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Since March 2012, Apple's stunning Amsterdam store has been the company's only retail location in Netherlands, but that will change this Saturday, December 7 when the company's Haarlem store opens for business in the city's main shopping district.

apple_store_haarlem.jpg
Haarlem retail store on December 1 (Source: @pbastowski)

The new store is only roughly 20 km from the existing Amsterdam store, leaving the rest of the country still poorly served by Apple retail stores. Apple is however working on a location in The Hague, with Apple having posted job listings for both the Haarlem and Hague locations back in April of this year.

Article Link: Apple's Second Dutch Store Opens in Haarlem on December 7
 
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Find it weird that they open a shop in Haarlem and not Utrecht, Utrecht is much more a student city and at the centre of the country.
 
Haarlem, the worst city to place a second Apple Store in The Netherlands for real.
Rotterdam or Utrecht are much better locations for a new one, or even Groningen or Eindhoven.. but Haarlem, that close to Amsterdam: Really?;
 
Why in Haarlem? Haarlem is not far from Amsterdam, and there's an Apple Store in Amsterdam. It would have been better if they first worked on the Apple Store in The Hague, Utrecht would have been nice too.

edit: the Apple Store in The Hague will open later this month.
 
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Find it weird that they open a shop in Haarlem and not Utrecht, Utrecht is much more a student city and at the centre of the country.

Probably waiting for the city to stop looking like a building site. The old Staffhorst building would make a nice large venue....just a shame it's facing the new 'super ugly' Vredenburg.
 
Utrecht would have made far more sense, it is a very large student city, and it is central to all of the Netherlands.
 
The new store is only roughly 20 km from the existing Amsterdam store, leaving the rest of the country still poorly served by Apple retail stores.

With a country that's only 41k km², I feel these two stores could service the whole country with maybe one more further south.

Driving 30 minutes to service your Apple product isn't that outrageous.
 
Guys, it's very possible that although this will be the second store that opens Apple may have been looking simultaneously to opening stores in some of the locations you've mentioned. There is no fixed time line on these things if you're a company who is very picky on locations within cities. They may have their sights on a very particular neighborhood, mall, shopping district, or even building, and sometimes one deal happens faster than another. Maybe they're waiting for a particular lease to end.

Basically, just because a store opens second does not necessarily mean that Apple thinks it is the second most important place to have a store.
 
With a country that's only 41k km², I feel these two stores could service the whole country with maybe one more further south.

Driving 30 minutes to service your Apple product isn't that outrageous.

Uhm... add two hours and your there...
Yes.. for some people its a 2,5 hour drive to Amsterdam.
Holland is not a circle with its capital (Amsterdam) in the center... :p
But luckily there are some APR's here and there, but Apple Store service and stocking is a lot better!
 
Find it weird that they open a shop in Haarlem and not Utrecht, Utrecht is much more a student city and at the centre of the country.

The reason could be so simple as they the management still has offices in the larger store and they wanted to do their first new store close by so they could supervise. This could be about building up staff. Maybe Apple does NOT want to staff this store with all new-hires and plans to transfer staff from existing store. The new store would then need to be close by.

In short, I think this is more about building staff and management capacity then finding the best retail location.

The Dutch management may have never opened a store before, this might be their first opening, they wanted an easy case first.
 
New York City around 18,5 million people - Three Apple Stores
So the Netherlands 17 million people should have 3 too. But it's strange that Apple choose for Haarlem. Perhaps they originally wanted to place one in Harlem. But due to a typo....


ps. Driving from top north to down south takes around 4 and half hours.
 
Another Haarlem attraction...

Whether or not it was the best choice for a store, if you ever find yourself in Haarlem, for a visit to Apple or otherwise, check out the church with the organ that Mozart (and other famous composers) actually played. It's called both the Grote Kerk and St.-Bavokerk, and the organ was the largest (and maybe best) organ in the world when it was finished in 1738.

There happened to be a recital the evening we were there. And then we found a great Dutch cafe.

Jus' sayin'..... ;)
 
With a country that's only 41k km², I feel these two stores could service the whole country with maybe one more further south.

Driving 30 minutes to service your Apple product isn't that outrageous.
It's still a 2,5 hour drive from Amsterdam to either Groningen in the north or Maastricht in the south. Very few people in the Netherlands are going to be willing to make such a trip just for the sake of visiting a shop. Unlike Americans most Dutch aren't used to traveling hours to get somewhere. This due to the compact nature of the country and its cities.
 
Whether or not it was the best choice for a store, if you ever find yourself in Haarlem, for a visit to Apple or otherwise, check out the church with the organ that Mozart (and other famous composers) actually played. It's called both the Grote Kerk and St.-Bavokerk, and the organ was the largest (and maybe best) organ in the world when it was finished in 1738.

That church was one of the highlights of our trip to the Netherlands a few years back. The rest of Haarlem is pretty high up there on the quaintness scale.

Haarlem does seem an odd choice for another Apple Store when Amsterdam is pretty near by. Maybe they're chasing the tourists that flock there. The theory that they wanted to base it close to Amsterdam for oversight and training purposes could hold water. At least the store in Den Haag will be opening soon, too.
 
Haarlem isn't such an odd choice if you take into account that the city council is sponsoring Apple's second store and research shows that average income per resident in Haarlem is 20% higher than that of Utrecht en Rotterdam combined.
 
Haarlem isn't such an odd choice if you take into account that the city council is sponsoring Apple's second store and research shows that average income per resident in Haarlem is 20% higher than that of Utrecht en Rotterdam combined.

Exactly!
That's the real reason why it's located in Amsterdam and Haarlem in the first place.
And that's why they will never set it in other parts of the country like Utrecht in the first few years. Haarlem is definetly for sure the best place for this store. Especially with Santpoort, Bloemendaal, Heemstede and Aerdenhout next to it, why? Cause people with money.

Second, the city is relativly small and it has a nice old shopping area with Lot's of exclusive stores in old buildings.

The Hague would be my third choice. Den Bosch my fourth. Utrecht my last. Lot's of students without money...
 
Stores

I went to Holland for the first time. Aren't the people nice? Apart from bikes being all and everything (the bikes don't come at you yet from the skies but I'm sure they're working on it) it's such a NICE place. The people are SO friendly. I'm sure that wherever they put an Apple Store the staff will be super-friendly. I stayed in Leiderdorp and had to go to Leiden to get a train to Amsterdam (via Haarlem). Luckily. I am less than a mile away from an Apple Store in the UK but I no longer shop there as there are TOO MANY people. It's not as friendly now. More a place of business.
 
Apple Store in Eindhoven, please! The heart of technology and innovation. The city of Philips. There's already a very attractive location for Apple to settle there. It's called the 'Blob'. Look at this! Perfect place for an Apple Store, if you'd ask me. :rolleyes:

Building on the left, next to Philips.
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