Apple developing new atrium-style retail store (with trees!) concept

We’re beginning to think Apple never sleeps, as news comes in claiming the company is about to revise the already extremely successful retail formula it has been running on high streets worldwide.

Mercury News tells us the company intends construction of a new prototype store in downtown Palo Alto, where it is about to move its existing store to a larger space – and there’ll be trees inside the shop.

In a company filed planning application, project developers called the shop “a new prototype for the company.” The report claims, “The facade will be entirely transparent at ground level, vast skylights will flood the store with natural light, and trees will grow inside, fed by the sunlight from above, according to a proposal submitted to the city’s architectural review board.”

Located at 340 University Ave. the building is 86-years old. The architectural review board approved Apple’s plan 3-0, we learn, though the company wasn’t named in the meeting. However, Mercury News sources have confirmed it is Apple making the tree-friendly move.