The Microsoft retail store scheduled to open later this year at The Shops at Mission Viejo (S. Calif.) will not be adjacent to the Apple store that has been there since 2004. Instead, it will likely be 360 feet away on the same level of the indoor mall, in a 75-wide space on the same [...]

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A security guard posted in front of the former Brooks Brothers store at the Scottsdale Fashion Square (Ariz.) shopping center seems to confirm the future location of one of Microsoft’s first two retail stores. The 75-wide space is on the lower level of the huge, upscale mall that attracts locals and tourists from around the [...]

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Microsoft announced that it will open its first two retail stores in Scottsdale (Ariz.) and at The Shops at Mission Viejo south of Los Angeles. As first reported by Cnet, Microsoft also intends to take the retail initiative “global,” although a spokesperson declined to say in which countries and how soon. It’s not clear exactly [...]

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The location of the second Apple retail store in Italy has been confirmed in Milano (Italy) at the large Carugate shopping mall northeast of city center. As reported by the SetteB.it Web site, a traditional black construction barricade has appeared inside the mall, and construction photos that reveal the store could open by year’s end.
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A source has provided the Gizmodo Web site with a design firm’s Powerpoint presentation that showcases a proposed layout, design and marketing strategy for the future Microsoft retail stores, including live wall graphics, a “Guru Bar” and rear-of-store theater. The full document also sets out Microsoft’s goals for the stores, including creating “inclusive exuberance” among [...]

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Bucking the national economic downturn and generally poor results in the computer industry, Apple reported sales of $8.34 billion during the third quarter of 2009, an increase over the same quarter of 2008 and the previous quarter. It was the third-highest revenue in the company’s history, bested only by the most recent holiday quarters. The [...]

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Continuing this year’s drive to open more international Apple stores, the company will hold the grand opening of the Churchill Square (UK) retail store this Saturday at 10 a.m. The store on the south coast of England will fill in coverage for the region, and bring the number of UK stores to 21. The city [...]

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In the midst of “remodel season,” the very first renovation of an international store has closed the Bluewater (UK) store for 10 days. The location closed after hours on Sunday, and will re-open on July 31st. A warning sign appeared before the store closed, saying, “We’re making this store better than ever for our favourite guests—you.” [...]

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A key figure in achieving Apple’s ground-breaking retail store concept is now consulting with Microsoft on that company’s retail stores, the first of which are expected to open this fall. George W. Blankenship, 56, joined Apple in 2000, and his 20 years of experience as Gap Inc.’s vice president of real estate strategy helped fulfill the [...]

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Several sources have confirmed that the Barton Creek (Tex.) retail store will close at the end of business on Sunday, August 1st, and the entire operation will then move 3.3 miles into a larger space at West 6th Street and North Lamar Blvd by month’s end. The new, previously-identified location has been under construction for [...]

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A video of today’s energetic grand opening of the Rideau (Ottawa) retail store shows the large crowd that showed up, and also the center pillar that Apple’s architects turned into wall shelving to display products. Apparently the only suitable space available for lease was located on either side of support columns that couldn’t be removed. [...]

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As part of this year’s annual Rushes Soho Shorts Film Festival, the Regent Street (London) store will host several events this month, including an appearance by electronic musician John Foxx. His performance will be accompanied by “video jockey” John “Karborn” Leigh, who will provide audio-visual presentations. However, as the appearance was being planned, the Apple [...]

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The construction barricade and storefront covering has been removed at the future Rideau (Ottawa) retail store, revealing a rare interior design feature: a center pillar around which there are display shelves and wall graphics. Because of the spaces that Apple selects, the Royal Hawaiian (Hi.) retail store is the only other location with a similar [...]

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Apple will open a store in the city of Perth (Australia) early next year, the first location in the western region of the continent. The exact location of the future store isn’t know, but it will definitely be in center of this coastal city of 1.6 million residents. It would be the sixth store in [...]

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Microsoft intends to open some of its previously-announced retail stores next-door to existing Apple stores, according to the company’s chief operating officer Kevin Turner. During a sales-focused keynote presentation at today’s Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Turner gloated over the success of the company’s series of “Apple Tax” television commercials, and then alerted the crowd, [...]

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