Apple Stores (probably not) opening early tomorrow

There's a report flying around that Apple is opening a few retail stores early tomorrow, with brand new shipments of iPad 2s ready to go out the door, but before you grab your wallet and set your alarm, not so fast. TUAW did a quick survey of retail stores near our various houses, and none of the stores we called had any plans to open early tomorrow or have any iPad 2s in stock.

You're, of course, welcome to call your own Apple Store and see what they tell you, but it seems unlikely that this is an official retail move. Update: Some readers found that their local stores did offer morning sales to iPad 2 buyers, but we have reports from other readers who were told to show up early to purchase -- and then got bupkis as the store staffers informed them there were no iPads to be had. Ouch.

At this point, the quickest and easiest way to get an iPad 2 is probably to go ahead and order it from the website and sit out the 3-4 week wait. We've got other tips for you if you really want to try and chase one down (my personal recommendation is checking big box retailers, as I've often seen hard-to-find Apple products hiding at Best Buy and WalMart), but unless you just happen to get lucky, it's probably not worth the gas money and frustration you'll get from running around. If you are still on the hunt, good luck out there.