The very first Apple store located in an airport is…a Boutique iStore. The store will debut soon at Pierre Elliot Trudeau Airport in Montreal (Canada), in the domestic departure area, followed later by a similar store in the international departure area. Photos snapped by Mike show the white shelving and counters are squeezed into about 225 square-feet of space, announced by a large, back-lit “Boutique iStore” sign. The store will offer free Wi-Fi access, an iPod bar and plenty of accessories, according to the company’s Web site. The company already has a location in central Montreal that is about mid-way between Apple’s own retail stores. Apple retail executives once mentioned that it’s mini-store prototype might move into airports, but the concept was never expanded beyond the original nine stores.
Over the weekend of December 6th the storeheld a “soft” opening and was well-received. The grand opening was held at 8 a.m. on Monday the 8th.
During the soft opening over the weekend, customers visited the new iStore.
This is a designer's rendering of the design for an airport iStore.
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In the UK, customers get big discounts when they buy items from the airside part of airport terminals, because stores are allowed to sell items tax free. I don’t understand why Apple isn’t taking advantage of this.
Actually I would argue customers do _not_ get big discounts in UK airports. This is because BAA (owner of the major UK airports) charges a huge fee including a percentage of sales to stores running shops in their airports.
In theory you should be able to save 17.5% (soon 15%) at a UK airport store by not having to pay tax, but because of BAA’s ‘cut’ you would be lucky to save 2-5%. Indeed often shopping at a large superstore (e.g. Tesco) is cheaper even for booze.
I personally find airport shops a thoroughly unpleasant experience, although this is partly due to the stress of going through an airport. The pictures above of the iStore do not give me the same warm fuzzy feeling of a ‘real’ Apple store.
Note that this airport store is owned and operated by an Apple Authorized Reseller and not part of the Apple Retail Division.
It is outside the Duty Free Zone.
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