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Second Perth, Australia store set to open
Apple is preparing to open another retail store in Perth, Australia, according to a PertNow report. A recent job advertisement for the store invited potential employees to "be part of an exciting team with one of the world's most admired retailers." The positions are for a store in South Perth, and PerthNow believes the store will make its home in Booragoon's Garden City. There's no date for the grand opening, but sources suggest the store may open in the second half of the year. [Via MacStories]
Apple just arrived at Grand Central Terminal, we hop aboard (video)
For many New Yorkers, Grand Central Station Terminal is where you go to escape the island -- not to leisurely browse aisles of iPhone accessories, or pop in for a Genius Bar appointment. But apparently Apple has a slightly different vision for the city's transportation hub, opening its fifth NYC store along the main hall's 23,000 square foot east balcony. We dropped by for the grand opening this morning, which came complete with the standard Apple Store t-shirt giveaway and what seemed like hundreds of red shirt-clad retail employees. As NYC's gateway to Connecticut, Grand Central is typically incredibly crowded during rush hour, but the enormous sunlight-filled main hall was packed to the brim today with spectators -- eager customers queued up in a hallway out of view, beginning early this morning. The store itself is huge, occupying the entire east balcony and several side rooms, with a large genius bar, training area and accessory alcove at either side. Eager to pop in for a visit? Thumb through the gallery below to step inside, and jump past the break to experience the cacophonous chaos at Grand Central.%Gallery-141464%
Three more Apple Stores open their doors this Saturday
Last weekend, Apple opened three new Apple Stores. Apple plans on opening three more stores this Saturday, well on the way to opening a total of 30 new retail outlets between July and September. According to ifoAppleStore, two new stores will open in the U.S. and one in France. The "Natural State," Arkansas, gets its first Apple Store on Saturday at The Promenade at Chenal in Little Rock. The store was originally scheduled for an October opening, but the construction apparently went into warp drive, allowing for an earlier debut. The other new American store is the second in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Northlake Mall store (not to be confused with the SouthPark store on the other side of Charlotte) is the fifth Apple Store in the state. The new French store is the eighth in the country, and the fourth in the Paris metro area. The Careé Sénart store is located in Sénart to the southeast of Paris. The U.S. openings leave Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Vermont as the only states without Apple Stores.
Quebec City Apple Store opening this weekend at Place Ste. Foy
Another weekend, another brand new Apple Store opening! This time, it's Canada's Quebec City store, which was announced quite a while ago, but is only now cutting the red ribbon (we're kidding -- they don't actually cut ribbons at these things, but they do give away a lot of t-shirts). The picture above is from TUAW reader Carl, who says he's excited to be at his first Apple Store opening ever. Good luck, Carl! The grand opening for the store, in Place Ste. Foy, starts at 9:30am on Saturday morning, though you'll probably want to get there a little early if you really want to be first through the doors. Make sure you install the Apple Store app before you go, so you can give that a try. And being as it's in Quebec, the store will even be offering classes and workshops in French. To our brothers in the French Canadian north, bonne chance! Profiter!
Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video)
Ah, there it is, UK's first-ever Best Buy store, officially born at 7am local time yesterday. Naturally, we had to be there to witness such magical moment for Britain's consumer tech market -- the Brits had longed for an injection of energy and professionalism to the seemingly slacking chain stores. Many would agree that DSGi's two main brands -- Currys and PC World -- are on the naughty list, even after their recent relaunch. From what we saw today, it looks like Best Buy's already heading in the right direction. Let's start with the front-line employees. Most of these Blueshirts provided genuine technical answers rather than bluffing their way out, plus we were given product recommendations with no desperate sales pitch as commonly seen in other stores. When we revealed our identity to one of the sales reps, he confirmed that they were trained to not force random products onto customers -- quite the opposite culture to his old days at DSGi (assuming he was telling the truth). We sure did appreciate this new-found shopping freedom in gadget stores, but did the other customers feel the same way? Find out what we heard after the break.%Gallery-92099%
Weekend Apple Store news
The weekend's almost here, thank goodness. Here's some Apple Store news to get you in a recreational mood. First, the new Frankfurt Apple Store is set to open this weekend after a brief delay. Originally slated for December, the grand opening was canceled just two days before the scheduled date. The reason given was (and I'm relying on Google translate here because I don't speak German) that "it still wasn't completely perfect for an opening," so we assume that construction delays or other finishing touches took longer than expected. The event was re-scheduled for January 2010 without a specific date. That mystery date turned out to be this Saturday, January 23rd at 11:00 AM. You'll find full travel directions here. Let us know if you attend the opening! Additionally, ifoapplestore reports that Spain's first Apple Store will appear in Valencia. According to ABC.es, the store will occupy a part of the beautiful and historic building at Calle de Cristóbal Colón 25, designed by architect Lucas Garcia Cardona in 1889. The city is keen to ensure that changes made to the structure by Apple will not violate the "...the special protections afforded the (historic) building." If you're in Valencia and notice any construction or other obvious signs of large-scale work on this building, let us know.
Microsoft Store opens to Scottsdale campers (video)
By now you know that Microsoft's on-line store is selling PCs and third party software. Well, Microsoft is also waving the flag over Scottsdale, AZ today as it swings the doors wide on its new line of brick-and-mortar retail stores. Fans lined up overnight and stood for hours in a twisted line that should have Apple fans nodding in a tacit understanding. Come on, you may have different tastes in OSes but you should be willing to fight to the death for the right to choose 'em. Check the queue after the break as well as the grand opening countdown from 7, naturally, and a first walk around the store. Pics just beyond the read link down there.P.S. The first four campers each received a free Zune HD from Microsoft. Nice.
Microsoft Store opening Thursday with Ashley Tisdale
Looks like our tipsters were spot-on. The Scottsdale Arizona Microsoft Store is indeed opening on October 22nd as we heard, the first of many we expect to grace local strip malls across the country. "Be entertained," "Be excited," and "Be early" (doors open at 10AM), exclaim the ads in the Arizona Republic newspaper, to collect gift bags and concert tickets being given away to the first 1,000 visitors. And wow, Ashley Tisdale... we guess Tony Danza was busy that day. %Gallery-75831% [Thanks, Sebastian O.]
Flickr Find: Apple Store Carosello opening in Milan, Italy
Ahhhh, Milano! The name makes me think about the Milan Cathedral, La Scala, fashion models, and the aggressive drivers in that city. And now, when I think of Milan, I can also fondly think of the new Apple Store Carosello. TUAW reader Filippo sent us a link to his Flickr gallery of the opening earlier today, which appears to have attracted a huge crowd of Apple fans. PhilApple, as he is known on Flickr, also captured the traditional "running of the geeks" in a short video upload. This is the well-known phenomenon in which the first customers are greeted by the applause, cheers, and general silliness of the Apple Store employees and other customers. While I wish Apple had chosen to place the store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in the Piazza Duomo, reputed to be the world's oldest shopping mall, I'm happy for the Milanese to now have their very own Apple Store. Grazie, Filippo, for this set of photos!
Ausgezeichnet! Apple's first German retail store opening Saturday
It's been in the building phase for a while, and now the date is set: Saturday should see the opening of Germany's first official Apple Store, on Rosenstraße in beautiful Munich. No word yet on whether the German retail employees will be applauding and cheering the first customers at 10 am, but we sure hope so. Perhaps the commemorative t-shirts will be printed with "Hallo, Ich Bin Ein Mac." Coverage (auf Deutsch) of the press opener is here, and a very nice Flickr set of photos from inside the store is here. If you are attending the Saturday store opening, send in your reports in the comments. Thanks Yosi, Killian and Chris!
Apple Store coming to Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, CO
A little TUAW birdie tipped us off to an Apple Store on its way to the Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, CO. This action shot was snapped in the mall, which is actually a bit surprising when considering Apple's typical M.O. about new store locations.This will become Colorado's 5th Apple Store, following up the most recent opening of the FlatIron Crossing store in Broomfield, CO Twenty Ninth Street Street Store in Boulder, CO. For those interested, Park Meadows mall is located about 30 minutes south of Denver, right off Interstate 25. Naturally, we'll be soliciting your on-site reports and photo albums of the grand opening, while donations of your opening day t-shirts will go to benefit the TUAW cause.[Update: Woops, our bad. It was Boulder's Twenty Ninth Street store that was the latest to open, not Broomfield's. Thanks David!]
Apple Store openings: Your reports
This weekend saw the openings of three new Apple retail stores. One in Quebec, one in Virginia and another in New York. As usual, we're looking for any reports, photos and/or videos you may have made over the weekend at any of these locations. Let us know what you've got in the comments. Here's hoping you scored a T-shirt.
Apple Store Lincoln Road opening July 21st at 6 pm
We just received word that the Apple Store Lincoln Road in Miami Beach, FL will be opening this Friday, July 21st at 6 pm. As usual, there will be t-shirt giveaways to the first 1000 customers, and a Grand Opening Sweepstakes valued at $2229. The winner will receive a 17-inch flat-panel Intel Core Duo iMac, an iPod nano, a Canon PowerShot SD450 digital camera, a Sony Handycam CCD-TRV138, and an HP Deskjet 5440 printer. As an added bonus from 6-9 pm, the store will be featuring DJ Martin Accorsi.You guys know the drill - send in some pictures (preferably Flickr sets) from the events and we'll post the antics for the world to see.Thanks Emil.
Two new Apple Stores to open this weekend
Apple has been on a tear with the new stores lately. This time, Stamford, Connecticut and Knoxville, Tennessee will be the lucky recipients of brand new Apple Stores. Both stores will open at 10:00 AM this coming Saturday, July 1st. Have fun if you attend, and send us your pictures/videos/reports. Here's hoping you score a T-shirt.
New Cleveland Apple Store leaked
An anonymous tipster has clued us in to a Cleveland mall's website PR stunt mix-up in leaking an upcoming Apple Store. That's right west-side Cleveland, Ohio residents - soon you won't have to trek across town just to get your iPod reset or to score an ice pack for your MacBook Pro: the Croker Park mall (as of this writing) has let the cat out of the bag and listed an Apple Store as 'Coming Soon' on their website.We don't have any other word on when your Apple-related commutes will be going on a diet, so let us know if you start seeing grand opening displays on your next trip to Croker Park's food court.
North Carolina Apple Store opens this weekend
Clear your calendar, Raleigh: Apple Store Crabtree Mall will open this Saturday, June 24th at 10:00 AM. This store is located at 4325 Glenwood Ave., on the upper level near Sears. Apple recommends that you park in the Blue Deck section off of Glenwood Avenue, whatever that means. You can find complete travel directions here. As usual, the first 1000 visitors will be rewarded with commemorative t-shirts. Visitors can also enter to win the "Grand Opening Sweepstakes," which will award one winner with an iMac, an iPod nano, a Canon digital camera, a Sony Handycam CCD-TRV138, and an HP inkjet printer.If you're going to attend the opening in Raleigh, please send us links to your photos and reports! Good luck and have fun.
Apple Store Freehold Raceway: Your reports
Earlier today, Apple opened a new retail store in Freehold, New Jersey. As usual, we asked any TUAW operatives who may have attended the openings to share their reports and/or pictures. So, did you make it out this weekend? Let us know in the comments. Here's hoping you scored a T-shirt.
ifoAppleStore to host Fifth Avenue event
So the Mac web is buzzing with anticipation as we all wait for Apple Store Fifth Avenue in NYC to finally open for business on Friday, May 19. To help you get into the mood, ifoAppleStore will be hosting a camp out on Thursday night outside the store. The first 100 people to show up will receive the cool commemorative pin pictured at right. It should be fun, and please let us know if you attend!
New PA and Cali Apple Stores: Your reports
Earlier today, Apple opened two new retail stores, one in Pennsylvania and one in sunny California. As usual, we asked any TUAW operatives who may have attended the openings to share their reports and/or pictures. So, did you make it out to the events this weekend? Let us know in the comments. Here's hoping you scored a T-shirt.
Apple Store FlatIron Crossing Grand Opening report
I have emerged victorious from my first ever Apple Store grand opening, and I have to say: it was pretty cool. There was one heck of a line that ran far outside the closest mall entrance, and it was really cool to see people from all walks of life, including Dan Lurie from The Apple Blog and Jeff Gamet from The Mac Observer. My friend and I arrived around 8:15 am, and we were about 20th in line, though it picked up momentum shortly thereafter.I've posted a photo set from the event to our TUAW Flickr account, so check those out if you want more proof of how crazy Apple fans can get for a Saturday morning grand opening. One minor complaint: I wish Apple would stop using "geek black" on their event shirts like the ones they handed out today. Aside from that, it was fun to get my Mac-geek on for the day, even if I couldn't afford to actually buy anything.
