After just one year of slowing down the growth of its retail store initiative, Apple says that it will resume the previous pace of opening stores, perhaps as many as 50 this year. In financial documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Apple said that, historically, it has opened between 25 and 50 new retail stores per year. “During 2010, the Company expects to open a number of new stores near the upper end of this range,” the company said, with over half of those located outside of the United States. Apple opened 54 stores during fiscal 2008, but slowed down the expansion to just 26 new stores during FY 2009. In the SEC filing Apple also reported other figures not provided in financial reports released October 19th. First, the number of full-time equivalent positions did not change during the quarter, and remains at 16,500. Next, lease commitments for the retail stores now total $1.5 billion, a figure which has ranged between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion for each of the last five quarters, despite the addition of new stores. Previously, total lease commitments had slowly increased by about $100 million each quarter. The stabilization of lease commitments seems to indicate that Apple has taken advantage of the economy, and has re-negotiated older leases and obtained favorable rates on new stores. Next, Apple reported that capital asset purchases were $167 million for the quarter, a new record for the number that has ranged from $30 million to $101 million over the last two years. And the spending should continue—the company forecast it will spend $400 during fiscal 2010 on retail capital asset purchases. Lastly, Apple expensed $26 million on corporate marketing for its 11 high-profile stores. This figure was also a record, in a two-year range of from $11 million to $17 million per quarter.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I very much appreciate your angle on Apple’s growth story. For me, at least, it shows exactly how much is involved in the company’s decisions and future planning.
Thanks.
For me, they should just build an apple store in Markham Ontario because an hour line up for genius even when i arrived to check in like on time and waiting 3 weeks for a mighty mouse replacement is just insanely ridiculous. Having a markham store will sooth the amount of people concentrated within the southern stores in the area like Eaton and Fairview.
london ontario please
Though it will probably never happen, Apple should consider entering the central Gulf Coast market with a store at either Eastern Shore Centre or Legacy Village at Spring Hill in Mobile, AL. The small Apple boutique-within-a-store at Best Buy is okay, but a larger Apple store would be great.