Thanks to Matt Fleischmann for photos of the Mac House Apple Centre in Amsterdam (The Netherlands), which is a great example of fitting a new-style retail store into an old-style building. Many of the interior features are v-e-r-y familiar.

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The grand opening of the St. Johns Town Center (Fla.) store has slipped slightly. It’s now scheduled for a Friday, March 18th.

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The future Woodlands (Houston) store now has a home! Eddie Bauer closed last Sunday, opening up space #5513, on the lower level near the central rotunda, where Apple will eventually locate. Interestingly, it may be a vacant Eddie Bauer space at the Providence Place (RI) mall that Apple will eventually occupy.

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The band Artefact played live in the Apple Centre YouMac, located in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). If you purchased an iPod shuffle (they have stock?!), the store would pre-load it with six free tracks from Artefact’s latest album, and the band would sign your iPod.

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The future Bullring (UK) store now has the trademark black-painted plywood covering the front, with a white Apple logo.

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You need not salute when you go into the Annapolis (Md.) mall just 4 miles from the U.S. Naval Academy. But you may want to wear your dress whites for the grand opening of an Apple retail store there later this year.

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img src=”http://www.ifoapplestore.com/photos/hot.gif” alt=”” height=”10″ width=”24″ border=”0″> The guys and gals at the Rochester Institute of Technology shouldn’t feel left out of this latest round of Apple stores–they be less then 10 miles from a future store at the Eastview Mall (NY) in the Rochester suburb of Victor.

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These latest store locations bring the total to 9 just during the month of February. So far, there are 29 verified store locations, and about 16 other less-verified locations on my radar. These figures would give Apple more than the 125 stores they’ve said will be open by Sept. 30th.

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Apple’s revamped job listings Web pages provide more insights into the retail stores’ operation: Managers use the iTinerary and ICommunicate Web-based applications to share information with other stores. A manager "Dan" claims, "I was able to witness Apple Retail become the most successful retail operation in history." A page on diversity includes a listing of [...]

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At a Goldman Sachs technology investment conference in Phoenix, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer reiterated that Apple will have 125 stores open by the end of fiscal 2005, or Sept. 30th. That’s makes it likely Apple will have 132+ stores open by the end of the year, or about 37 new stores during 2005.

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In other comments, Oppenheimer was necessarily vague on Apple’s retail plans. He said it’s not clear Apple needs to market through so-called big-box retailers, but that the ASC concept is something they would evaluate for resellers beyond CompUSA. He said retail stores typically show a sales drop-off after five years, but that based on last [...]

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Among architecture experts there is no better-known building in New York City than the Flatiron Building on Fifth Avenue at Broadway. It dates from 1902 and is considered the oldest surviving NYC skyscraper. Architect Daniel H. Burnham could never have imagined that Apple’s architects are working to design a 2,000 s.f. retail store somewhere [...]

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Apple is sending e-mail to registered Apple customers promoting "Wednesdays at the Apple Store are Business Day (formerly Pro Day)." The topic for March will be "business development," and regular presentations during the month include using DayLite software, while so-called "on demand" presentations topics include StickyBrain note manager, SOHO Business Cards and SOHO Labels and [...]

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Apple has revamped its "Jobs" Web pages, breaking out the Retail segment into its own section, with several interesting pages, including "Behind the Scenes," job interviews, resumé tips and necessary skills. It’s a must read for anyone applying at the retail stores.

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Best-selling author Suze Orman (right) will speak at various Apple retail stores during March. Check the Retail Web page for the list of stores.

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A long article by the Chicago Tribune architecture critic bemoans the poor design of branch banks in the region, and points out the increased "assertively modern" design of the best retail stores and restaurants in Chicago. As an example, he called the North Michigan Avenue Apple store "a sleek cathedral of computing."

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An article in the Virginian-Pilot newspaper confirms that Apple has an interest in the Lynnhaven Mall (Virginia Beach), but hasn’t yet signed a lease.

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I’ve updated the retail store chronology with a graphic "bug" indicating the specialized positions staffed at various stores, including Creative, Business Consultant, Cashier, etc. Let me know if I missed any stores.

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The Meijer grocery chain was founded in 1934, and then opened "Thrifty Acres" stores in 1962 featuring non-food merchandise. Now they have 150+ of these superstores across the midwest, and they are authorized resellers of Apple’s iPods, creating all sorts of strange product juxtapositions: iPods next to apples?

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Magnet Media is producing a series of video editing presentations at Apple retail stores, including this Thursday at SoHo. They’ve held previous "Inside the Edit Room" presentations at the North Michigan Avenue and The Grove locations.

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