Steve Jobs Thought The Area Amazon Picked For Its New Store Wasn't Fancy Enough For Apple

Big news dropped on Thursday when The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon has plans to open a physical store in New York City. The proposed location for the store is on 34th Street in Manhattan, across from the Empire State Building.

Apple once eyed the same area for a store of its own, but Steve Jobs put a kibosh on the plans because he didn't like the location.

In 2008, the New York Post said Apple ditched plans to open a store on 34th Street, diagonally across from the Empire State Building, because Jobs didn't think it was nice enough.

"But Steve Jobs soon decided he didn't want a store there after all," the New York Post reports. "One source said he looked at a run-down building across the street and said, 'This is not for Apple.'"

Granted, Amazon's rumored spot will be 7 West 34th Street and Apple was slotted for 21 West 34th Street - and this comment was made six years ago - but is still represents an interesting distinction.

As The Wall Street Journal points out, Apple's current flagship store on 5th Avenue is in a much fancier area. For comparison, rent in the 34th Street shopping area, where Amazon's store will be, is about $775 a square foot, compared to $2,749 per square foot where Apple has its store.

Jobs wanted his story to represent luxury, while Bezos likely picked the 34th Street spot because of the areas huge amount of foot traffic and reputation for shopping.

(Hat-tip to Dan Fromer, who tweeted the old New York Post story.)

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.