First Canadian Apple Store

[aethier]

In Theory it would because montreal is the Multimedia city. B-mac just close last year for lack of sales. Compusmart and Microserv (both own by hartco) are the only one who resells apple product.

The lack of sells a Bmac was not due to a small market but due to the fact that B.Mac was the bigest hunk of **** in the world. they claimed to me "mac specialists" yet never had anything in stock, what they had as display models was always previous generation etc. whereas compusmart , who is not a 'mac only' store, has more mac stock then all the bmacs combined. they also have display models that are upto date with many models of each, in different configurations. plus their sales people actually know what they are talking about. anyway montreal would get an apple store before vancouver because is demand (for more apple stores) plus we are also the second largest city in canada

 

[Dave K]

4. Toronto City Centre (Flagship on Queen St. or in Eaton Centre)

I'm not saying Toronto twice because I live here, it's just I've seen the black plywood, I've seen the size of the store, and I know how from from downtown Yorkdale is. It would be a perfect setup to have a second, very high profile store in the city centre.

Downtown Toronto has an extremely high concentration of well established Mac resellers. Don't really need an Apple Store down there.

 

[superfunkomatic]

this is great for canadian apple users. finally we can buy direct from the source, and get support from a local store. hopefully they move into other markets like calgary. it'll definitely wake up the slumbering apple dealers here in calgary - their support has always been sub-par, maybe a little competition will do them some good. it also lets apple control all aspects of marketing their products, no middle man, no miscommunications with clients - straight from the horse's mouth - so to speak.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

I wonder how far they will go with retail stores. Obviously as far as it remains profitable. I'm just curious how many that will be.

I think Apple might try and run as many as 500 stores in various countries by 2010. If there's one thing Apple doesn't need right now, it's another Apple Store in California - they've got enough of those for now, and should focus their USA efforts in areas lacking coverage, such as Alaska, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Wyoming. As far as international stores go, I think any country with at least 1% of Apple's customer base is fair game for an Apple Store there.

 

[From Win to Mac]

3. Montreal Saint Claire (? heard from a friend, not familiar with Montreal)

You mean in Pointe-Claire ? It is in the West Island of Montreal.

Pointe-Claire ? doubt it, he probably meant Sainte-Catherine. Anyways that's the logical downtown place, unless they put one at Rockland or Marché Central. The West Island is way too far

 

[Ringo]

found a map on the shopping center website look like apple gonna get that big empty space

 

[Raid]

I've seen the black plywood, I've seen the size of the store

For those of you who may not be following the other thread that shows the black plywood (and subsequent discussions about it's validity). I have to go to Yorkdale tonight anyway, so I'll take a tour and my digital camera to see if I can verify this once and for all...

 

[jkeithh]

Yay for Canada.
Meh for the rest of us.
I want a store where I live

I totally agree.

 

[gmark2000]

A couple people have reported on ehMac.ca, that it is located in Section 15 in a established section of the mall. The big renovated area (the Former Eatons Department Store) is where several new stores (H&M, HomeSense, etc...) are opening in April (I called the mall management regarding this.)

Fellow Canadians are invited to visit the Canadian Mac Community at ehMac.

 

[gmark2000]

Pointe-Claire ? doubt it, he probably meant Sainte-Catherine. Anyways that's the logical downtown place, unless they put one at Rockland or Marché Central. The West Island is way too far

There's been much discussion on the appropriate Montreal location here:
http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?t=24168

 

[FunkyChicken]

Can't wait anymore...

Tired of waiting for an Apple Store to open here in Toronto...so my wife and I are travelling to Chicago next week to visit our first Apple Store!! Yay!! We'll be staying on N. Michigan just a few blocks away from the store, so our first order of business once we arrive will be to head straight to the Apple Store. Call us wackos but we plan on capturing our entire Apple Store experience on video...

And for those who live in Toronto: don't you think a street-level location on Bloor (Yonge/Bloor) would be terrific spot for an Apple Store??

 

[ShaggyLR]

In Theory it would because montreal is the Multimedia city. B-mac just close last year for lack of sales. Compusmart and Microserv (both own by hartco) are the only one who resells apple product.

Incorrect. There is a store on Parc Avenue called Micro Boutique that is a mac dedicated store. They have a great selection of....well...everything Mac related.

BMac's closing had very little to do with sales, as past employees can confirm. They owners just didn't have any clue on how to keep a company alive.

 

[Cfly]

Ottawa needs an apple store.

There is a lot of high tech companies in ottawa

 

[gmark2000]

And for those who live in Toronto: don't you think a street-level location on Bloor (Yonge/Bloor) would be terrific spot for an Apple Store??

I think that Eaton Centre at Yonge/Queen (where the Tower Records used to be) is a great spot. Mind you Compusmart is pretty close by there.

 

[Lacero]

There needs to be an Apple store in western Canada. Perhaps in downtown Vancouver, where the Eatons building exists now. Apple's retail presence would surely mean the demise of Westworld and Simply Computing.

 

[JonHimself]

And for those who live in Toronto: don't you think a street-level location on Bloor (Yonge/Bloor) would be terrific spot for an Apple Store??

If I had to pick a spot in Toronto I would have assumed that's where it would have gone... by all the other Trendy/Expensive stores... But then again Yorkdale is definitely not lacking in the high-end stores either.

 

[gmark2000]

...by all the other Trendy/Expensive stores... But then again Yorkdale is definitely not lacking in the high-end stores either.

I have often thought that wherever Holt Renfrew store is located, is an appropriate retail space for an Apple Store in Canada.

 

[Noiseboy]

Do we know if apple will be doing the lucky bags for this location? I'm close enough to road trip up and would love to get $500 worth of stuff for $250

If I remember correctly, after the fiasco at the London store opening where several people jumped the queue and snapped up the lucky bags, Apple said they would not be doing them any more. If this is the case it's a shame. Surely better policing of the line would be a better option.
Congrats to Canada on the new store though, you're gonna love it

 

[FunkyChicken]

I think that Eaton Centre at Yonge/Queen (where the Tower Records used to be) is a great spot. Mind you Compusmart is pretty close by there.

Yeah, that would be a good spot also - at least 3-4 floors of prime retail space.

As for Compusmart - bless their hearts, I did buy an iMac from them some time ago - I doubt Apple would give a second thought to them.

 

[eRondeau]

May 21st eh?

... I just hope all this snow has melted by then!

 

[ILuvMyMacMini]

Kind of odd that they put apple.com on the sign instead of apple.ca, no?

 

[trump]

found a map on the shopping center website look like apple gonna get that big empty space

the store is actually in section #15, months ago during speculation we all figured in the big empty space that conveniently would be ready by Spring 2005. To be honest I'm starting to think the current black plywood is just advertising - cause its small for such a high profile store, being first in Canada and all. Perhaps the store will be located in the renovated space, but since it isn't accessable they put the plywood in a random place in the mall just to create hype and raise profile

 

[rlreif]

I don't know about Toronto, but I'm not sure that Vancouver needs one. We have two MacStations, Westworld and two Simply Computing all Mac dealers. It might be cool, but I'm not sure it would improve mac sales or support.

I'm an Apple VAR and already I can't get equipment, what are my chances
if a store opens up around here?

Vancouver desperately needs one. I brought in a 12" PB to one of the authorized retailors to diagnose a problem and fix it. They gave it back saying they "had no idea what was wrong". Shocked that they couldnt diagnose the problem, and moreso that they had the nerve to charge me something like $50 to come up with nothing, I took it home and just for fun ran the hardware test disc that came with the laptop. It showed that I had a mass storage problem (what i had suspected originally) and when I drove to seattle to a real Apple store, they took less than 2 minutes to diagnose the problem and sent it in to be repaired, all free of charge.

Incompentance like that makes apple look bad. They need to represent themselves.

 

[runninmac]

Yeah Canada, next time i go there im gonna have to visit it... but anyways this has almost nothing to do with the Canada store opening so just ignore my babbling but i just went to the woodland mall website to see how my local apple store is progressing ( its going to be 10mins away, the closest one right now is in Chicago or Detroit both a 2 hour drive) and it turns out that they had the other people move out and construction has started!!! ahh im so excited for the opening. Does anyone know how long it takes for a 4000sq ft apple store takes to renovate??

edit: heres a pic where its going to be
sorry but i couldnt contain my excitement

 

[Pittsax]

So...where exactly is Yorkdale? At first I thought it said Yorkville (I know where that is).