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Tim Cook hopes Apple’s $30 million rehab of D.C.’s Carnegie Library will do more than sell iPhones

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May 3, 2019 at 12:40 p.m. EDT
The Carnegie Library store will be one of 13 high-profile locations across the world that also utilize the company’s “town square” concept. Each local staff offers a bevy of classes for creative types to maximize their Apple products for shooting photographs, editing video or producing music. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)

As a company, Apple is less focused on selling stuff. It doesn’t sell as many iPhones as it once did and is more focused on selling subscriptions and services, none of which require a store for purchases or even consideration.

This is why it is striking that, under chief executive Tim Cook, the company has made it a priority to open a flagship store next week in Washington. Why spend two years and probably more than $30 million renovating the 116-year-old Carnegie Library into an Apple Store?