The crowds for the OS X 10.4 Tiger event seemed a bit smaller than previous years, but there were serious buyers, nonetheless. The OS X Tiger himself showed up at the Walnut Creek (N. Calif.) store, and a employee sported a Tiger hairdo (right). Check the photos from this store and the Country Club Plaza [...]

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The Yorkdale (Canada) retail store is under construction, and behind some serious barricades in Toronto. Gmark2000 has posted an update and photo (scroll down).

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Best Buy has opened two concept retail stores designed by ESI Design Co., and both are small, 3,500 to 5,000 s.f. locations that cater to a very specific demographic slice. The store in Naperville (Ill.) is called "Studio D," is filled with photo, mp3 and computer gear, looks like a boutique, and is targeted at [...]

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I’ve confirmed that construction on the Penn Square (Okla.) store will begin in August, with a grand opening around Thanksgiving.

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Apple retail stores are promoting "Free human being witih purchase," with every in-store purchase of OS 10.4 Tiger. You have your choice of a one-hour, one-on-one sessions with a Mac Specialist or a "Tiger tune-up. You have to sign up with a unique registration number you’ll receive on a card with your OS 10.4 purchase. [...]

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a href=”http://www.ifoapplestore.com/ stores/bullring/index.html”>There was no overnight camp-out for the Bullring (UK) grand opening, according to Joel, who was first in line with Cathy at 7 a.m. when the mall staff unlocked the doors. The Apple store manager appeared shortly afterwards, and by 10 a.m. there was a group of about eight sitting on the floor [...]

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Apple will roll out a team of OS X marketing managers across the country to explain features and answer questions for the Tiger event: Chris Bourdon SoHo (NYC), Allen Denison at South Coast Plaza (S. Calif.), Mike Shebanek at The Grove (S. Calif.), Frank Casanova at San Francisco, Brian Smiley at Valley Fair (N. Calif.), [...]

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The Genius Bar at Apple stores will be closed for questions during tonight’s Tiger event, but will be open to handle purchases of products.

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Custom guitar maker Brian Moore is taking his demos on the road to Apple stores over the next few weeks, including stops on both coasts. During the demos he’ll be showing the iGuitar and how it compliments GarageBand software.

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Gateway announced an additional 1,500 jobs cuts, along with a loss of $166 million for the latest fiscal quarter, on revenues of $868 million. The company doesn’t break out sales figures for its retail segment, but said it expects the closing of its 190 remaining stores would impact future revenue by about $300 million per [...]

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Best Buy announced it will open test stores in China within 12 to 18 months, and increased its forecast of future stores in the U.S. from 1,000 to 1,200 (it now has 848 stores). In a similar move, last week clothing retailer Gap said it will consider retail opening China outlets during 2006. Wal-Mart continues [...]

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The team at 01studio.com has posted their first photos of Birmingham and the shopping mall where Apple’s Bullring (UK) retail store will open at 6 p.m. Friday (10 a.m. PDT).

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Somewhere in Australia, someone has purchased the first in-person copy of OS X 10.4 Tiger from an authorized reseller.

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If you plan to attend the Tiger event in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’d recommend going to Walnut Creek…it’s going to be a blast!

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The Bridgeport Village (Ore.) retail store will hold its grand opening on Sat., June 4th.

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A good customer service story is posted on O’Grady’s PowerPage from the Santa Rosa Plaza (N. Calif.) retail store.

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Publishing company Wiley & Sons Inc. says Apple has stopped distributing its books at Apple retail stores, in response to Wiley’s publication of an unauthorized biography of Steve Jobs. A MacWorld story details the spat.

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Dear Sam: You didn’t leave an e-mail address, but the exact location of the future Flatiron (NYC) retail store is unknown. It could be within the Flatiron Building itself (8,000 s.f. of ground floor space), or in an adjacent building. I’d appreciate any scouting you can do!

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Cool! The staff at Apple stores this Friday evening won’t all be regulars, but will supplemented with HQ personnel, including at least one programmer who actually worked on the Tiger project! If you’re at the Valley Fair (N. Calif.) store, get your autographed copy of Tiger from John Vink and have your photo taken with [...]

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A story in the Rocky Mountain News quotes a financial analyst as saying that, before Apple’s retail stores,"The customer experience was a disaster." Charles Wolf of Needham & Co. also said, "Apple opened these stores by necessity because the ability of customers to buy Mac products was at an all-time low at traditional retail computer [...]

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