NVDA's GeForce 3 / AAPL Stores Info: maccentral.macworld.com
And another AAPL store being "rumored":
maccentral.macworld.com
Along with this interesting article about a *few* stores being planned in Philadelphia *alone*!:
maccentral.macworld.com
Pittsburgh Business Times: Apple plans retail stores
by Peter Cohen, pcohen@maccentral.com
March 19, 2001, 12:05 am ET
Yet another report has appeared regarding Apple's alleged plans to open a chain of retail stores. This time the source is the Pittsburgh Business Times. Writer Tim Schooley quotes an executive from commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis as saying Apple has plans to open several stores in the greater Pittsburgh area.
It would seem that Apple's retail plans -- if true -- are one of the worst kept secrets the company has had in recent memory. Rumors have abounded for the better part of a year that Apple is considering opening up a chain of retail stores, as PC computer maker Gateway has done with its own Gateway Country stores. Spots in Chicago, Ill. and Palo Alto, Calif. have been suggested, along with various other locations around the country.
When asked, Apple representatives won't comment on such speculation. When confronted directly by curious analysts even Apple CEO Steve Jobs has refused to comment, but he's been careful not to openly refute the idea as well, saying only that he wouldn't discuss "unannounced initiatives."
The Pittsburgh Business Times article said that according to CB Richard Ellis Executive Vice President Herky Pollock, his real estate company is scouting potential retail locations for Apple in and around Pittsburgh retail markets in Shadyside and the North and South Hills. Pollock said that Apple's western Penn. locations should be open by the end of this year.
Schooley said that Apple is expected to open its first retail locations in the next couple of months.
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And another here: maccentral.macworld.com
ICSC: Apple to open retail store in Colorado
by Dennis Sellers, dsellers@maccentral.com
March 5, 2001, 2:10 pm ET
Fuel has been added to the long-rumored-but-never-confirmed story/rumor/speculation that Apple will open its own chain of retail stores. A report by Shopping Centers Today, a publication of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), said that Apple is about to roll out a chain of stores that will sell its own brand of computer equipment.
The company is keeping mum on the plan, but Apple stores are set to open in centers across the country, mall executives report, according to Shopping Centers today.
"They're opening lots of them around the country now," Terry McEwen, president of Memphis-based Poag & McEwen Lifestyle Centers, is quoted as saying.
In fact, McEwen's company will purportedly have a 6,200-square-foot Apple store in the lifestyle center it plans to open in Littleton, Colo. in November. Poag is developing the 60-store lifestyle center, called Aspen Grove, with Cleveland-based Developers Diversified Realty Corp. Executives of one large New York City area mall say they are also close to signing a deal with Apple, according to Shopping Centers today.
The story added that Apple has hired executives from several prominent retailers, including George W. Blankenship, formerly vice president of real estate for Gap, and Ron Johnson, formerly merchandising director at Target, to execute the plan. In May, 1999, Gap Inc.'s president and CEO, Millard Drexler, joined Apple's board of directors.
Apple, naturally, hasn't commented on the talk of retail stores. At a Jan. 31 meeting for financial analysts, CEO Steve Jobs was asked about such a strategy and would only say the company didn't talk about "unannounced initiatives." Also, see our Jan. 25 editorial for some thoughts on the matter. |
