(CNN) -- When Apple pulls the veil off of its newest store on Friday, New Yorkers will get their first glimpse at the classical architecture-meets-computers retail space inside Grand Central Terminal. Behind a temporary black facade, which has teased commuters for weeks with "arriving soon" messages, Apple has been negotiating aggressively and stealthily with contractors and government agencies to quickly secure a favorable deal. The Grand Central outlet is just one of several high-profile stores the company has been readying with characteristic covertness. Interviews with nearly two dozen people involved in the development of upcoming and recently opened U.S. Apple Stores, including the one in Grand Central, provide a look at Apple's unusually furtive way of doing business. These people say Apple sometimes employs uncommon legal tactics, refuses to name itself in public documents and hearings, and has sworn city government officials to secrecy.
@highlight
Details behind Apple's launching of its retail stores reveal a furtive way of doing business
@highlight
Retail executives say Apple's strict secrecy in its store-development process is peculiar
@highlight
Apple is set to open a store Friday inside New York's Grand Central Terminal
@placeholder were conceived as a way for Apple to promote its entire smorgasbord of products and to control their presentation.