I was in New York City this past weekend, as some friends of mine were having a going-away party. To add a little value to the trip, I decided to take a self-guided tour of Manhattan architecture on Sunday afternoon before making the drive back to my home in Boston.

First off, for anyone interested in taking a tour of the Chrysler Building, don’t bother – the magnificent feat of architecture is completely off-limits to anyone who doesn’t work in the corporate offices which occupy its every floor. But when I walked across the street and into Grand Central Station to gaze upon the main pavilion, I was surprised to see two glowing Apple logos which, at first glance, appeared to be permanently installed in the stone staircases leading up to the balconies. Apart from some flatscreen digital signage throughout the main concourse, there was no “modern ” advertising of any kind, so I was more than intrigued to get a closer look at how Apple had managed to pull it off.

When I got closer, I realized the effect was something of an illusion – the glowing Apples were not backlit within the stone, but rather, built into free-standing glass pedestals – one on either side of the staircases, with no other indicators of why they were there. It was only then that it hit me: I had completely forgotten that Apple had opened a retail store within the historic building just this past December, and these two very, very understated (while undoubtedly still eye-catching) iconic logos were all that was needed to draw me – and everyone else – into climbing those stairs.

We write a lot about how wireless connectivity and mobile devices make anywhere retail a reality of the times, but I’ll admit that I have never seen anything like this before. Once up in the balcony, it was as if the controls of a time machine had gone completely haywire. Overlooking a concourse that opened in 1913, whose rigorous restoration efforts (begun in the 1990’s) have kept it so pristine that anyone with half an imagination can easily picture it teeming with pre WW1 activity and fashion, you can pick yourself up an iPhone 4 and immediately download the Irving Berlin ragtime you subliminally hear playing in the background of your mind. It’s stunning. There’s no other way to describe it.

Apple’s selling format enables it to avoid feeling weird or forced in anyway. The Macs and iPods laid out on tables in the open environment give more of a sense that you’re at a PTA bake sale than a multi-million dollar retail operation. And it’s not just the concept – the execution is flawless. The workforce is its usual you-must-be-kidding employee to customer ratio. The genius bar(s) are tucked off to the wings, and checkout is, of course, something that can happen anywhere upon the balcony. You wonder to yourself, how can this brand manage effectively sell me some of the most advanced consumer electronics available in the modern world in a place where I came for a history lesson and walk away with a laptop, rather than a commemorative tee shirt? And yet they do, and the currency changes hands easier than it would for a paper from a newsboy shouting out headlines about the Lusitania.

We write frequently about Apple here in Paradox Weekly, and I don’t mean to gush, but every time I think this brand can’t get any cooler, it somehow manages to do just that. If you’re ever in New York City and want to see an example of what seamless retail can and will look like, it’s definitely worth seeing this “store “.