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The Apple Store's biggest fan, Gary Allen, passed away at age 67
You may not recognize the name Gary Allen. For a time, though, Allen traveled the world to be among the first in line when a new Apple Store opened. He wrote about Cupertino's retail efforts on his blog, ifo Apple Store, including details of the over 140 store openings that he visited. He even drove across the country to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first store (pictured above). After being diagnosed with brain cancer, Allen stopped blogging in March, but not before amassing a knowledge of Apple's retail footprint that may never be rivaled. He passed away this week at age 67, leaving behind his wife, son and two brothers. "He made all kinds of friends all over the world," his brother Jim told The Washington Post. "I think that's the part of it he most enjoyed." [Image credit: Washington Post/Getty Images]
ifoAppleStore celebrates Apple Store anniversary with a road trip
As you may have heard, Apple's retail arm is celebrating 10 years of existence this May, and the guys at ifoAppleStore.com are doing something special to celebrate. Gary Allen will be driving from California all the way out to Virginia for the opening of the Apple Store at Tyson's Corner there, documenting his trip both on the blog and on his Twitter account. It's a great trip, both because of the Apple tie-in, and because it's Gary just experiencing America first-hand. I've driven from the Midwest out to California a few times (and many times from St. Louis up to New York for my college career), and there's nothing more fun than exploring out on the open road. Gary also says that while he's not sure if Apple will do anything official to celebrate the retail anniversary, he does hear that the stores will quietly be doing something on the 19th or 20th of this month. So stay tuned -- if we hear about anything special next Friday, we'll let you know. In the meantime, you can follow Gary on his trip, and check out the recording of our TUAW Talkcast -- Gary was our guest on the show Sunday night, and he chatted about his trip and the anniversary.
