I’ve arrived in Rome for the grand opening of the Roma Est (Rome, Italy) store on Saturday. While it’s cloudy and overcast, it’s fairly warm and dry. I visited the area of the mall, which is on top of a rolling hill in the community of Longhezza. The only access to the mall is from [...]

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Thanks to the AppleBlog for discovering that the Concierge Genius Bar reservation system now allows guests to book appointments for the current day and the next two days. Previously, only paid ProCare customers could book future-day appointments. Correspondingly, ProCare members can now book appointments out to 14 days, extended from the previous seven days. The [...]

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The new Apple TV product has arrived as some Apple retail stores, occupying the front-most bay on the right side of the store, and the right-side front display window. The Apple TV demo area consists of two or three Sony televisions and Apple TV devices, sometimes with a lone Apple TV between them. Remote controls [...]

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Apple will bump up its United Kingdom chain of retail stores with the addition of two new sites: Touchwood mall in Solihull south of Birmingham, and Churchill Square in the south coast town of Brighton. It’s the first UK activity since the Glasgow and Edinburgh locations were first confirmed earlier this year. The future Touchwood [...]

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A sharp-eye Web investigator seems to have confirmed that Apple is/was interested in the new high-rise development at 108 State Street in downtown Chicago, about a mile from the existing North Michigan Avenue store. The site was first ID’d in December 2005, but there’s been no news until Brian spotted some Apple designs within the [...]

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An Apple press release says the company’s new Apple TV product will be in Apple retail stores “this week,” and other sources say Best Buy stores will stock the devices starting next Tuesday. Acknowledging the need for extra sales explanations for Apple TV, the press release also said the stores will offer, “hands on workshops [...]

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Construction is finally underway at the long-identified future store at the Woodland Hills (Tulsa, Okla.) mall. The mall was first identified as a future store site back in October, 2004. A construction barricade has now appeared [thanks Harold!] in space #168, and hammering/sawing can be heard from inside [since painted all black?]. The space is [...]

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Apple has formally announced the grand opening of the Roma Est (Rome, Italy) store for Saturday, March 31st at 9 a.m., coinciding with the grand opening of the mall itself. It will be the first store in continental Europe, the first of several stores expected to open in France, Switzerland, Germany and other countries. The [...]

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It may look like a baseball score, but instead it’s the count of cities whose suburbs will have yet additional Apple retail stores. First, Apple will plant a new store at the Natick Collection Mall in the western suburbs of Boston (Mass.). The mall recently bulked up by 500,000 square-feet, creating a two-level super-regional destination [...]

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Apple has offered five of its retail stores to Adobe Systems Inc. to promote the software developer’s very important Creative Suite 3 upgrade that runs native on Intel processors. Each of the stores will hold a 90-minute presentation at 6:30 p.m. on March 28th, the day after Adobe holds a New York press event to [...]

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A story in the San Luis Obispo (Calif.) New Times weekly magazine wraps up all the issues of the future downtown Apple store in that city: competition with a local reseller, negative architectural feedback from a city commission, an under-the-radar city council appeal, and store construction. The story explains how the building owner took Apple’s [...]

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A giant, 30-foot square advertisement for the upcoming iPhone appeared for a few hours on Monday on the side of the Fifth Avenue store glass entrance cube. The ad was composed of 18 panels of see-through type material, showing the now-familiar hand holding the iPhone. The ad wasn’t really that visible, since the panels weren’t [...]

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Thanks to Terry for a short video and photos of the Waterside (Fla.) store grand opening that shows the standard V2.0 layout in a narrow store, and the Genius Bar. Also check these photos by silvermeteror on flickr, and this video by eddie that includes a long speech by the store’s general manager.

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The store manager had to use a megaphone to address the grand opening crowd at The Domain (Tex.) store this morning, because the line was so long and raucous. Watch the video of the event.

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Thanks to additional photos from Terry, we can now view one of the most low-key stores in Apple’s chain–Waterside (Fla.). The store is shoe-horned into a very small space, both vertically and horizontally. The space limitations prevented the usual stainless steel and backlit Apple logo above the display windows, and forcing the architects to present [...]

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Customers and Apple call center employees wandered into The Domain (Tex.) store on Thursday for a soft opening, one day before the store officially opens. Photos by Adam reveal that the store features the V2.0 interior design, but with a wide center aisle flanked by wood display tables, leading to the ‘kids’ table about three-quarters [...]

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Fortune magazine has posted one of the best and most comprehensive stories about Apple’s retail chain, including interviews with Steve Jobs, Ron Johnson and Michael Mulhern of TriPyramid Structures. The story is part of the magazine’s “America’s Most Admired Companies” series. Read the quotes carefully, and you’ll gain insights on why Apple created a chain [...]

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Apple is ramping up its international store openings, and will open 10 new stores outside the United States during 2007. That news and other tidbits were revealed by Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer during a Morgan Stanley technology conference Tuesday in San Francisco. He reiterated that Apple will open 35 to 40 new stores worldwide during [...]

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Thanks to Dave for photos of The Domain (Austin, Tex.) store that opens this Friday, when the new mall itself opens. The store features the standard wide display window, framed by stainless steel and topped with a back-lit logo. Check the strange architecture of the store to the left of Apple.

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The Somerset (Mich.) store closed last Sunday for a week so it can be reduced to a mini-store while renovations are made. According to signs, the work will take 10 weeks, after which the store will close for a week, and then re-open with stainless steel walls, stone floors and wood display tables. The Somerset [...]

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