Apple Retail Stores - The UK & Toronto In 2005?

[MacRumors]

The Apple Store London - Regent Street (http://www.apple.com/uk/retail/regentstreet/) opens this weekend, along with the announcement (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=98060) of two additional UK stores to open in the near future. In a statement Apple's senior vice president of retail Ron Johnson confirmed the company's plans to expand its European offerings. Johnson could only confirm the Birmingham and Kent stores will open "sometime in 2005", though his manner implied that Apple hopes to open in the new locations early in 2005.

Across the pond, Canada appears to be the next international candidate to receive a brick-and-mortar Apple Store. An email circulated by Apple Canada's National Channel and Business Development Manager reveals that Apple will be opening a new Apple Store based on the Apple Retail Concept in Toronto, Canada by mid-2005.
Apple Canada is announcing today that an Apple Branded Retail Store location will be opening in Toronto, mid year 2005.

Apple currently has ninety-six retail stores in the US, two in Japan, and one opening in London, England this weekend. The stores have been incredibly popular, attracting more than fifty million visitors since the first store was opened in May of 2001.

They provide great hands-on experience for customers, and we welcome the store to Canada as a great complement to our existing distribution channels.

If you have additional questions regarding the Apple Store in Canada, you may direct them to Marion Manalo at mmanalo@apple.com.

[AoWolf]

Good if you live there.

[loneAzdgari]

I live about 45 minutes from Bluewater in Kent! YES!

[virividox]

im an hour by train from birmingham could :)

[andiwm2003]

Good if you live there.

i live in boston right between (10 and 15 min by car) two apple stores and god knows how many comp usa shops with an Apple department. never realized that for other people there is no close by location to get apple stuff and play with all the toys.

there should an apple store in every city worlwide! GO APPLE

andi

[Raid]

I stated here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=1135339&postcount=429) that this story coincides with the completion date for the renovations in Yorkdale Mall, Toronto (store map showing renovated area (http://www.yorkdale.com/03stor/photos/keyplan_large4.gif)). Only one subway stop from my apartment! :D

[CrackedButter]

Boo hoo... I was going to go to that store damnit!

I got important college work to do instead. :(

But I am happy that i'm doing the art work.

[Blue Moon]

I really wish the Negative Nancys of a particular subject would at least explain why they rated the story as such. I'm really curious...what could be bad about more folks having better access to Apple and Apple related merchandise?

[CrackedButter]

I really wish the Negative Nancys of a particular subject would at least explain why they rated the story as such. I'm really curious...what could be bad about more folks having better access to Apple and Apple related merchandise?

Either that, they had wanted the store to open say last year as opposed to it opening now. Maybe that is why they voted it negative.

[aethier]

looks like i will have to go on a road trip from montreal to toronto, for the grand opening

also, for those who know the answer, how many of those apple surprise bags to they have in supply?

aethier

[johnnyjibbs]

I live about 45 minutes from Bluewater in Kent! YES!
Me too - well I live in rural Essex and have to cross the Dartford bridge but I do go there fairly regularly so it'll be brilliant to have an Apple Store there. Bluewater is a really nice mall.

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some Apple Stores in Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle in the near future either, or and maybe Bristol and the Oracle at Reading.

And a Paris store must be a real possibility sometime soon...

[dobbin]

fingers crossed for Bristol (please.....)

[jeffy.dee-lux]

looks like i will have to go on a road trip from montreal to toronto, for the grand opening

aethier

I just emailed Marion Manalo and asked whether montreal is being considered for a future apple store. Also tried to make a bit of a case for that happening too, what with B. Mac sucking and closing anyways.

[serpico]

Hope a Vancouver store is coming soon.

[~Shard~]

Hope a Vancouver store is coming soon.

If Toronto's getting one, Vancouver can't be far behind - I'm surprised in some repsects that Tornto is receiving theirs before Vancouver, actually!

Regardless, both would be far away for me, but hey, at least I can ceck them out when I'm visiting the larger centers!

[XIII]

BLUEWATER! w00t! :p

[swissmann]

Good if you live there.

Agreed. I want one in my state.

[djfern]

BAH. Toronto already has great Mac stores. I hope they open it in the burbs.

[Stella]

I hope Toronto Apple store is in Eaton centre or York Dale and NOT Vaughan - the majority of toronians do not have cars. Any Apple store should be accessible by the TTC. IF apple want to expand outside of the toronto area then Vaughan should come later.

As for the UK. Good to see Apple are opening a store in the centre of the country, Brum, and not just London ( everything just has to go in London, its f??king stupid).


Bristol would be a good location - The causeway (forgotten full name) shopping centre is quite a good place, certainly the best in the South west, by far.

I take it the Negatives to this story are from Yanks who don't want Apple stores in "Far flung corners of the world before their american city has an Apple store) ;-) (Remembering some bitching yank a few months ago).

[Stella]

BAH. Toronto already has great Mac stores. I hope they open it in the burbs.
A few weeks ago I went to the one on Queen East, I was disappointed, though they had a 30" apple display - HUGE!!! Others stores are better. CPUsed is good.

[Sayhey]

Part of the story in Apple's retail announcements today is what Johnson confirmed about other European stores. From the BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4023171.stm)

Apple plans to open stores at the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent and Bullring complex in Birmingham in the next six months. Mr Johnson said there were plans to open stores in continental Europe in 2005.

emphasis added

The confirmation of continental European stores to open in 2005 at yet undisclosed locations is something that should interest mac fans in Paris, Berlin, and other continental capitals.

[bostonwhaler1]

Stella,

Sounds like you went to Carbon Computing... they're pretty good actually. You could also try Computer Systems Centre at the s-w corner of College and Spadina. Not exclusively Mac, but a solid portion, with a lot of good Apple product and 3rd party accessories.

I think Apple should build a stand-alone flagship-type store here.
What am I talking about, of course I think that.

:D

[Tulse]

I hope Toronto Apple store is in Eaton centre or York Dale and NOT Vaughan - the majority of toronians do not have cars.
If you are talking households, I can almost guarantee that that's not true (and I can't imagine you'd say that after riding the DVP or 401 at rush hour). That said, it's true that many folks in the downtown area don't have cars.


Any Apple store should be accessible by the TTC.
That would be great in principle, but there are large portions of the Greater Toronto Area that aren't served by the TTC or any meaningful mass transit. The 'burbs around Toronto are huge, with large populations. It would be foolish of Apple not to address that potential market.

(Just to be clear, I am very pro mass transit, and I don't own a car myself.)

[Abstract]

An Apple store will open at Yorkdale and the new Vaughan Mills shopping mall. Why? Because Yorkdale is the 2nd busiest shopping mall in Canada, and like researchers have already shown Apple, 25% of Canada lives within 100 km of the Vaughan Mills location. ;)

I hope Toronto Apple store is in Eaton centre or York Dale and NOT Vaughan - the majority of toronians do not have cars. Any Apple store should be accessible by the TTC. IF apple want to expand outside of the toronto area then Vaughan should come later.


I take it you don't have a car. :p

[raincoat]

I go to Uni at Birmingham University so am about 10mins from the Bullring where the Apple store is going, Woo Woo!!!! :D

[ineffable27]

Stella,

Sounds like you went to Carbon Computing... they're pretty good actually. You could also try Computer Systems Centre at the s-w corner of College and Spadina. Not exclusively Mac, but a solid portion, with a lot of good Apple product and 3rd party accessories.

I think Apple should build a stand-alone flagship-type store here.
What am I talking about, of course I think that.

:D


Carbon is very nice. Got my excellent tactile pro keyboard there. CSC is nice to browse around in, but when you compare prices to other resellers, CSC is almost always more expensive. CPUsed seems to have among the best prices. North Star has some interesting stuff to gawk at, but also on the $$$ side more often than not. Relatively speaking.

If Apple's Toronto store(s) take customers away from the many great resellers in the downtown Toronto area, that will be a shame. So for that reason I'm glad the first two stores (if rumours re. 2nd store are to be believed) will be in the 905 burbs.

BTW, Apple has a history of screwing over resellers on the way to rolling out their new retail presence (see: archives of thinksecret.com).

[Sharewaredemon]

I am seriously considering moving to Toronto for a Summer simply to work at an Apple store, I would seriously love that job. TO DEATH.

I can't think of a better retail job to have.

Anyway, it's good news that they are putting an Apple store in Toronto soon, as I might get to visit is next time I am there.

BTW I am not sure, but i think i was in CPUsed this summer, it was kindof depressing, seeing all of the g4's they had there, unsold.
:(

[ineffable27]

Another thing about the '905' region: it is by FAR the fastest-growing region in the country and certainly the fastest in the region.

[shabbasuraj]

If and when Apple builds an Apple store in the TDOT then it should be downtown FIRST. Screw York Region.

I am sure many Apple retailers in the city centre will be pissed but hey, that's business.

[ineffable27]

'Downtown' is already blessed with many great apple dealers, with established customer relations. We're spoiled. Let the burbs have a corporate mall gap-with-ipods store. Who needs em?

But hey I look forward to visiting.

(BTW, trivia: a former gap board member was brought on board by Jobs prior to big crank-up of retail strategy.)

[haiggy]

Nice, I'm about an hour away from the Toronto store.


I live in K-W :rolleyes: Just my luck - can't even drive yet. :(

[Yvan256]

i live in boston right between (10 and 15 min by car) two apple stores and god knows how many comp usa shops with an Apple department. never realized that for other people there is no close by location to get apple stuff and play with all the toys.

Why do you think Apple can't sell computers outside of the USA? <g>

[aswitcher]

I hope that Jobs comes to Oz next year. He keeps putting the damn sydney harbour bridge up when he demos stuff...so I guess he plans to make a presense here sometime...

[russed]

what about us northeners in the UK? great there is a shop in london and going to be one in birmingham. great i will only have to travel for 3 hours! yay! manchester has everyone else, why cant they get one or even leeds for that matter.

[Foocha]

I can't believe how long the queue is for the Regents Street Apple Store in London at the moment - I haven't joined it because I believe it's a 5 hour wait!!

[DTG]

I just got back from the London Store opening, I was number 101 in line and had arrived at 7:30pm friday night! By midnight the queue had reached 250 and by 9am in the morning people were talking in the region of 800-1000 folks queueing.

There's a Starbucks just round the corner from the store (on Princes Street) which (or so we were told) was funded by Apple to open it's doors early and supply free coffee (at 6:30am) for us in the queue!

I also got myself a lucky bag which contained:
Airport Express
iSight
Wireless Mouse
Wireless Keyboard
D-Link Bluetooth Dongle
GarageBand Jam Pack
Keynote
.Mac
iLife
ProCare
10% discount card
World Book

Others contained pretty much the same except the iSight was replaced with the inMotion travel speakers for iPod / iPod mini.
No sign of the surprises or limited edition iPod/mini cases either.

Anyone else endure the immense cold of the London streets?

[Sabenth]

iwont be down till next weekend boo whooooo :( wanted to make it but commitments to work prevented me having a nice trip down to london ....


Leeds would be good manchester or even sheffield You know some place were i dont have to travel far MR JOBS ...

[Fitzcaraldo]

Anyone else endure the immense cold of the London streets?

I got there at noon... Still cold but while the queue stretched about half way down princes street, it was moving pretty quickly (15min max).

Alas no Xserve raids in store...

On leaving many beboggled "what are they queuing for" were heard and a few "we will come back latter" by those daunted by what the perceeved as a long wait.

definitely worth a visit.

[JGowan]

I really wish the Negative Nancys of a particular subject would at least explain why they rated the story as such. I'm really curious...what could be bad about more folks having better access to Apple and Apple related merchandise?Because they're PCers -- and they see us "marching to Zion", so to speak.

[monstamac]

I posted my pictures from this morning

http://homepage.mac.com/diddyland/PhotoAlbum27.html

the queue was so long we didnt bother waiting and went straight to the mac expo

[ickoonite]

I'm still in the process of putting them all up, but my deviantART scraps gallery contains my shots from the afternoon - I did actually queue up for about an hour in the freezing cold and then went inside and made use of the free WiFi.

From the outside it is relatively unassuming, but from the inside, it is enormous and a stunning piece of design work. Well worth a visit, if only to see a PowerMac G5 hooked up to a pair of 30" Cinema displays.

Wonderful.

Anyway, my gallery is here (http://ickoonite.deviantart.com/scraps/).

Gareth :)

[n1gth]

Nice photos. (Couldn't see us though!) :(

We were there from 9:15am, got in at 12:30. Managed to get a free t shirt, but didn't bother with the lucky bag - as they'd all gone.

Weird how many people were just there because of iPods, and not Mac OS. I can see a division opening up in the Mac world...

Great day though - it was AMAZING to see the dual 30inch displays working - I played with them, then watched a guy open Safari, and resize it to cover both displays, all the time cackling to himself with joy! :D

[mrzippy]

I live in Kent too, can't wait for a local Apple store.

Only other options are PC World with very poor choice, and John Lewis the department store, but still not that much of a range.

I agree logical choice would be the Bluewater shopping mall, there are several vacant shops there at the moment too!

At the moment I always have to go mail order for apple stuff, either direct or 3rd party stores.

[macspazm]

Most of the state school system uses iBooks yet there is only a scattering of places to buy anything macintosh. :(

[sockeatingdryer]

And yet, we cannot have one in middle or south Georgia.
I'm from Peachtree City (ATL), but people do need to realise there is more than just Atlanta in Georgia... there's Savannah, Athens, Valdosta, Macon, Columbus... and Albany. :rolleyes:

[CrackedButter]

We all know the next Apple store will be in Blackpool!

[JD!]

I hope Toronto Apple store is in Eaton centre or York Dale and NOT Vaughan - the majority of toronians do not have cars. Any Apple store should be accessible by the TTC. IF apple want to expand outside of the toronto area then Vaughan should come later.

As for the UK. Good to see Apple are opening a store in the centre of the country, Brum, and not just London ( everything just has to go in London, its f??king stupid).


Bristol would be a good location - The causeway (forgotten full name) shopping centre is quite a good place, certainly the best in the South west, by far.

I take it the Negatives to this story are from Yanks who don't want Apple stores in "Far flung corners of the world before their american city has an Apple store) ;-) (Remembering some bitching yank a few months ago).

[JD!]

[QUOTE=Stella]I hope Toronto Apple store is in Eaton centre or York Dale and NOT Vaughan - the majority of toronians do not have cars.

The majority of Torontonians dont have cars?!?!?!?!?! What are those tens of thousands of big metal things on the roads every frikkin day?

[JD!]

[QUOTE=~Shard~]If Toronto's getting one, Vancouver can't be far behind - I'm surprised in some repsects that Tornto is receiving theirs before Vancouver, actually!

In what respects are you surprised? Toronto has a much larger professional TV and film base for the pro side and a larger population. So why should Vancouver even be considered???

[MikeH]

The BBC website had a story about the Apple Store in London:

[URL=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4028363.stm[/URL]

5,000 in the queue? That's longer than I'd wait...

Nice to have one here in the UK though.

[dotmike]

it was AMAZING to see the dual 30inch displays working - I played with them, then watched a guy open Safari, and resize it to cover both displays, all the time cackling to himself with joy! :D

That's quite a resize operation... Now I know why the lights flickered in central London yesterday afternoon!

[maya]

Great Apple Store is coming to Toronto, just when I am about to move out of this city. What rotten luck. :P

This months sucks. :P

[LordAuslander]

A few weeks ago I went to the one on Queen East, I was disappointed, though they had a 30" apple display - HUGE!!! Others stores are better. CPUsed is good.

Ever since Jamie Andres left Computer Systems Centre (college and spadina) i've taken less and less business there, since the remaining staff are a little, well, snobbish.

I have to do purchasing for my work, and the number of times I've walked in with company card in one hand and a $10,000 shopping list in the other and literally had to wait around for sales people who, as best as I could tell, weren't helping any other customers is, as you might expect, a big problem for me.

I tend to go to NorthStar a lot now (Bay and Elm). They're open till midnight, the staff are nice, and they are a lot more apple centric, whereas CSC has that whole nasty "Redmondized" part of the store.

[LordAuslander]

Another thing about the '905' region: it is by FAR the fastest-growing region in the country and certainly the fastest in the region.

I grew up in 905. No matter what anyone tries to say about 905 to make it sound nice, I have one word for you... "Oshawa".

As long as Oshawa is in the 905, the 905 is, will be, and always will be, a dive.

Now, if you make a new area code for Oshawa, then I'll agree that 905 has some comfy places. Bowmanville is kinda nice. I grew up in Whitby, and it was decent enough.

But Oshawa, it just brings the whole thing down.

Hamilton too.

Both of those places should be bombed, bull dozed, and started over.

[maya]

That's quite a resize operation... Now I know why the lights flickered in central London yesterday afternoon!

Yep, those 30 incher's together or by themselves are HUGH, quite sick to be honest. :D

I mean wow those things look digital painters canvases, and remember artists are poppers, rotf joking :D

None the less where does the industry see the limit for larg(er) lcd HD screens for use with computers. 45 inches in my opinion is VERY VERY large the brightness alone hurts the eyes even with it turned down. And that is on a 17 inch lcd. :p

All this is madness a 20 inch HD screen is perfect I guess then again we all have our own preferences. :)

[iChan]

Dublin please!!!!

[DTG]

I know what you mean about those 30" screens. They are in fact enormous.

In comparison, the 20" screens look absolutely pathetic despite 20" being considered quite big by most people's standards.
Makes you wonder where your money is going.

[iProbot]

Dublin please!!!!

Nairobi first!!!!

[~Shard~]

I think I'm actually in a better position than some of you. You see, some of you live in larger, major cities which could easily have an Apple Store - so for you, it is frustrating having to wait, wondering when you might get one, since you most likely (eventually) will. However for me, I know right now that my city is NEVER going to receive an Apple Store, so I don't have to worry about playing the frustrating waiting game. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll just have to visit Apple Stores when I'm traveling, whether it's visiting my friends in London, my brother in New York, driving south into the States, or hopefully in the future, going through Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, etc. here in Canada. Hmm, or I suppose I could always move too... :cool:

[chrisblore]

And I thought John Lewis had a good selection of Macs and Apple goodies! Can't wait for them to open a store in Bluewater themselves and then maybe I can beg my nan to lend me some money to buy an iMac 20" :D . I know, I could just buy it from John Lews or the Apple Store online, but she'd rather wait until we can get to the real thing in person - I can see a trip to Regent's Street coming up very soon!

[AdeFowler]

I'm in Kent so can't wait for the Bluewater store. I wonder how big it'll be; maybe just a mini-store :o

Apple must have agreed on the site as they rarely announce anything; time for a trip to Bluewater to do some AppStore spotting :)

[mightyskin]

When I realised I could catch my train to london from Moor Street Station (next to my bus stop) instead of traipsing across town I suddenly had 40 minutes to spare and I was right next to the Bull Ring. As I had apple stores on my brain (guess why i was going to london) i thought lets see if i can go apple store hunting in brum. A bit of detective work and i found it was going to be in the location of what used to be Clinton Cards which was on the third floor.
Well basically I got the escalators up there had a quick look around and took a few photos. I have to confess being a newbie I'm not exactly sure the best way to put the photos on here - what i've done is attached them to this message (i could work out what to do with the "attach image" button) - if this doesnt work or its not considered the way to do this please let me know and i will correct.
Altogether I took 8 images. Images 1 and 2 are basically photos of the store front. Obviously just an empty store front at the moment. The store is no where near the size of the one in london. The width can be determined by the size of the doors seen in the picture. You could probably get a sense of the depth by looking at adjacent stores (didnt have time to look). I assume that Apple will probably use both floors that are available.Picture 3 gives a view of the store from the side.
Pictures 4 and 5 show the 2 stores adjacent. To the left is a Gap store that from memory is about twice the size of the apple store. To the right is a H&M store
Pictures 6,7, & 8 show the view looking out. Picture 6 looking to the left and the entrance that leads towards the high street/new street (although 3rd floor it is ground level towrds this entrance
Picture 7 is looking to the right. Across the drop just to the left of the central drop is a Dixons store. Picture 8 just shows the store opposite.

[mightyskin]

The fional 3 pics. Sorry the numbers dont relate to the pic order but you should be able to suss out which is which

[karlb]

fingers crossed for Bristol (please.....)

There is an apple store in Bristol, UK. It's across from temple meads station.

[thequicksilver]

Good work mightyskin. I'm in Wolverhampton, so I can't wait for the Bullring store to open. (I desperately want a Lucky Bag. :))

[shabbasuraj]

[QUOTE=Abstract]An Apple store will open at Yorkdale and the new Vaughan Mills shopping mall. Why? Because Yorkdale is the 2nd busiest shopping mall in Canada, and like researchers have already shown Apple, 25% of Canada lives within 100 km of the Vaughan Mills location. ;)

Honestly though, the new Vaughn Mills mall selection of stores is really nothing to be desired. Aside from Bass Pro, many of those stores are not that special especially when compared to either Yorkdale or Eaton Centre. i.e., any strip mall has the same selection of goods. (At least I think so).

Thus, I vote the new Apple store go downtown first where Apple can get the real widespread exposure it deserves, in the Dominion of Ontario.

[fatbarstard]

Well I can say for one that I doubt that an Apple store will ever open in my town. Being just over 1 million people in a country of jsut over 4 million... but the nearest real 'big' city is Sydney and I suspect that Apple will be looking to open a store there sometime in the next 18 months... maybe one in Melbourne as well...

Given the reports about the London store opening I think there is an opportunity to run a book on the number of people expected at the next store opening... Ladbrokes in the UK must be up from pricing a wager or two in this direction?? You could argue that it is a form of sport - maybe a bet on the British fascination with standing in queues??

meanwhile I will have to settle for Harvey Norman... useless staff and crap layout of stores - pile it high and sell it not so very cheap... and their ads really really suck...
;)

[SimonAnorak]

When I realised I could catch my train to london from Moor Street Station (next to my bus stop) instead of traipsing across town I suddenly had 40 minutes to spare and I was right next to the Bull Ring. As I had apple stores on my brain (guess why i was going to london) i thought lets see if i can go apple store hunting in brum. A bit of detective work and i found it was going to be in the location of what used to be Clinton Cards which was on the third floor.
Well basically I got the escalators up there had a quick look around and took a few photos. I have to confess being a newbie I'm not exactly sure the best way to put the photos on here - what i've done is attached them to this message (i could work out what to do with the "attach image" button) - if this doesnt work or its not considered the way to do this please let me know and i will correct.
Altogether I took 8 images. Images 1 and 2 are basically photos of the store front. Obviously just an empty store front at the moment. The store is no where near the size of the one in london. The width can be determined by the size of the doors seen in the picture. You could probably get a sense of the depth by looking at adjacent stores (didnt have time to look). I assume that Apple will probably use both floors that are available.Picture 3 gives a view of the store from the side.
Pictures 4 and 5 show the 2 stores adjacent. To the left is a Gap store that from memory is about twice the size of the apple store. To the right is a H&M store
Pictures 6,7, & 8 show the view looking out. Picture 6 looking to the left and the entrance that leads towards the high street/new street (although 3rd floor it is ground level towrds this entrance
Picture 7 is looking to the right. Across the drop just to the left of the central drop is a Dixons store. Picture 8 just shows the store opposite.


Hello all, first post time! :eek:

Are you sure that is the exact unit in the Bull Ring? It's a bit disappointing sizewise or will in be one of these new fangled mini stores? Hope not!

Cheers,

Simon

[johnnyjibbs]

Realistically, we can't expect the Birmingham and Bluewater stores to be that big - because the big one has just opened in London (biggest in the world in fact). Not sure about the Birmingham one, but I expect the Bluewater store will be just a single floor.

[Agent Smith]

BAH. Toronto already has great Mac stores. I hope they open it in the burbs.

No!!! If anything, it should be opened in North T.O. Two of the best Apple resellers are in Mississauga and Oakville; Red Tag Computers and Canadian Computers respectively. I guess if it were to be in the 'burbs, then Markham or the Shwa'd be good (not knowing the reseller situation in the east... :) )

[feature]

looks like i will have to go on a road trip from montreal to toronto, for the grand opening

also, for those who know the answer, how many of those apple surprise bags to they have in supply?

aethier

Ditto...how long before we get one in Montreal...i've got the over/under at 3 years...

[SilvorX]

[QUOTE=~Shard~]If Toronto's getting one, Vancouver can't be far behind - I'm surprised in some repsects that Tornto is receiving theirs before Vancouver, actually!

In what respects are you surprised? Toronto has a much larger professional TV and film base for the pro side and a larger population. So why should Vancouver even be considered???
toronto vs west debate time lol

I'dd love to see an apple store in manitoba, although it'll never happen, although many of the school divisions in manitoba are mainly mac based, including the school divsion i used to go to school in.. it's not that hard to find a mac user out here.. hard to believe.. it just needs the right spots to look.

I thought there was going to be an apple store in montreal.. hmm guess not

but to me, torontonians and vancouverites (or whatever they are) are the most "sheltered" people in canada.. meaning that they think they're the whole nation on their own.. sure toronto has 4 million ppl alone but meh.. i love living in the middle of nowhere :)

[Windowlicker]

Great day though - it was AMAZING to see the dual 30inch displays working - I played with them, then watched a guy open Safari, and resize it to cover both displays, all the time cackling to himself with joy! :D

I can imagine.. We have one 30" (and a 23") connected to a G5 at work.. Even that is amazing. Was pretty nice to play UT2004 on the 30" display!! ;D

[JJS]

Toronto:

I can't see Apple using any other location aside from Yorkdale or Eatons Centre, possible (slim) runners up would be Fairview mall or Bayview village.. All the Apple stores I've ever been to are all in high ends malls. Vaughan Mills shopping mall is NOT a high end mall, I would be shocked. Stand-alone location in the core would be nice but I think there are too many good Mac stores in that area (also why Yorkdale I think is the #1 location). Lets see.

Waiting with baited for the itunes store!

[~Shard~]

In what respects are you surprised? Toronto has a much larger professional TV and film base for the pro side and a larger population. So why should Vancouver even be considered???

Well, without getting into the whole "west vs. east" debate, Toronto seems to have more of a simple, straight-forward, business-minded, "corporate", "commercial", call it what you will, mindset. But Vancouver's got the Pacific Ocean, the Island, The Rockies, etc. etc. - just more of a laid-back attitude from my experience. Also from my experience, a large number of Torontonians I have met, (friends, family, business partners, strangers), seem to think they are the center of Canada and have a somewhat arrogant attitude - it seems to me like Toronto is trying to be like a New York, London, Syndey, etc., but instead is just a wannabe world capital. Well, Toronto has the smog, pollution and higher costs associated with those bigger cities at least, that's a start I suppose... :p (I could go on about the horrid state of Toronto's air and how it's practically unhealthy to live there, but that's a topic for another thread...) From my experience, Vancouver, although very costly as well, just has more of that "think different" mentality which Toronto is lacking in my opinion.

Just speaking from my experiences of course, you're free to disagree. :)

Lastly, you need to use "[/QUOTE]" to close quotes properly - just a word of advice for ya. ;)

[ASP272]

I wonder if they will put the Apple Store by the Skydome in Toronto? Always a prime location for cool stores. But I'm still bummed they're not building this moment in Nashville! :(

[ineffable27]

Toronto:

... All the Apple stores I've ever been to are all in high end malls. Vaughan Mills shopping mall is NOT a high end mall, I would be shocked. Stand-alone location in the core would be nice but I think there are too many good Mac stores in that area (also why Yorkdale I think is the #1 location). Lets see.

Rumour has it that the 2nd Toronto Apple store will be in the brand new Vaughan Mills mall. So says Appleinsider or Thinksecret or one of those sites. Season with salt to taste.

[B. McKechnie]

Apple Canada has recently added a Retail Job Opp. section to apple.ca. It appears that the Apple store will be in Yorkdale Mall.

http://www.apple.com/ca/retail/jobs/

[mightyskin]

Walked past the site of the new apple store in birmingham (pictures of location on page 3) and noticed that there is now a couple of large signs in the window - black background white/silver apples and the words coming soon. Did nt have time to stop and look in, xmas shopping and all that, but there did not appear to be much activity inside. Wondering if anyone knows from previous experience how long before opening this happens??

[autopilot]

...But Vancouver's got the Pacific Ocean, the Island, The Rockies, etc. etc...

since when do oceans, islands and mountains use computers? ;)

seriously, though. i think by going to toronto first they're targeting the mass population. vancouver and montreal are surely not far behind.

i agree with you that vancouver has a seemingly nicer attitude... and weather! -13 today in the T-dot, and i'm a TTC-er to boot! :mad: argh... bring on the move to van!!!

[~Shard~]

since when do oceans, islands and mountains use computers? ;)

seriously, though. i think by going to toronto first they're targeting the mass population. vancouver and montreal are surely not far behind.

i agree with you that vancouver has a seemingly nicer attitude... and weather! -13 today in the T-dot, and i'm a TTC-er to boot! :mad: argh... bring on the move to van!!!

Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what it is as well - Montreal and Van won't be far behind. And yah, I was just referring to the overall atmosphere out there, geographical and attitude-wise - muchnicer than Toronto, but that's just my take on it. ;) :cool:

[maya]

Just be glad no one here lives in Timmins, Ontario. Its -45 degrees that includes the WindChill factor. :(

[~Shard~]

Just be glad no one here lives in Timmins, Ontario. Its -45 degrees that includes the WindChill factor. :(

Yikes, and I thought we had it bad here.... :eek: Ah well, we'll be getting weather pretty clsoe to that anytime soon now I'm expecting...