End of an Era: Apple Is Closing Its Infinite Loop Store

Early next year, Apple will close the doors on what was technically its first-ever retail operation: the Apple Store at One Infinite Loop.

Apple’s first actual “Apple Store” opened on May 19, 2001, at Tysons Corner shopping center in McLean, Virginia. Apple actually opened two retail stores that day, but since it was on the East Coast, the Tysons Corner location opened first, beating out Apple’s other store in Glendale, California, by a few hours due to time zone differences.

However, before traditional retail stores were even a gleam in Steve Jobs’ eyes — before Jobs even returned to Apple, in fact — the company had another retail operation running in the form of The Company Store in its global headquarters at One Infinite Loop.

The Company Store opened in 1993, and back then, it was the only place in the world where you could buy Apple-branded merchandise. However, it didn’t sell traditional Apple products like Macs but rather stuff like T-shirts, mugs, pens, and even Apple-branded shoes for a brief time.

One Infinite Loop remained Apple’s corporate headquarters until 2017, when it opened ‘Campus 2’ — the incredible new Apple Park. However, The Company Store at One Infinite Loop had gotten a major facelift two years earlier in 2015, turning it into a more traditional Apple Store.

The new Infinite Loop Apple Store continued to sell unique Apple merchandise, but it also added Apple products to the mix, from iPhones to Macs. However, unlike other Apple Stores, it didn’t include a Genius Bar, nor did it sell third-party accessories. It was an Apple-only affair through and through. It was also the first store to adopt the even more open-concept layout that’s now become the standard across nearly all other Apple retail locations.

In the revamp, Apple cut back on the merchandise sold at One Infinite Loop but didn’t abandon it entirely. Instead, it focused on notebooks, coffee mugs, water bottles, pens, and other items made with an aesthetic to match its MacBook lineup, which was featured in silver, Space Gray, and Gold at the time. After the upgrade, the store also began opening on Saturdays; it had previously been only a Monday-to-Friday operation.

Although most of Apple’s operations moved to Apple Park in 2017, some operations remained at the Infinite Loop Campus, which continued to be a pilgrimage site for nostalgic Apple fans looking to see a piece of the company’s history. However, the much newer and more impressive Apple Park Visitor Center has become a much more popular destination, featuring a traditional Apple retail store along with a Caffè Macs snack bar, rooftop patio, and a giant augmented reality model of the entire Apple Park campus.

The Apple Park Visitor Center also sells an assortment of Apple merchandise, but what many folks don’t realize unless they’ve visited both is that the Infinite Loop Store offers a different collection of merch, as Joe Rossignol points out at MacRumors.

Whether those items will find their way over to Apple Park or not is an open question, but the good news is that it appears at least some of the employees at the Infinite Loop Store will. The store will close on January 20, 2024, but Apple told MacRumors that “All of our valued team members will have the opportunity to continue their roles with Apple. We look forward to welcoming our customers at our nearby Apple Park Visitor Center and other locations.” A source informed the publication that employees are being offered the option to relocate to that location and the nearby Apple Valley Fair store.

While Apple will continue to have offices and labs at its Infinite Loop Campus, the store was the only portion open to the public. With it closing, One Infinite Loop will now be an entirely private office building utterly off-limits to visitors. So, if you’re an Apple fan who’s never been to One Infinite Loop, it may be an excellent time to plan a vacation.