Thanks to Presta on the flickr photo site for the latest photo of construction progress at the Fifth Avenue (NYC) retail store. At this point, all the store construction is underneath the front plaza of the skyscraper shown in the photo. The only thing visible is a huge, black, wooden construction barricade that surrounds the [...]

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Apple has posted a revised listing for the position of Finance Manager, with this one focusing on “international revenue forecasting and reporting” for the stores outside the United States. Candidates must demonstrate the ability and willingness to, “discuss tough topics, articulate positions, think creatively to find solutions,” the job description states. Besides reporting on international [...]

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Thanks to Jeremy for the photo of the future Apple Center adjacent to the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). The store is housed in a brand-new building on busy Green Street, just two blocks from the official university retail store inside the Illini Union, where prices are slightly lower, I’m told. [see related]

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Thanks to John for updated photos of the future Southlake Town Square store, showing the Main Street-style mall surroundings, and a unique view of the store’s back-lit Apple logo.

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Where do gingerbread men go after they’ve been removed from an Apple store display window? Apparently the company requires them to hit the presentation circuit, since several of the tasty cut-outs showed up at the recent Florida Educational Technology Conference in Orlando as wall decorations for a podcast seminar. A sad ending to a distinguished [...]

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Several photos of the Apple Experience Center in the COEX mall in Seoul (Korea) show that it bears a close resemblance to official U.S. Apple stores. The store has wood flooring, white Corian display stands and even frosted-glass section partitions. The product display does, however, include an “ancient” Power Mac G4 among the desktop models [...]

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Based on Apple’s past hiring and construction schedules, I’ve calculated grand opening dates for the list of confirmed future stores. On my list there are three openings scheduled in May, six each in June and July, and four in August, all subject, of course, to changes due to construction or other glitches. Check the 2006 [...]

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The ThinkSecret Web site notes that slow-selling software is being dropped from Apple’s store shelves, and being replaced by higher-profit items, mostly iPod-related. By July, software that isn’t Universal Binary will also disappear, the site says. The information coincides with an observation by Jose, who notes that Palm PDAs have disappeared fromthose cylindrical white display [...]

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The Regent Street (London) store is perhaps the most spectacular among Apple’s stores, both in terms of its building architecture, interior design and use of space. So that’s why I selected it for a very special illustration that highlights and explains its features. Mouse around, click and explore the store.

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Thanks to Greg for construction update photos of the future Suburban Square (Penn.) store. The interior construction continues, but the stainless steel hasn’t been installed yet.

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Speculation over Apple’s retail plans in Rome (Italy) has ended with news they will open a store at the RomaEst mall under construction on the city’s eastern suburbs. A grand opening could be held as early as September, according to one source. The location avoids the traffic and congestion of the city’s central shopping [...]

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A construction barricade has gone up in front of the future Mall in Columbia (Md.) retail store, along with an odd slogan: “Apple. Latest Technology. You.”

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A map of the just-opened Summit Sierra (Reno, Nev.) retail store by the Gazette-Journal newspaper shows a very strange footprint for the store: arather narrow rectangle to the back, where it has a wider “T,” which is part of the back-of-house.

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Apple has installed a video guide at the 5-story Ginza (Tokyo) retail store that shows visitors in English and Japanese what products and services are available on each floor. The “monolith” is located on the ground and second floors near the shuttles, and in words and animation depict the various floors and products. Thanks [...]

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A press release by Germany-based Location Services AG notes that retail rent in Zurich (Switzerland) is the third-highest in Europe… up to $530 per square-foot annually. In comparison, Munich (Germany) retail rents are up to $335 per s.f. annually. You may recognize both locations as future Apple store sites. Retail rents in New York City [...]

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You’ll recall that Boston’s Back Bay Architectural Committee was critical of the architecture of the proposed Boston Apple store during a recent presentation. Now the “Boston’s Weekly Dig” Web site takes a shot at the committee, calling them a “cabal of frigid elitists,” and calling their objections pretty unreasonable. Meanwhile, the “Boston Courant” newspaper has [...]

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The LivePath blog site chronicles a visit to the Tyson’s Corner (Virg.) retail store, and documents a long list of supposedly bad design choices that Apple made: no directional signs, gray shelving, bright lighting, narrow aisles and along cashwrap waiting line. What’s more, the Webmaster is an Web sales consultant, and has lots of suggestions [...]

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A SpyMac tipster says the Summit Sierra store will open the same day as the new mall, March 15th. Apple posted a notice of the opening on Monday, a mere two days before the event. [A huge snowstorm preventing me from making the trip from the SF Bay area!]

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The hard drive died on blogger Heidi Miller’s iBook G4 laptop–along with the external backup. She took it to the North Michigan Avenue store for repair. After it was returned with a new drive, a Genius told Miller that she could receive her old drive only if she put a $300 hold on her credidt [...]

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Apple vice-president of retail development Bob Bridger appeared before a Boston district architectural commission Wednesday night to outline the company’s plans for a flagship store on Boylston Street that could open in 2007. And amazgingly, it looks just like the failed Flatiron (NYC) concept that heritage-types in that city turned down. A story in the [...]

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