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Eye opener: Oculus finally unveils stores today

OculusRendering
The stores are finally opening underneath the $4-billion Oculus Transport Hub at the World Trade Center.

BY COLIN MIXSON

The Oculus mall opens for business at last!

Originally slated to open in the spring, the retail component of the grandiose World Trade Center Transportation Hub will finally come online on Tuesday, and will feature dozens of new shops, including the first Apple Store to open in Lower Manhattan.

The mall’s grand opening will, unlike the debut of the transportation hub itself, be accompanied by a day of pomp and performances, which developer Westfield is dubbing Family Day, featuring free activities and performances every hour from noon to 6 p.m.

In addition to the Apple Store, which will open its doors at noon, the 365,000-square-foot retail space — that’s about six football fields — will also host Aesop, Aldo, The Art of Shaving, Banana Republic, Beer Table, Camper, Charles Tyrwhitt, Cole Haan, Designer Eyes, Dune London, Edward Beiner, Fossil, H&M, Hugo Boss, Joe Coffee, London Jewelers, Lacoste, Links of London, Lore Wine and Spirits, Market Lane, Michael Kors, Kate Spade New York, Kit and Ace, Montblanc, Pandora, Sephora, Rituals Cosmetics, Swatch, Thomas Sabo, True Religion, and more.

Along with the Oculus’s retail component, the transportation hub’s first street-level entrance will go online as well Tuesday.

It will be located on the northern end of the hub, near Greenwich and Church Sts.

The Oculus is considered the centerpiece of the WTC Transportation Hub, which links PATH riders underground to nearby Fulton Center’s 11 subway lines.

The Santiago Calatrava-designed Oculus Hub opened in March after numerous delays and with a ballooning $4 billion budget. It was originally slated to open in 2009 and cost around $2 billion. The project was under construction for more than a decade and opened without any celebrations — or retailers — to mark the occasion.