An item in the New York Daily News gossip column mentioned Steve Jobs’ visit to the SoHo retail store–and some "grousing" by one of the store employees over secrecy.

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Is Apple prepared for some iPod shuffle price competition? Best Buy is selling the 512 Mb iPod shuffle for $149.95, and with a $30 iTunes gift card, 2-year replacement plan, and a choice of either Koss HQ earphones or a Dynex FM transmitter. The store I visited in the San Francisco area didn’t have any [...]

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The future St. Johns Town Center (Fla.) store is on-schedule, with workers toiling around the clock to finish the Apple store. The storefront still does not have its stainless steel finish, but the inside has many features installed.

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hanks to Sayhey for analysis of the number of new stores during 2005: Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer has said Apple will have at 125 at year’s end, or 24 more store than right now. But this may understate Apple’s plans, in order to later surpass expectations, Sayhey says. The company is already advertising for employees [...]

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One of the plaintiffs in the recent class-action lawsuit talks about his experience as an Apple reseller on the MacInTouch Web site. Tom Siechert had a business in Fresno (Calif.), and disputes Steve Jobs’ assertion that resellers weren’t spending enough money to market Apple products. Sierchert said during 1995-1997, “We spent more than $100,000 of [...]

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Ka-boom! Eddie Bauer Inc. is closing 23 more of its retail stores as part of a bankruptcy filing, including one at the Providence Place (RI) mall, where Apple has said it intends to open a store. Along with a closed toy store and the Athlete’s Foot store, there are now plenty of spaces for an [...]

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An item in the police blotter of the San Mateo (N. Calif.) Daily Journal said a suspect stole a credit card, and then used it to make a purchase at the Burlingame Apple store. Apple employees routinely request photo IDs for credit card purchases, seemingly making this type of theft more difficult. [No, I am [...]

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Attorneys for a group of former Apple resellers and California consumers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple Computer, similar to a 2003 lawsuit filed by another group of resellers alleging a long list of illegal and improper business practices by the computer company. The recent lawsuit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, is [...]

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Job listings have been posted on Apple’s Web site for the future Shibuya (Tokyo) retail store.

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Both Target and Circuit City stores in the U.S., and 7-Eleven stores in Taiwan now have stocks of iPod shuffles, in contrast to most Apple authorized resellers in the U.S., who have none. Some resellers have resorted to buying iPod shuffles at Apple stores, just to satisfy the needs of their customers.

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An article on the AllAfrica.com Web site noted that a delivery of 80 Mac minis sold out within hours of arrival at three Apple Centres in South Africa. One store gave early buyers a free keyboard and monitor, which generated an overnight line-up of people. The Mac minis sell for $783 (1.25 GHz) and $931 [...]

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Hong Kong is the a major tourism destination, and the center of Asian business operations, but doesn’t have an Apple retail store. The city does have several independently-operated Apple Centres, including at the International Finance Center and Causeway Bay (spectacular view!). Designer Group Co. operates both stores, and also one in the Oriental Plaza in [...]

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Sometimes even an $8 billion company takes a knock-out punch. Take Apple’s plans for a future store in the beautiful coastal town of Santa Barbara (Calif.)– they had their eye on 513 State St., in the posh shopping district of the laid-back beach town about 90 miles north of Los Angeles. But local clothing store [...]

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I’m not lighting up any birthday candles for the four-month anniversary of Apple’s mini-stores. They’re expensive, are located incorrectly, are too sterile, and feature nearly useless point-of-sale computers. Read the rest of my analysis of a rare Apple mis-step.

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Job openings for a Creative have been posted for the future Florida Mall (Fla.) and The Woodlands Mall (Tex.) retail stores. Also an Apple Solutions Consultant (ASC) job position has appeared for Sydney (Australia) area Apple resellers, which are listed on Apple’s Web site.

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At least two Apple resellers in Oklahoma feel the future Penn Square Mall retail store won’t affect their sales negatively. They told a reporter that more stores means more sales. Read the full story (reg. required).

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Apple has selected the location for its next Japan retail store– the energetic Shibuya district of Tokyo, populated by the teen set, strobe lights, pachinko parlors, bright neon lights, and sometimes outrageous fashion. The Akihabara district might have been a more likely location, with its concentration of electronics retailers, or the Shinjuku district, home [...]

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Apple loves anything efficient, elegant and useful, so it’s not surprising that machines have appeared at some street-level retail stores to dispense plastic bags for customers’ wet umbrellas. The devices are manufactured in Japan and retail for about $1,000, and were no doubt first spotted by Apple retail staffers at the rainy Ginza (Tokyo) store [...]

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For those stores still equipped with wood floors, some now have carpet inlaid into the flooring just inside the doorway to help remove water, rocks and other debris that marks up the wood. At one point Apple intended to swap out all the wooden floors for stone, but the project never got going.

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The importance of music and iPods is obvious: the ‘kids’ section of full-size Apple stores has been taken over by music products. Previously the section consisted of an oval table, those cute black spherical seats, and a wall of child-oriented software. Now the shelving and countertop are dedicated to iPods and third-part speakers, giving music [...]

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