Apple Fills Out 2006 Store Schedule

Apple has nearly filled out its fiscal 2006 schedule for new stores, with the discovery of three future store locations and the confirmation of a fourth. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer has said the company will open 35 to 40 new stores by Sept. 30th, and these new sites bring my list of stores opening in 2006 to 35. I’ve confirmed the long-known Twenty Ninth Street mall now under construction in Boulder (Colo.), which is due for an October grand opening. New sites include the First Colony Mall in Sugar Land (Tex.) southwest of Houston, the Topanga Mall northwest of Los Angeles and within 10 miles of two existing stores, and the Waterside Shops in the coastal community of Naples (Fla.). Barring construction delays, all four stores should be open for the holiday shopping season. Of the four, only the Waterside Shops store can be considered an expansion into a new territory.