New Apple Stores?

[Sayhey]

Anyone heard anything about two smaller Apple stores coming to NYC? I thought I read awhile back that one was going to be in Brooklyn...Anyone?

There are two new Jersey stores coming soon and a Danbury, Conn. store as well. Other than the rumored addition of a flagship store on Fifth Ave. and an Upper West Side store, I've heard no news of New York City stores. Certainly this is the first I've heard of a possible Brooklyn location. It makes a lot of sense and I wish you luck, but where does the rumor come from?

I wonder when Apple Store - Oakridge Mall - San Jose, CA is going to open. i live 3 miles from the place

It's supposed to open in "Winter 2004." That is at least what the sign says in front of the store. My guess - mid to late November.

 

[Sayhey]

New Oklahoma store?

Over at ifoAppleStore Gary is raising the possibility of the first Oklahoma store.

You realize, of course, that Apple has its own real estate unit, headed by former Gap v-p George Blankenship and focused on finding just the right locations for retail operations. But on the other side, there are mall developers out there just itching to move Apple into a nice 30-foot space in one of their developments. Between the two of them, there's a long list of store possibilities, and Tulsa (Okla.) now appears to be among them. Apparently there's a space at the Woodland Hills Mall on the city's southside operated by the Simon Property Group that could become an Apple store. The city is #15 on the list of largest metro areas without an Apple store.

Good luck to Tulsa!

I also have to note that it looks like Apple is going to miss its target of 88 stores by the end of the fiscal year. So far we are stuck on 86 with no new stores yet posted for this weekend. To paraphrase a recent movie, these Apple projections "are more of a guideline than a rule."

 

[jholzner]

Over at ifoAppleStore Gary is raising the possibility of the first Oklahoma store.



Good luck to Tulsa!

I also have to note that it looks like Apple is going to miss its target of 88 stores by the end of the fiscal year. So far we are stuck on 86 with no new stores yet posted for this weekend. To paraphrase a recent movie, these Apple projections "are more of a guideline than a rule."

I think the target it now set at 100 but it's by the end of the calander year not fiscal.

 

[Sayhey]

I think the target it now set at 100 but it's by the end of the calander year not fiscal.

Two different targets. Apple has stated both that they will have 88 stores by the end of the fiscal year (Sept. 30 - not likely) and that they will have 100 stores open by the end of the calendar year (still a good chance.) Last year they said they would have 77 stores open by Thanksgiving and missed that target as well. I don't want to make a big deal about it, but I'm pointing out that sometimes the reality of all the complexities that go into opening a store means that plans announced six months out don't materialize on time.

 

[Sayhey]

Oklahoma stores update

Over at ifoAppleStore Gary is now saying that Oklahoma is the site for two more stores. No job postings or listings on the drop down menu yet for either location.

For decades, the U.S government kept the locations of its Atlas missile silos out in Oklahoma a complete secret. That probably explains why I've had such a tough time tracking down two more Apple stores in the state! Now, the locations of the silos is common knowledge, and so are the future retail stores at the Woodland Hills mall in Tulsa, and the Penn Square mall in Oklahoma City. Apple has signed a 12-year lease at the former location with a March 2005 grand opening, and the latter store is already under construction, with a grand opening before year's end.

 

[Sayhey]

Delaware opening announced

Apple has officially announced next Saturday, Oct. 16th at 10:00 am as the opening time and date for the Christiana Mall store in Newark, Delaware. This is Delaware's first store and the third in the Philadelphia area.

 

[~Shard~]

Still waiting for Canada! Even though a Canadian store would never open near where I am, it would still be nice to have one...

 

[echeck]

Still waiting for Canada! Even though a Canadian store would never open near where I am, it would still be nice to have one...

SayHey is obviously the one to ask, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading on ifoapplestore that Apple is looking at opening a store in Toronto.


EDIT: I just went to Apple's job-search page and it's completely re-vamped! I like it a lot better this way though. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[~Shard~]

SayHey is obviously the one to ask, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading on ifoapplestore that Apple is looking at opening a store in Toronto.


EDIT: I just went to Apple's job-search page and it's completely re-vamped! I like it a lot better this way though. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Very cool, I didn't know about this - I'll check out the link and see if I can find any info. Vancouver would be a better location than Toronto IMO, but anything is better than nothing, and you have to start somewhere!

 

[Sayhey]

Canada and Jacksonville

Very cool, I didn't know about this - I'll check out the link and see if I can find any info. Vancouver would be a better location than Toronto IMO, but anything is better than nothing, and you have to start somewhere!

The original tip on the Toronto stores is from AppleInsider not ifoAppleStore. They list the Eaton Centre and the Yorkdale Shopping Center as the sites of new Apple Stores. I haven't seen any confirmation on this report yet, but they have a pretty good track record. No opening dates, so we will have to wait and see.

Also, a note, the St. John's Center in Jacksonville, Florida is now officially listed with openings for a Store Manager and the other usual jobs. This normally means a 3 to 6 month time frame for the opening of the store. That would fit with the originally news story that projected a March 2005 opening.

 

[~Shard~]

The original tip on the Toronto stores is from AppleInsider not ifoAppleStore. They list the Eaton Centre and the Yorkdale Shopping Center as the sites of new Apple Stores. I haven't seen any confirmation on this report yet, but they have a pretty good track record. No opening dates, so we will have to wait and see.

Cool, thanks for that Sayhey. I'll keep my eyes open for updates. As I said in an earlier post, it's not a huge deal for me since I'm nowhere near Toronto (only about a 30-hour drive west for me!), but it would still be nice to have Apple Stores start opening here.

 

[gopher]

wdlove,

I got this information from ifoAppleStore.

McLean, VA - Tysons Corner - (May 19) - indoor mall, 8,000 square-feet, opened May 19th.

Arlington, VA - Clarendon - (Dec. 1) - open-air strip mall

Towson, MD - Towson Town Center - (Oct. 5) - indoor mall

Montgomery Mall - (Bethesda (Md.) - (May 8) - Located inside the enclosed Shoppingtown Montgomery Mall

Bethesda Row - not open - exact location unknown

So in answer to your question, all of the existing stores in the DC area are part of a mall complex, not stand alone stores. The Tyson's Corner store is one of the first opened by Apple and like most of those from that time it is larger than ones Apple is opening now. I don’t have the square footage of each store, but my guess is the others in the area have similar acreage to your Boston area stores. Hope this is helpful.

I’m betting that Boston and DC both get stand alone flagship stores within the next two years. There are already rumors of a new store of this type in Philadelphia and the Lincoln Road store in Miami Beach may also be of this variety. Of course, this is just speculation, but it would make a lot of sense given the pattern of openings we have seen.

sockeatingdryer, how about the upcoming Jacksonville, Florida store due to open next March? Is that about the same distance as Atlanta to you?

The Bethesda Row store if it opens will mean the death knell for the last two Apple third party resellers inside the Washington DC Beltway, Bethesda Computing and Macupgrades. They have a hard enough time competing as it is with Tysons, Clarendon, and Montgomery Mall. I'd like those resellers to stay in business and have suggested they consider opening the next DC area store in Silver Spring. We have a whole new shopping center that has opened up at http://www.silversprung.com/

and have e-mailed Montgomery Mall Apple store that suggestion. It is bad enough Montgomery County public schools are going all Dell. If Apple loses those resellers inside the beltway, they'll eventually have to be the sole advertisers of their product. Worse yet, I hate to imagine having to drive to Gaithersburg just to have RAM installed in a machine to avoid voiding my warranty or paying Apple's RAM prices.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Given all the Apple Stores in the DC Metro area, I don't see them putting in a flagship store there...they've already got the area covered and it wouldn't add anything for them to build one.

D

 

[ilyaa1]

Delaware

We have a store opening here in DE this Saturday going to be there, that's for sure

 

[wdlove]

Given all the Apple Stores in the DC Metro area, I don't see them putting in a flagship store there...they've already got the area covered and it wouldn't add anything for them to build one.

D

It may be possible in the DC area just like Boston. When the South Shore Mall Apple Store opens that will make 5 in our Metro Area. Sayhey seems to have a great track record, he thinks that each will have a flagship store within two years.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

It may be possible in the DC area just like Boston. When the South Shore Mall Apple Store opens that will make 5 in our Metro Area. Sayhey seems to have a great track record, he thinks that each will have a flagship store within two years.

Of course, this is just speculation, but it would make a lot of sense given the pattern of openings we have seen.

exactly, speculation - and I disagree. You've not really said anything in your post....of course its possible, anything is possible. For Apple to put in a Flagship store, they'd have to close one of the other ones. And if that happens it will most likely be Tysons (being the oldest). But I don't see that happening in 2 years time.

D

 

[Sayhey]

exactly, speculation - and I disagree. You've not really said anything in your post....of course its possible, anything is possible. For Apple to put in a Flagship store, they'd have to close one of the other ones. And if that happens it will most likely be Tysons (being the oldest). But I don't see that happening in 2 years time.

D

I certainly don't have any inside information on an impending flagship store in Washington. You are right to call it speculation (it's what I called it in the first place.) However, the idea that a flagship store in DC would mean closing one of the existing stores doesn't hold water. Look at the patterns of stores in SF, NYC, LA, and Chicago. All are large markets with a flagship store in the urban shopping center and growing numbers of smaller retail stores in surrounding suburbs. In addition, there are rumors of such a store being opened in Philly. Last I looked, the Washington-Baltimore area was the fourth largest in the country and certainly has the potential to support more stores, of whatever kind. So you may or may not be right that Washington is not getting a flagship store soon, but if they ever do it would fit perfectly, without shutting down any existing outlets, with Apple's practice.

edit: btw, in Apple's report today they said they will be opening six mini-stores this weekend. No word on which ones yet.

 

[latergator116]

Apple has now officially announced the 6 new mini stores here http://www.apple.com/retail/ Too bad there isn't one near me.

 

[aranhamo]

Salt Lake City?

Even with these six new mini stores, the nearest Apple Store to my house is still six hours away in Las Vegas.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Last I looked, the Washington-Baltimore area was the fourth largest in the country and certainly has the potential to support more stores, of whatever kind. So you may or may not be right that Washington is not getting a flagship store soon, but if they ever do it would fit perfectly, without shutting down any existing outlets, with Apple's practice.

If they opened one in the DC Baltimore area, I'm thinking that the store would go in Baltimore, downtown near the waterfront. DC itself is too expensive and has a high sales tax rate.

So who knows.

D

 

[gopher]

Even with these six new mini stores, the nearest Apple Store to my house is still six hours away in Las Vegas.

E-mail montgomerymall@apple.com with your suggestions for a location.

 

[Sayhey]

If they opened one in the DC Baltimore area, I'm thinking that the store would go in Baltimore, downtown near the waterfront. DC itself is too expensive and has a high sales tax rate.

So who knows.

D

Mr. Anderson, you know your area much better than I do. My only comment is that Apple uses a portion of their advertising budget in financing their flagship stores. They do so because the of the obvious benefit for brand awareness in having a store in prime shopping areas. Apple has proven it is willing to spend amazing amounts of money to open these stores in London, Tokyo, Osaka, San Francisco, Chicago, LA, and New York. So I wouldn't be too quick to rule out, say, a Georgetown location. You might be right that Baltimore has better locations, but wherever the most prestigious shopping area in the metro area is would be the logical area for a flagship store. That is assuming they go ahead in your area - something I'm only guessing about.

 

[aranhamo]

E-mail montgomerymall@apple.com with your suggestions for a location.

Who is montgomerymall?

At my old job, our assigned Apple rep teased us for months saying that Apple was planning on opening a store in Park City, but eventually she said she didn't think Apple would ever open a store in Utah. I think they should open a store in the Gateway; it's a fairly new, upscale mall with some big names in it. Also, next year some major remodeling work will start in the other two older downtown malls, so traffic at the Gateway will probably increase. Or is Apple waiting for the downtown malls to finish remodeling so they can open a store in Crossroads Mall?

Or is Steve shunning Utah because we haven't voted Democrat in like ever? He did give that interview a while ago indicating that he thought most Mac users were democrats, and Utah is solidly republican. He might be forgetting though that in Salt Lake City itself, the mayor is a democrat, as well as a majority of the city council. And the only democrat elected to national office is the congressman representing Salt Lake City.

Whatever the case, there's a million people in the Salt Lake valley, and if you add Utah valley, it's more than 1.5 million. All those people currently have to drive all the way to Las Vegas to visit an Apple store.

 

[Sayhey]

Or is Steve shunning Utah because we haven't voted Democrat in like ever? He did give that interview a while ago indicating that he thought most Mac users were democrats, and Utah is solidly republican. He might be forgetting though that in Salt Lake City itself, the mayor is a democrat, as well as a majority of the city council. And the only democrat elected to national office is the congressman representing Salt Lake City.

Whatever the case, there's a million people in the Salt Lake valley, and if you add Utah valley, it's more than 1.5 million. All those people currently have to drive all the way to Las Vegas to visit an Apple store.

I think Steve and Apple are quite willing to take republican money or money from people with any other political slant. It's all about the money and making more of it. That means a measured expansion of stores so that Apple picks locations that will be profitable in a year and a number of new stores (so far about 20-25 a year) that doesn't swamp the company's bottom line with too much in capital outlays.

Salt Lake is one of the large metro areas without an Apple store, but you will notice that Apple seems to be getting around to all of them eventually. It has been a while since I posted the list of metro areas, so here they are:

1 - San Antonio, Texas
2 - Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Virginia
3 - New Orleans, Louisiana
4 - Salt Lake City, Utah
5 - Greensboro/Winston-Salem, North Carolina
6 - Nashville, Tennessee
7 - Providence, Rhode Island (company statements have revealed this as a target location, but no date or exact location is known.)
8 - Rochester, New York
9 - Grand Rapids, Michigan
10 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
11 - Louisville, Kentucky
12 - Greenville, South Carolina
13 - Dayton, Ohio
14 - Fresno, California
15 - Birmingham, Alabama
16 - Tulsa, Oklahoma
17 - Omaha, Nebraska
18 - Albuquerque, New Mexico
19 - Knoxville, Tennessee
20 - El Paso, Texas

My guess, based on past experience, is that you will see 3-5 cities on this list get new stores in the next year or two. Why only 3-5? Because Apple also will continue to focus their money in saturation of large markets (LA, NYC, etc.) and establishing a presence in other countries (look for this to become more and more of a priority.) In addition, some smaller markets (ala Syracuse and Des Moines) will get stores before the cities listed above if the locations are right. The really good news for those who want an Apple store in their community is, especially with the new mini-store format, that it looks like Apple's retail expansion is a success for the company and will continue for a while.

 

[aranhamo]

Salt Lake City?

My guess, based on past experience, is that you will see 3-5 cities on this list get new stores in the next year or two. Why only 3-5? Because Apple also will continue to focus their money in saturation of large markets (LA, NYC, etc.)

Well can you blame me for getting discouraged when my mom has 10 (yes 10!) Apple stores within an hour and a half of her house, and the nearest one to me is 6 hours away? There are 24 Apple stores within 6 hours of my mom's house, depending on traffic, and she's not even a Mac user. She's never been to an Apple store, and I've been to six of those 24 stores.

Our local CompUSA is getting better at not putting the giant ladder right in the middle of the Apple section, and I haven't seen a totally smashed up Mac in there in a few months...but it's not the same as having an Apple store.