The Le Carrefour Laval (Montreal) store will hold it grand opening on Sept. 9th, with the usual 1,000 commemorative T-shirts and “grand opening contest.” Interestingly, the contest prize is described as being worth “$3007.85 CDN,” while the soon-to-open Sherway Gardens (Toronto) store prize is described as being worth “$2,616.90.” At today’s exchange rate, that’s about $105 more value for Carrefour Laval. Turns out the prize package has different camcorders (Canon vs. Sony) and printers (“Espon” vs. H-P).
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Puzzling. That’s about all I can say about Dell’s first and only retail store at the Northpark (Tex.) store, within sight of the Apple store. The store’s appearance is strange, the sales model is strange, and exactly what Dell hopes to accomplish is baffling. How does it compare to a typical Apple retail store, and what grade can I give it based on a recent visit? read more…
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The opening of the Apple retail store inside the RomaEst (Rome, Italy) mall has been delayed by construction, which won’t be finished until February 2007. The SetteB.IT Web site has posted a full construction report, with photos of the rural mall east of Rome. The store spaces seem too small for a typical Apple store, the Web site reports, so the exact location of the store is still a mystery.
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Thanks to gmark2000 for the photos of construction underway at the future Sherway Gardens (Toronto, Canada) store, showing a black construction barricade, along with installed furniture, glass partitions and flooring, and work being done on the ceiling. The store holds its grand opening this Saturday, and an enthusiastic group of Apple enthusiastics is expected to turn the event into an overnighter
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Rumors of an Apple store in Zurich (Switzerland) surfaced a year ago, and now a store on Bahnhofstrasse has been confirmed by job listings. The store will reportedly occupy the former United Colors of Benetton store at #77, and could open by Summer 2007. It’s the second confirmed store in continental Europe, after the Rome (Italy) store.
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There is no store more high-profile in Apple’s chain than Fifth Avenue (NYC), and no store so jammed with visitors, both famous and anonymous. So it’s not unexpected that personnel practices there are tight. Employees are expected to look sharp and work hard. But the super-tight policy on attendance, hats (none) and other policies is taking its toll on the staff–during the first week, 15 staffers quit, and since then there’s been a steady stream of weekly departures, and firings for poor attendance. Since 5,000 persons applied for the ~300 store positions, presumably there is no end of replacements.
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There have been conflicting reports of the availability of custom versions of the new Mac Pro desktop computer at Apple’s stores. However, it appears that memory is the only component that Apple employees can add to computers you buy there, and not video cards or disk drives. Some stores have told customers that complete upgrades will be eventually be available at the stores for Mac Pros, no doubt as training and supply issues are worked out. Remember that components you add yourself will be substantially less expensive than those purchased at an Apple store. For example, 3 Gb of Mac Pro memory is going for $1,100 from Apple, while other reliable on-line sources are selling 4 Gb of memory for ~$850. Apple sells a 500 Gb hard drive for $400, while Amazon prices them at $299.99 with free shipping.
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Apple’s architect has requsted a delay in the architectural review process for a future store in San Luis Obispo (Calif.), telling the city’s Architectural Review Commission they are working on revisions to the original plans and need more time. After encountering resistance to their original design from Commission members in July, Apple was to have presented new designs at an August 7th meeting, which was delayed until August 21st. Now Apple’s presentation has been reset to “a date uncertain,” according to a Commission document.
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Apple is in negotiations with the management of the Carriage Crossing mall in Collierville (Tenn.), a southeast suburb of Memphis, and about 10 miles from the existing Germantown store. The mall is finalizing architectural designs for a 1,200 foot-long string of retail spaces adjacent to the main mall, where Apple reportedly wants to locate. The project could be finished by late 2007, when the Apple store would hold its grand opening.
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Last year mall developer Simon Property Group announced an expansion at the Lenox Square (Atlanta) mall, adding space to the existing Neiman Marcus store and creating 35,000 additional square-feet of retail space by adding a second level to a portion of the mall. Now there’s word that Apple will move its existing store in the mall to the new addition when its finished in Fall 2007, and it will be a two-level store.
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The sometimes mundane tasks required to become an Apple store employee are detailed in a two-part blog entry by Employee XXX, a former Summit Sierra (Reno, Nev.) store employee. The person describes the initial training as “the most through (sic) and useless” he’s ever experienced, revealed that two of the store’s assistant managers had been “poached” from the local CompUSA, and that the new store’s manager was a “refugee” from Gap. Read the experiences [link now dead]
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The Think Secret Web site reports that at least five Apple retail store employees were fired after they downloaded copies of the unreleased OS X 10.5 Leopard operating system from the Internet, and then admitted doing so when confronted by supervisors. Few other details are known, but one fired employee is quoted in the article. Update: On Monday the 28th, two employees of the Oakbrook (Ill.) store were reportedly terminated for downloading OS X 10.5.
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Apple has officially announced the grand opening of The Pier at Caesars (Atlantic City, NJ) store for August 19th at 11 a.m. No doubt because of the store’s location, it will be open unusual hours: 11 a.m. to midnight every day. The grand opening will feature the usual sweepstakes (Digital Lifestyle Collection valued at $2,229) and 1,000 commemorative T-shirts.
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Apple has posted a new, comprehensive Web page allowing you to search by city and find the nearest Apple store, authorized reseller or service provider. You can narrow your search by service type or solution, or even by store name. Search results include local CompUSA, Best Buy, Guitar Center and Circuit City stores, as well as independent resellers, and indicate if they’re iPod or Mac shops. The page uses some nifty coding tricks to autofill the search location, and to display the list of stores.
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Photos of the Apple sales section of a southern California Best Buy store show that it’s very compact, if not downright midget. But at least the section, staffed by an Apple-badged employee, offers new sales opportunities for visitors to the big-box reseller. Best Buy is rolling out the new sales areas under an expanded reseller agreement with Apple signed earlier this year. Previously, Best Buy sold only iPods and accessories for the mp3 players. The Apple section consists of a single table displaying the entire Apple computer line, along with shelving for selected software and accessories.
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