Believe it or not, Apple retail locations in Manhattan are beginning to crowd up: the future Flatiron (NYC) store is just 1,500 feet from long-time authorized reseller Tekserve, which describes itself as "the old reliable Mac shop." The future Mid-Town (NYC) store is about 1,500 feet away from RCS Experience, a huge store on Madison [...]

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The Bullring (UK) storefront (right) has been exposed to the public, and more information is available about the grand opening: the mall management will allow an outside camp-out for the store grand opening, and the security staff is preparing to manage the queue once it moves inside. By the way, the original grand opening date [...]

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Construction on the Eastview (NY) retail store has begun, with the installation of a plywood covering over the storefront. Placards within the mall announce that the Apple store will open "this Summer."

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Apple’s Big Dog of research computing, Matt MacInnis, will appear at the SoHo (NYC) store this Wednesday from 6p-8p, to demonstrate the merits of OS X v10.4 and the Xserve G5 for scientists, engineers, creative professionals, "and others needing more computational power than their desktops can provide." MacIinnis is a Harvard University (’02) grad with [...]

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Two more locations have been revealed: Fashion Square Mall (S. Calif.) and South Hills Village (Pittsburgh). That brings the number of known store locations to 51, which in turn would indicate 150 stores at some time in the future.

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While some Mac users report they’ve received early delivery of OS X Tiger 10.4, truck watchers say that copies of the newest Apple operating system are arriving at Apple’s retail stores ahead of the April 29th release event. Store computers are already displaying a Tiger screensaver, and there are other preparations for the debut: crowd [...]

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Reports of Apple’s Thursday stockholders meeting in Cupertino included one retail-related remark by Steve Jobs. In response to a questions about authorized resellers, he said, "It’s actually not true that Apple stores get preferential access" to new products. "We’re out for the customer—we want to make the best buying experience we can. If someone else [...]

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The SoHo (NYC) store is rockin’ these evenings with activities related to the Tribeca Film Festival. The by-invitation kick-off event included movie and music celebs and, by to one account, an open bar–alcoholic, not Genius.

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The Regent Street (UK) store should be mobbed on April 19th, when the music group Stereophonics will play at 8 p.m. Their single "Dakota" is a mainstay of UK radio stations.

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The BBC’s Stephen Evans writes of the Mac cult, describing the SoHo (NYC) Apple retail stores as a "temple," and then writing, "At the top of a set of broad stairs in the sun-lit store is an auditorium, a circle of seats much like those in a chapel, where one of the black-clad priests stands [...]

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MacWorld UK describes the appearance of the band Stereophonics at the Regent Street (UK) store last Tuesday. Apple invited 150 persons, then allowed another 100 into the store from a queue of 500 lined up outside. An unidentified Apple employee said they hope to have one band a month appear at the store. The band’s [...]

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Will someone at Apple Human Resources please re-write the job description for the retail Loss Prevention Officer, eliminating the policy and procedure language ("At no time is the UCLPO to engage in any type of foot chase with the subject outside the store."), and replace it will task-based descriptions? It not only looks sloppy, it [...]

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The Bullring (UK) store will open Friday, April 29th at 6 p.m., becoming the fourth (or fifth) Apple retail store on the planet to sell OS X Tiger. It’s the second store in the UK, and fifth international location. The first 1,400 visitors will receive a commemorative T-shirt, but the Lucky Bag promotion is [...]

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Apple has now created a "Retail" Web page for each of the three countries where stores are location: U.S., UK and Japan. Each maintains the former page format, but has country-specific information, and one page is in Japanese.

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To help keep your brain occupied during this lull in retail store news, I’ve prepared a timeline diagram that plots the forecasted grand openings for the next 10 months. Slow now, busy later!

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Yes, it’s r-e-a-l-l-y slow for retail store news. I can only report that Apple’s 2005 retail store Camp schedule for July-August has been posted, including introduction to Macintosh, movies, photos and music. Surf the main Web page, then click on "Details" to find a camp session for your closest store. [Ooops...now the links are dead.]

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The April 29th Tiger World Premier is being promoted at the retail stores by two-side information cards, which add that you can win a PowerBook G4, iPod and other prizes. The rules of the promotion won’t be available until the day of Tiger’s debut.

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Apple has posted a job opening for Overhead Planogram Manager, presumably different from the position of Planogram Manager.

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Former North Michigan Avenue (Ill.) service manager Gray Rothkopf has opened OnDeckTech, a Mac and Windows (gasp!) training, repair, support and troubleshooting consultantancy. Check his press release.

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A sign has appeared at The Woodlands (Houston) mall, in the former Eddie Bauer space, saying the retailer will return. Previously, it was believed Apple would occupy the former Eddie Bauer space, but Apple may choose to move into the new outdoor development west of the space.

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