[usurp]

I passed by an old Apple Store today. I used to pass by this store back when I was still in highschool. I used to admire the macs they had on display and always beg my parents to buy me one.. which they never did.

Surprisingly the store hasn't changed much.

It was freaky checking out the place from the outside. It's as if the shop was stuck in its own time-zone. The shop seems to have been closed ages ago. A thick layer of dust sits on top of everything. What struck me the most though were the Think Different banners. They're gorgeous and seeing them in the store window gathering dust and being unappreciated pissed me off. I tried looking for the shop number so I could call maybe the main office and ask if I could have the banners but I couldn't find anything, only a note saying that i should go to the 1st floor of the building for the Apple workshop. The main building door was locked though and the whole place seemed abandoned. Its as if they building was going to get demolished soon.. like the other old building in the area. It would be a real shame if they threw these banners away.

I contacted the "Apple Guru", the only person I trust in fixing my macs. He told me he used to work at the shop years ago and that mac dealer hasn't been doing good for ages. He gave me a number and a person I could contact about the banners. There is a holiday now so I will be contacting the guy once its over.

I really want these banners!

here are the pictures
http://www.unex-t.com/applestore

[Paul]

those posters are worth $$$$

applenut knows exactly how much tho...

[drewprops]

yeah, let us know if you're able to get the banners. Take some more shots of the shop if you get a chance. We can photoshop Charlton Heston standing in the middle yelling "iMac Green is.... 400Mhz!!!!!!!".

[usurp]

what kind of other shots would you need? the place is walking distance from my office so i can pass by during my lunches. i will probably be passing by every now and then. the place is soo quiet, it honestly feels like i am visiting a grave.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by usurp what kind of other shots would you need? the place is walking distance from my office so i can pass by during my lunches. i will probably be passing by every now and then. the place is soo quiet, it honestly feels like i am visiting a grave.

Break in and take the posters.

[usurp]

you know, i tried opening the door and for a second i thought it was open. its only locked from the bottom so the door is very weak. only issue is i think too many people now know i want the poster lol... http://www.gizmodo.net/#abandoned-ku...e-store-030051

[stoo]

PowerMac 7500 there (newer than Gulf War v1, as is Think Different). Any idea why it's deserted?

[usurp]

yeah its after 1990. during the invasion everything was ransacked.
in kuwait there are now 3 official mac dealers. this guy was the oldest and first. he sold macs at very high prices. I guess when the other 2 dealers appeared his business started going downhill and now they just stopped or something. once the holiday is over (i think sunday is last day) i will be calling them up.

[psmith2.0]

What cool pictures!

Pre iAqua era, which, frankly, seems like decades ago. The rainbow logo, the beige machines, those old Think Different folks, the Garamond typeface, etc. That's the Apple that existed when I started using Macs (1993).



That would be a bit like an eerie graveyard. It is truly like something stopped in time. But because of what it is, it holds a strong appeal for us. My gosh, if you could get those posters somehow, you'd be set!



If nothing else, keep them yourself for a good story to tell. If you have a spare bedroom, hang them in there. And print out the pictures of them hanging in the store and mount those beside the real, life-size poster...giving it a sense of place and time.

"Here's where this Picasso poster used to hang...notice the rubble. Here it is now, on the wall in front of you."

[murbot]

Originally Posted by drewprops yeah, let us know if you're able to get the banners. Take some more shots of the shop if you get a chance. We can photoshop Charlton Heston standing in the middle yelling "iMac Green is.... 400Mhz!!!!!!!".

Always on the lookout to get a movie reference in, eh man?

[Chinney]

The little Apple reseller, right around the corner from where I live, closed down in early 2002 about 6 months after I bought my Mac. There is something sad about an abandoned Apple store. Another store (not Apple, unfortunately) opened at that space about 6 weeks later, so the abandoned look did not last for long. However, a large, already-outdated banner � advertising the G3 iMac (I think it was the �Think Different. Comes in Different Flavors� banner) hung on the side of the building until well into 2004. I hated and loved that banner. On one hand, it suggested that Apple was still selling outdated product. On the other hand, I liked those flavours, I liked that advertisement, and I still like my iMac G3.

[Luca]

The posters could be worth more than the old Macs. Of course the looters wouldn't know that!

[usurp]

its not about the money. i would just love to have these banners up in my apartment. They had 4 banners, the 3 you can see in the pictures, and the 4th is of ghandi but the picture came out blurry so i didnt post it.

i could have 2 on one wall and 2 on the other. that would be so awesome!

but seriously now, i am considering breaking in. i mean how hard could it be to break the lock without breaking the glass door... i should google how to pick locks..

[HHogan]

Reminds me of the scene in Office Space where they look up Money laundrying in the dictionary.

"Google search: Lockpick"

lol

[bearsclover]

Wow, thanks for sharing these photos. It is very eerie, like stepping into a time capsule.

Early-mid '90s were way before my time (Apple-wise) so I don't have any nostalgiac feelings about the Macs from that time. So it is fascinating to me in sort of a historical context.

I wish you well in snagging the posters, but be really careful!

[Random Hero]

Seriously, kick the door open and clean that place out it looks like there is oodles of goodies in there. If it wasn't in Kuwait I'd be all about that.

[Igorot Warrior]

Thanks for the pics....I saw a an old Carmen San Diego game in the shop....brings back memories of Junior High.

[adam_tj]

That's just creepy. What happened to the store? Did Apple own it? And what happened to all the monitors? I'm guessing they showed off the 7100's with monitors, right?

[johnq]

Wait, what's up with the Apple logos. The color is wrong in some of them Are some hand-painted?


I like the rainbow railings. For bicycles do you suppose?

[ixocean]

Isn't there some number listed on the building for the property manager? My guess is that if you told them how much you like Apple posters (don't say a PEEP about monetary value, or you'll never lay a hand on them) you might just get lucky and a bleeding heart will give them to you, especially if the tenant abandoned the place owing rent, etc. Give it a try, it can't hurt!

[SonOfSylvanus]

Did you get on the frontpage of Cult of Mac?

[usurp]

yeah got on the front page of cult of mac, gizmodo, powerpage and the unofficial apple weblog. cool shit. i am just hoping now no other mac addict in kuwait saw the pictures so i dont have any competition while trying to get the banners.. i should be making the call tomorrow, i hope it works out.

[SonOfSylvanus]

Heh heh. Report back!

[czarina_x]

whoa,
that is pretty eerie.
Have you seen the film, "enemy at the gates"? There's a whole bunch of scenes filmed in an adandoned department store, it's just creepy, because you know people used to shop there, and everything is how it was, but with the obvious signs of war, like the chandelier is all smashed up, and the mannequins have bullet holes in them, the jackets are singed, etc. But yeah, it was a bustling shopping centre once, then suddenly, just abandoned...

[BarracksSi]

Originally Posted by johnq Wait, what's up with the Apple logos. The color is wrong in some of them Are some hand-painted?

The logos on the outside pillars? They look faded.

Get that store opened up, usurp. No use having all that stuff disappear when you're enough of a Machead to know their importance.

[johnq]

Originally Posted by BarracksSi The logos on the outside pillars? They look faded.

I know faded, that's not faded.

I'm talking about:

green, yellow, orange, red, blue, skyblue


vs.

green, yellow, orange, red, skyblue, blue


vs.

The proper Apple colors were:
green, yellow, orange, red, purple, blue

The main signs are right:


I'll chalk it up to some local sign company getting it wrong at the time.

[usurp]

ok, just a quick update. i called the number i got from the Apple guru. I spoke to a guy and told him i wanted the banners. he cracked up laughing (i dont know why) and then he asked me what i wanted to do with them. I told him cuz i wanted to put them in my apartment. He laughed again (ok.. whats so funny?) anyway he took my name and number and he will call me back. when he does i will try to get a bit more info off him on when the store closed and why etc..

[usurp]

MORE UPDATES

During my lunch hour I decided to go back to the Apple Store and take a better look now that the shock and awe had settled down.

I also wanted to try and see if the building door might be open today so i can go up to the first floor to where the apple offices should be at.

When I go there I tried to open the buildings door and it opened. I was surprised because i thought the building was going to get demolished.

So i went into the building and got into an extremely tiny and claustrophobic elevator up to the first floor. When I stepped out I found 2 signs with the old apple logo on them. VERY COOL.





So I walked into the office and it was empty. But everywhere I seemed to lay my eyes there was something that was branded with the old apple colors. The large sticker on the main office entrance door, the old think different 70x100 poster, the apple badges on all the doors, the old directors chair with the apple logo, even the mousepads.





I walked into the back room and I spotted 2 guys there. I started talking to them and it turned out one of them was the guy i had spoken to earlier in the morning. This guy turned out to be cool. very old school, and very nice. We started talking about the banners, he told me he would have to check since a person once offered a ridiculous amount of money for the Directors chair and the owner refused to sell. That wasnt very assuring. When he asked me which banner i wanted and I told him 4 of the 5 (2 are duplicates) he seemed a bit shocked.. also not a good sign.

We continued talking about Apple when i started asking him questions about the store. Believe it or not, the store has been closed for only a year! I found that hard to believe. 1 year?? i told him the place looked like it was stuck in the 90s. He then started telling me about how things became the way they were.

Basically they were the first Apple Retailer to open in Kuwait back in the early 80s. Apple caters to a minority group. In the States, a minority group could still include millions of people. In Kuwait with a population of around 3 million, a minority group becomes a handful of people. Business was never good and it was never a money maker. Then when you think nothing worst could happen, 2 other Apple retailers opened in Kuwait and started to cater to this small group of mac users. This just fucked things up as you can imagine. 3 retailers in such a small market is not very feasible. Last year the owner decided to close the shop and just keep the office open. And today thats all that remains.

Its a very sad story. I know the 2 other apple retailers really well and they also aren't doing very good. But atleast the old school guys from the workshops are still in contact with each other. They are a very friendly group of Mac addicts. On my way out the guy gave me a brand new old school mouse pad, a very nice parting gift. He will keep me posted on the banners, i hope it does work out.

[rampancy]

Whoa, that's awesome, Usurp.

I'm puzzled by one thing, though: was this guy just an authorized dealer or was in some way connected to Apple? I'm asking because it seems like he had a lot of office space, as if he had a pretty sizable operation there; I didn't think most retail stores needed a lot of that.

Pity about the other two dealers though. Is there any possibility they could perhaps all join forces?

[rasmits]

It's been there for that long and no one has looted it yet?! Mother of god...

I love seeing stuff like that though, that's really awesome.