The Gravis chain of Apple authorized resellers opened a new store in Berlin (Germany) on Monday, offering 16,000 square-feet of bright-white space on two floors. The store is located in Ernst-Reuter-Platz, west of the Tiergarten and north of Kurfürstendamm, a location I scouted in 2005. The area caters to students from Berlin Technical University and Berlin University of the Arts. The Gravis chain uses a lime-green advertising motif, and posters advertising the store were plastered all over the area of the store.
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By a narrow 3 to 2 vote, the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) city council has approved certain architectural changes to the downtown space at 899 Higuera Street, the site of a proposed Apple retail store. The decision means that Apple can now begin the construction process on the store, city officials say. The council’s vote (pdf) upheld an appeal of a decision by the city’s Architectural Review Committee last year that required, among other things, that sidestreet windows remain transparent. read more…
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The full Planning Applications Committee in Glasgow (Scotland) has given conditional approval to Apple’s plans for a store at 147 Buchanan Street in that city. At its regular meeting last week, the Committee accepted the recommendations of the Director of Development and Regeneration Services to approve the interior renovations that Apple’s architect proposed, with some minor conditions. The approval is subject to the approval of the First Minister. The store could open by mid-year.
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Apple has produced a promotional card for its series of youth workshops, giving it a stencil motif. The 8-3/4″x2-1/3″ card is on green stock, has a “ruler” at the bottom, and has a stencil cut-out for each of the three workshop subjects: video (camcorder), photography (camera) and music (tambourine). The back of the card describes each of the three workshops and directs customers to the retail store Web page to register.
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Today’s issue of USA Today says that Verizon Wireless turned down an offer from Apple of exclusive distribution of the upcoming iPhone, because Apple had too many demands: a portion of the monthly fees and control over who could sell the phones. Jim Gerace, a Verizon Wireless v-p, told the newspaper that Apple demanded control of the relationship with iPhone customers, including sole discretion over iPhone warranty and replacement issues (although it’s not clear if that includes phones sold by Cingular). The remarks indicate the critical role that Apple’s retail stores will play in the iPhone roll-out, and hint at the additional burden that iPhones will place on the Genius Bars and sales staff. In the same article, a Cingular exec said the company will be handling wireless network problems for the phones.
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In the aftermath of the theft of a plexiglass display case containing 42 iPod nanos from the Twenty Ninth Street (Colo.) Apple store, displays at other stores have been modified to secure the 30 pound cases to a table. Boulder police say store employees noticed the display case missing at around 5 p.m. earlier this month, but didn’t see any suspects take the 2′x2′x6″ box. When originally installed, the display case wasn’t secured in any way. Recent visitors to stores where the nano case is still on display say the cases are now secured to the table in some way. The 4 Gb nanos were worth about $8,450, according to a police report.
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Sources have told Forbes Magazine that Apple has decided not to put a retail store at 21 W. 34th Street in New York City, across from the Empire State Building. According to the sources, Apple believed the store would perform well, but, “had second thoughts about the location’s coolness.” Forbes quoted a long-time retail broker saying that there are some upscale stores in the area, but, “Unfortunately, a lot of the old 34th St.–third-rate tourist merchants and rip-off artists–still remain.” Apple signed a $5.5 million per year lease on the 20,000 square-foot, 4-story building, Forbes said, and will now sub-lease the space. It’s at least the second Apple store cancellation in Manhattan. In Sept. 2005 Apple abandoned its plans for a store in the Flatiron District after receiving negative feedback on the architectural plan from the local community advisory board. Apple reportedly signed a 12-year lease on the space, with rent up to $100,000 a month.
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Apple Inc. has received a second patent covering the spectacular glass staircases that help make their flagship stores a magnet for visitors. This patent is for a “glass support member,” and focuses on the engineering and manufacture of the laminated glass panels, and the use of titanium inserts to attach the panels together. The 21-page patent includes numbered diagrams that set out the typical parts of a glass staircase, and text that sets out the technical details of bonding glass in layers, with laminates in between. The patent was filed in July, 2003 and lists Steve Jobs among the 10 inventors. A previous patent was awarded in August 2003 for the overall design of the glass staircases. Download (pdf, 1.1 Mb) a copy of the latest patent document here.
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The Apple retail stores in the United Kingdom (and now United States) will hold Youth Workshops devoted to iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie. The “Jam, Action, Snap” sessions are for children ages 6 to 13, and are scheduled for three Sundays and three Wednesdays (Sat. & Mon. in the U.S.) starting mid-February through mid-April. There is no cost for the workshops, which require a parent to fill out a permission slip, complete on-line registration, and to accompany the child during the workshop. Several of the workshops are already waitlisted. [U.S. link to registration]
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The evidence is was contradictory about whether Apple is adding on to the San Francisco (N. Calif.) retail store. Major construction is underway at 24 Ellis Street, directly behind the existing store, on a single-story, 12,000 square-foot building with a peaked roof. A 4-story building occupied the space around the time the Apple store was built, but it was subsequently demolished. The new structural steel façade framework is the same height as the adjacent Apple store, but other architectural details don’t match, and there is an “Available” sign from the leasing company out front. City permit records don’t reveal who the future occupant might be. Yet, the 12-foot barricade fronting the site is plastered with iPod posters, DPR Construction Inc. (Apple’s favorite) trucks are parked in the adjacent parking structure, and one insider says, “Yes.” Perhaps it will turn into a speciality store for Apple, focusing on music, iPods and TV. [Update: No Apple store. The real estate broker says it will be a clothing boutique.]
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There’s a large part of any retail operation that is backstage, complexities that are hidden from the customer in order to provide a superior shopping experience. At Apple’s retail stores, there’s the added corporate secrecy intended to maintain the company’s competitive advantage. Now a Web site has popped up to expose some of the backstage operating details of Apple stores, operated anonymously by a part-time employee at an unnamed store. The iWork For Apple site debuted in July 2005 and is sparse right now, but offers to answer site visitors’ questions. [The site was taken down two days after this posting because the owner was concerned with being identified through ISP listings (see the comment #3). Here's the original page.]
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Apple’s proposed store at 147 Buchanan Street in Glasgow (Scotland) has received approval from the Director of Development and Regeneration Services (DRS), and should be green-lighted by the city planning department during a regular meeting this Tuesday. The flagship-sized store will be located inside a magnificent corner building that dates from 1842. Apple will retain the façade, much like they did at the Regent Street store in London. The DRS noted in their 7-page report that the interior of the building was gutted and renovated in 1990. Therefore, there are no historic considerations for Apple’s proposed remodel. The existing mezzanine level will be reduced in size, and a spiral-glass staircase will be added, according to Apple’s plans, along with other standard store interior features. The Planning Applications Committee received feedback on Apple’s architecture and design plans from two heritage groups, but didn’t sustain their objections. It will be the first store in Scotland, and is scheduled to open by July.
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The Mall at Millenia (Orlando, Fla.) retail store will close for five full days starting January 22nd to construct a temporary store while renovations are made to the store, which opened in October 2003. The store features wood floors, white Corian display fixtures, a rear POS and right-side Genius Bar. The renovations could include stone flooring, wood display tables, a relocated Genius Bar and a new Studio. During the closure Apple is directing customers to the Florida Mall store three miles away for Genius Bar appointments during the closure week.
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Apple reported record quarterly revenues and profit for the first fiscal quarter of 2007, hitting $7.1 billion in sales and $1.0 billion in profits. The Retail stores generated $1.1 billion in sales, nearly the same as the holiday quarter of last year, but about double the revenues from the previous three quarters. Retail profit was down slightly to $89 million fromt he previous quarter, and did not set a new record. Macintosh sales at the stores were substantial at 308,000, but down slightly from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006. Store visitors set a new record at 28 million, or 13,000 per store per week. Overall the company sold 1.6 million Mac computers and 21 million iPods, a 28 percent and 50 percent increase respectively over the same quarter of 2006. During a conference call with analysts, CFO Peter Oppenheimer said Apple expects to open seven stores during the current quarter, and 35 to 40 stores during fiscal 2007. Check the charts and graphs.
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Apple will divert from its recent penchant for placing stores in major metro areas, and locate a new store at the Fashion Fair Mall in Fresno (Calif.), the heart of the state’s agricultural valley. The city’s average household income puts it in the bottom 10 percent among existing Apple store locations. Other economic demographics would also seem to discourage locating a store in the city. However, agriculture contributes nearly $3 billion to the annual regional economy, and that may help create shoppers who can afford Apple’s products. The store could open mid-summer in an unknown space at the mall.
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