Apple's Only Store in Northern Ireland Relocating Later This Month

We seriously need an official Apple Store in the Republic of Ireland. The resellers are terrible.

Not enough tax breaks in Ireland eh?

That would be other ‘other’ Ireland! This is Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, not the Republic of Ireland.

I strongly suspect the deal here with Apple is the same as with many other American corporates (Amazon, for example) who 'base' in the ROI for tax purposes - the actual execs are based in a swanky London office, and regard the ROI as a weird rural UK backwater of their actual operations and don't bother with it.

The EU execs are based in ROI.

The Cork HQ was the first Apple development outside the US, the entire sales and distribution business outside the US is still based here.

We have a LOT of IT grads here, the tax thing is obviously a bonus but we're also the only English speaking EU country and one of the highest developed/educated countries.

What there’s none in ROI despite their EU HQ being located there?!

Apple started operating in Cork (Ireland) in 1980 and has been growing steadily. It currently employs over 6,000 here but still has no Apple Store in the country. Sigh.
😎🇮🇪☘️

We seriously need an official Apple Store in the Republic of Ireland. The resellers are terrible.

What there’s none in ROI despite their EU HQ being located there?!

That's just the ever-present cloud cover.

Can't see this changing much, it's just getting out of the grotty Victoria Square which, when it launched, was all fancy but malls don't last.

Cornmarket is usually heaving with people and I am betting Apple has also paid the council to sweeten up the Cornmarket area as well - as they do with other places.

I was there at the launch of the last one in 2008, it was a big deal for Belfast to get one but then we hadn't had a reseller for years.

So I got there today and I was very underwhelmed. Victoria Sq store should have been revamped. Far superior location. The new store feels claustrophobic and ordinary. Low head height and very ordinary sized windows. Sad to say this as I have visited loads of the Apple flagship stores all over the globe and many are magical. A downgrade for Belfast and the wrong location. Whoever made the decision should hang their head.