I’ve found that Cinnabon is the thermometer of retail. In this case, increased sales at Cinnabon can be traced to increased work on the Oakridge (N. Calif.) store site, which in turns points to a very early October grand opening… is that the 2nd or 9th?

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There has been on-going speculation over Canadian Apple stores, and more specifically about two locations in Toronto. However, a tipster points out that the giant Yorkdale mall has sprouted a sign listing new stores opening Nov. 2004– and Apple isn’t on the list. The next group of stores opens March 2005, so keep you eyes [...]

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Apple’s retail Web page has sprouted a new set of rotating storefront photos in the upper left of the page, including Mission Viejo, The Grove at night, and Northridge.

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An AppleInsider story notes job openings for Loss Prevention Officer, related to "an increasing level of theft" at the retail stores.

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Thanks to the tipster for the Country Club Plaza (Mo.) store construction photo, which shows the new sidewalk that Apple traditional installs in front of future stores. In this case, it apparently is work that Shadyside has been doing all along to replace cement sidewalks with paving bricks. But I’m sure it’s not a coincidence.

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I happen to be in Montreal on other business, but couldn’t resist tracking down how Apple gear is sold here. I checked three stores, found nothing at one store, and took some photos of the other two. One store flunked completely, and I rated the other a "B" for effort, quirky ambiance and decent stock [...]

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The Tukwila (Wash.) store space has sprouted back-painted plywood with a white Apple logo and "apple.com." A tipsters says the L-shaped space was formerly Wizards of The Coast, and features a picture window in the foot of the "L"–a little strange for an Apple store.

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A Theater Coordinator position has appeared for The Grove (S. Calif.) retail store… now that the store has a "real" theater.

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Apple stores have a pretty narrow 3rd-party product focus, including Nikon and Canon photo and camcorder gear. Now a Fisher FVD-C1 camcorder has appeared, offering video and 3.2 megapixel still photo capability. The camera records in MPEG-4 format to a memory card instead of tape media.

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Thanks to Kodawarisan for the photo of the Shinsaibashi (Osaka) retail store, which is still covered with construction wrapping, but sporting a giant iPod poster.

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Thanks to Daniel for the photos of the Century City (S. Calif.) retail store space, right across from Bloomingdales.

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Retail stores all have specialists, including a so-called "iPod Genius," who helps customers with iPods questions and problems. Apple issued these employees special black T-shirts that include an iPod and headphones stenciled onto the shirt in white–pretty slick! Now one of those T-shirts is listed on eBay, and has been bid up to $44. Interestingly, [...]

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All Apple retail stores in Massachusetts will be open all day on Saturday (basically midnight to midnight), as part of the state’s annual no-sales tax day. There are 12 states that have similar days or weekends.

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First Steve Jobs surprised an iTunes Music Store user with a personal phone call and prizes for purchasing the 100,000,000th song. Now Apple has recognized the SoHo retail store’s two millionth visitor with a 12-inch iBook, silver iPod Mini, an Airport Express, AppleCare and other gifts. The event took place at 4 p.m. on Friday [...]

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AppleInsider has published a story (co-authored by me) based on internal Apple documents, outlining the early retail store lease arrangements, including size, terms and costs. The documents show the SoHo and North Michigan Avenue flagship stores have hefty lease commitments– the 15-year lease on NMA totals over $50 million, and SoHo totals almost $25 million.

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