops they mark down their products and then they would add an additional discount on the already discounted products.

The first shop which I would recommend a visit to is Abercrombie & Fitch - not so much for the clothes but for the experience.





The shop assistant are all models, male and female! When entering the shop, you get offered to get a polaroid picture taken with one of the models (me and a friend of mine above), which you then get for free as a pretty souvenir. And it continues inside, where there is laud party music and the beautiful models/sales assistant standing around, some half dancing, other smiling friendly to you while asking if you need any help. Not use to getting this much attention from that good looking men, you find your self almost walking around blushing while trying to concentrate on the clothes.
The clothes on the other hand are quite normal/basic "American style" clothes. You will find shirts, tops, short flowery skirts and dresses - in all kind of colours. Not very fashion forward as many of the dresses were the typical all in one skirt plus top dress, and the flowery skirts look like something you could find in H&M. Nevertheless, it is not cheap, the dresses and skirts cost around 50-70 dollars and the shirts are around 50-60 dollars. So I had a look and continued my trip down 5th avenue.

Other typical American shops, which you will find on 5ht avenue and everywhere else are: American Eagle Oufitters, Banana Republic and Gap. All okay shops but all a bit too basic (boring) for my taste (you will see a lot of jeans and tops/shirts in different colours and forms).

If you are a bit tech-neard, have a look in the Apple store. You should think they would had a very upbeat design store, but I have to say that the design is more practical than cool, as you can try all their product on the many wood tables around the big room.
We went by the shop the same day as they released the new Iphone 4 and even though they opened the sales at 7 o´clock in the morning, there were still huge queues in the afternoon and reporters from various TV channels.





Another shop definitely worth visiting is Juicy Couture. Here you will find great decoration, cute accessories and pricey clothes.





If you have a child inside of you or you still think barbie dolls are cool, I have to recommend a visit to the amazing toy store FAO Swartz (next to the Apple store). Here you will find everything for small (and big) children, including a Barbie catwalk, the piano from the Big movie and real sized Chubaka (from Starwars) made out of Lego.





Further down the avenue I also passed this window...


There are many more shops to visit, some affordable others not so much, but going to NY you have to visit the avenue.

My next blog will be about shopping in Soho, also a very recommendable part of the city to see!