New Apple stores open in Japan and Mexico City

What you need to know

• Apple has opened two new retail stores.
• Apple Antara is a brand new store in Mexico city.
• Fukuoka store gets rebuild 150 meters away from the previous store.

Apple has this weekend open the door at two of its brand new retail stores across the globe. In Mexico City, Apple Antara was opened in the Polanco disctric of Mexico city. The store opened at 5 p.m. Friday, and features monumental 23-foot tall sliding glass doors. In a statement prior to opening Apple said:

Apple Antara is the first Apple Store of its kind in Latin America, and features a pavilion design. Taking full advantage of Mexico City's mild climate, the large sliding doors open to create a 20-foot-wide entrance to welcome visitors in from the public plaza outside. A thin profile metal roof hovers above limestone-clad walls and curved corner glass panels to create a bright great hall. The interior trees blur the boundary between inside and out, where the community can gather on stone benches in the plaza along Boulevard Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

Meanwhile in Japan, Apple opened the newly rebuilt Fukuoka store, in the city that shares its name on the Northern shore of Japan's Kyushu island. The store has been rebuilt 150 meters away from the previous store, and it features some classic Japanese interior design influences. Fukuoka is the first store in the world to feature a Shoji screen (translucent paper stretched over timber), which bathes the store in natural light. The new Fukuoka store also features a superb bamboo garden.

Both stores will no doubt prove to become fantastic community hubs centred around Apple's product range, but also some of the incredible social events that Apple likes to to host in its stores. Antara's launch was accompanied by a Today at Apple Session with Mexican illustrator and muralist Edgar Flores and a performance by Girl Ultra.