From the monthly archives:
I noticed that Apple did not post its traditional set of interior photos of the Shinsaibashi store. Well, I’ve now posted photos of the waiting line, the store interior and the glass staircase detail to fill in the gap.
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You may not realize that the SoHo store has its own .Mac homepage, on which they’ve now posted more photos of the 2 millionth customer, Christine Quigless, back on Aug. 6th. From the photos, it’s obvious she was genuinely surprised by the honor, and at least slightly overwhelmed by the gifts that she received.
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More and more grand opening tipsters point to Sept. 25th as Super Saturday, when at least 10 new retail stores will open.
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It’s not clear how many European or Scandinavian stores Apple intends to open beyond London and Paris. But I do know that Apple continues to develop its Apple Centre concept in both regions. Several stores in France are receiving make-overs with the standard Apple Centre design, and the 12 Apple Centres in Italy are also receiving the same treatment, starting with Rome, Milan and Verona. I’ve obtained a set of renderings of the exterior and interior of the Centres, and they bring back a lot of memories!
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I hear that Apple’s priorities for European stores continues to be the UK, Paris, Berlin and possibly Barcelona (Spain). Despite Italy’s flair for the creative, that country is rated low on Macintosh users, and so is now off the radar for an official Apple store. (But later proved wrong!)
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Not surprisingly, Apple has also posted a brand-new job title, "Creative Genius," for several of its retail stores, including in Fashion Valley, Short Hills, Century City and Valley Fair. The position apparently supports the new "Studio" section of the stores, including the future Shadyside store. The position requirements are pretty steep, and include the full range of audio, video and photo applications, including some high-end music software. The full "creative" concept isn’t revealed within the job description, but it gives a hint at what it will eventually become. Note the Shadyside photo link below to see the "Studio" section under construction there.
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Bloomberg News posted a story saying Apple expected between 3,000 and 7,000 to visit the Shinsaibashi store on its first day. A MacInTouch report claims 2,500 "formed a line" for the grand opening. You may recall Apple said 8,000 people visited the Ginza store on opening day last year. I haven’t heard the final total, but can say that the waiting line for Shinsaibashi at its longest did not match Ginza, and the waiting line dissipated quicker than Ginza.
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Thanks to those who offered to mirror the Shinsaibashi videos, after the site’s server took a big hit the past few days–visits and hits were are up 50% so far this month, and bytes transmitted went up 10 times.
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Thanks to Jonathan who notes that the future Bethesda Row (Md.) retail store is not only close to the existing Montgomery Mall store, it’s also within blocks of the independent reseller, MacUpgrades. He rightly wonders how long MacUpgrades will last after Apple moves in.
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I’ve updated/corrected the contents of the Shinsaibashi "Lucky Bag," and posted a photo. Although the photo shows only Griffin’s iTalk2, I saw one back that had both iTalk and an iTrip2.
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I’ve posted photos of the Osaka Softmap electronics store and its Apple section, showing the wide range of products available. I’ve also assembled a short list of prices at the store, and compared them to the prices at Apple’s Shinsaibashi store.
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The grand opening day has arrived! The weather is still hot and dry, and a sleepy crowd is waking up. I’ve posted some photos of Friday and the night-time activity.
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I’ve posted a short video [mirror] of the early morning waiting line activity, just 4 hours before the grand opening of the Shinsaibashi retail store in Osaka. And now I’ve posted a preliminary report on the grand opening event itself.
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A tipster has supplied photos of the in-progress construction at the Shadyside store, and they reveal Apple’s new retail "Studio" concept and logo!
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I’ve posted two more administrative job openings in Apple’s retail group.
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