Clearing part of Fed Square better than 'toasted' Apple store in Sydney: Andrews
How much of your city would you knock down to prevent another city from having a badly designed temple to consumerism? In the case of Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, it seems we have yet to find the limit of such a proposition.
In mid December, it was proposed that a "flagship" Apple store would be opened in Melbourne's iconic Federation Square, a plan that requires the demolition of a number of buildings to make way for it.
On Wednesday, Andrews said the controversial plan has the support of the Victorian Labor government.
More than 50,000 people have signed a petition against the plan to knock down the Yarra Building, but Andrews said the Apple store has the backing of Federation Square's original architect.
"Not everybody agrees with this, but would people have really preferred us to have said 'no, absolutely not, go and put your iconic Apple store up in Sydney?'" the premier told journalists on Wednesday.
The illustrations of the proposed store released last year show it to bears a striking resemblance to the humble toasted sandwich.
In September last year, Apple decided its new retail stores would be called Town Squares, a cross between a retail store and an education centre, wrapped up in a plaza-like package that is similar to Apple Park, the giant's new Silicon Valley headquarters.
The new stores will also have "Genius Grove", a redesigned "Genius Bar", and a new experience dubbed "Today at Apple".
"We think of Apple Retail as Apple's largest product," Apple's senior vice president of retail Angela Ahrendts said at the time.
With AAP
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