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Good, D.C. doesn't deserve an Apple Store.

As a DC resident who lives in Georgetown I am again disappointed with the DC government. This sucks. There are NO Apple stores in the District.

Dec 29, 08 - 07:01 pm Comment from: Wealthy Industrialite

D.C. only gives approval for projects involving free money for really bad baseball teams from Montreal owned by billionaires, haven't you heard?

Dec 29, 08 - 07:06 pm Comment from: Mac-nugget

A country with 233 year history worried about preserving historical buildings. If it was Chichenitza, Giza or a Roman aqueduct we are talking about, I would be worried but a 180 year old building, if that, has little historical value. Maybe if we wait 5000 more years.

Dec 29, 08 - 07:17 pm Comment from: Tommy Boy

Ehh, the Pentagon City, Clarendon, and Bethesda stores are all on the subway. Georgetown isn't. Once again D.C. shows why the suburbs are the real cities.

Sarasota writes, "Good, D.C. doesn't deserve an Apple Store." Well, nuts to you! Not only do we deserve such a store, but it would benefit Apple's penetration here.

When I first heard of plans for that Georgetown store, I wondered WTF! Georgetown is perhaps the *worst* place to put such a store. There's no Metro to Georgetown, parking is sparse, and there's little beyond small shops and clubs. The only location in that neighborhood that makes any sense is the Georgetown Mall, which at least has indoor parking (though traffic to reach it flows like molasses).

A better location would be downtown, near Metro Center or Gallery Place. Lots of people with discretionary income (attorneys, lobbyists, government officials, foundation types), lots of post-university types in easy walking distance, foot traffic even into evening hours. Walk out on your lunch break, come back with new Apple kit. And no problem with "historic preservation" types.

Sarasota should look deep inside his/her miserable soul before passing judgment on an entire metro area.

Dec 29, 08 - 07:31 pm Comment from: ron

Too many robberies in D.C. anyway. Public schools cost more than anywhere else in the US and graduate the least. Pray it never becomes a state. Corrupt government leaking our tax dollars.

No sense in acquiring any Apple products if you can't keep them.

Get a handgun first, and say to hell with that piece of crap mayor.

to a point I agree....I have also seen lots of junkie buildings kept in place because they are historic....there is something to be said for looking to the FUTURE!!!

Oh well. And here I was hoping for some more photo ops of politicians with Apple products.

Dec 29, 08 - 09:14 pm Comment from: qka

If you go to the original Current newspapers article (the one cited by the MDN linked article), the locals approve of this denial.

Apple logo shaped windows? Puh-leeze! Apple has more class than that.

Maybe if we wait 5000 more years.

Considering someone's gonna have to monitor our nuclear waste for the next 10,000 years or so, they might as well keep tabs on our historic places.

@Ron and Shame-
You must not be residents of the District - your ignorance of even the simplest facts are evidence of this. What year are you living in? We've elected 2 fantastic mayors since Barry's reign and the crime rate has gone down. And talk about cities spending money on stadiums - wake up. It happens - and will happen - in any major city that has a team. Why would you wish for ANY city to NOT have an Apple Store? True, I go to Clarendon or Pentahon City, but G'twn is often convenient for a lot of us locals - especially during business hours. And G'twn is a tourist hotspot and would bring some nice scratch to Apple's coffers.

I have to agree with Georgetown on this one. I'm one of those keep-it-historic types and if Apple can't fall in line with that, then they better go find some other venue in DC. Apple should be able to appease with a good clean yet historic design.

Dec 29, 08 - 10:45 pm Comment from: ron

Britney's Pregnant Sister, You wrote nothing about the crap schools and the cost of same. Pathetic. Washington D.C. is the armpit of the USA.

Oh well. I guess DC residents will have to travel an whole mile and half across the Potomac to Clarendon or down to Pentagon City. Both very Metro-accessible unlike Georgetown.

And ironically(?) the CAPTCHA word on this post is "distance".

I have heard, however, that since Barrack and company are taking over DC, Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles will be opening a local franchise!

Georgetown doesn't deserve an Apple Store if this is how they're going to treat Apple. Apple would be much better off putting a store in Dupont Circle/Gallery Place/Penn Quarter/Metro Center than Georgetown.

What a shame...

I'm sorry, . . . I have to go with Georgetown on this one. Preserving historic neighborhoods is a much under-appreciated need for this country. And shame on you dopes who don't know that Georgetown is one of the oldest in the nation. It ranks with Boston, Philadelphia, Williamsburg, Nantucket and Annapolis, for eighteenth century homes and buildings.
And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the first Apple Store the Clarendon location?

Oh, . . . and I forgot to add that I'm a Baltimorean, and Baltimoreans generally have little love lost for the District, . . . but I still have to agree with them on this location. And even Baltimore doesn't have a store in the city. However, I have at least five stores within an hour's drive, including the Clarendon store. . . . I was standing in line when it opened.
I believe Apple should trade this location for one in an actual business-centered neighborhood. It's very true that Georgetown is a very difficult area to find parking.

@ron
Which city - that's not supported by a state - has public schools worth writing home about? And DC has world-class private and pioneering charter schools. Armpit of America? That's what people do who don't understand what they're mouthing off about say about anything they know nothing about - spew sensationalistic garbage. Just because others live in places the rest of re country - let alone world - will ever here about they shouldn't try to take it out on us. Go plan on trapping that troublesome possum - we'll get on with the business of bringing freedom and democracy to the rest of the world (LOL)!

@ron

Hey, calling Washington, DC the armpit of America is an insult to us New Jerseyans. Get it right!

MW: Plan -- as in, I plan to wake up and smell the fresh air tomorrow morning

The microsoft shop would fit right in

Dec 30, 08 - 11:27 am Comment from: lurker

They just need to redesign the store to be "Ye Olde Apple Shoppe" and put the Geniuses in powdered wigs and dress the Concierge like a footman and the plan should sail right through.

Dec 30, 08 - 12:37 pm Comment from: MacBliss

@Applejack

You sir, stand corrected. Glendale CA, store 001, was officially the very first Apple store, as per Apple, Inc.

@lurker
LOL!

Been in DC area going on 30 years and Georgetown would be the last location to consider - too close to the easily accessible Clarendon store, no metro, no parking, too much congestion... Union Station, Gallery Place, baseball stadium, even Adams Morgan are much better locations than the stuck up, drunken traffic jam of Georgetown. Georgetown might have been "cool" ten years ago, now it's just another dead neighborhood with it's hand out. Perfect location for a Microsoft store front.

Dec 30, 08 - 01:35 pm Comment from: Aldebaran

Wow! There's so much hate for DC here! Remember, regular people live in the city too, not just politicians and lobbyists. I love living in DC and have been a resident since 1987.

But I will agree that the Georgetown neighborhood is a terrible location for an Apple store (and I am a Georgetown University alum who knows the area very well). Apple would be *much* better served by opening a store in GalleryPlace/Chinatown/Penn Quarter which has ridiculous amounts of foot traffic with all the museums, trendy restaurants, new shops, and new condos -- not to mention the Verizon Center anchor that made all that prosperity happen. Apple lost an opportunity when AT&T;took over the Benneton space right above the Metro entrance, but it would work even better in the Urban Outfitters space on 7th Street nearby.

Dec 30, 08 - 01:37 pm Comment from: Aldebaran

@MacBliss
Oh yeah -- the first Apple store to open was the Tyson's Corner store in northern Virginia (suburban DC). It may not be store #001 but, because it is on the East Coast, it opened a few hours before the Glendale, CA store.

Dec 30, 08 - 11:33 pm Comment from: KingMel

Apple, get a clue. Get a spot in the Crystal City mall and rake in the customers. Right on the Metro, good dining and sports bars just out the back door.

Lease the Georgetown property to someone else for a few years until the membership of the Georgetown ANC and the Old Georgetown Board changes. Then build it.

Dec 31, 08 - 05:21 pm Comment from: neomonkey

"History" is just another excuse for the weak-minded to live in a fantasy world while ignoring the real world in the present.

Design Nazis are just as bad. Apple went through hell satisfying the control freak rednecks in Germantown, TN (just east of Memphis), and Portland, OR totally denied a permit for an Apple store it the NW district. They lose.