World of Apple

Apple’s 24-hour Apple Store in Manhattan has closed this afternoon and is set to reopen in the morning. The Fifth Avenue Apple Store has seen very few closures in its lifetime, but Apple’s retail page confirms that the Apple store will be temporary closed:

Please note we will be temporarily closed Thursday, May 29 at 3:00 p.m. and will reopen Friday, May 30 at 9:00 a.m. During this time, please visit one of our other two Manhattan locations.

According to Mac Rumors employees are telling passers by that a commercial is being filmed at the location and according to their sources Apple is filming a commercial for the upcoming 3G iPhone.

Image courtesy of Flickr user paulmonkeypaul

Apple has once again posted a teaser around the glass front of the first Apple Store to open in Australia.

ifoAppleStore posts photos of the exterior display which teases passers by with the message “Drop in soon, Apple Store, Sydney.” To the left of the message is a swirl of blue iPod nanos.

The store which is located on the corner of George and King is the first official Apple Store to open Australia, the flagship store is said to be 14,370 square feet in size.

The Apple Store is expected to open sometime in June, possibly coinciding with a launch of the iPhone.

Last Thursday evening Americas largest Apple Store opened on Boylston Street, Boston.

ifoAppleStore is offering fantastic post-event coverage and many videos have been posted on YouTube (see below).

ifo has pointed out a particular interesting piece of data about the stores Genius Bar. The Boylston Street Store Genius Bar is capable of 1,000 appointments per 15-hour week according to in-store promo material.

That equates to 67 appointments an hour over the stores 15 hour day. The Genius Bar has 17 stools so each stool would have 4 appointments per hour. It appears that Apple expects each Genius Bar appointment to take a mere 15 minutes.

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The Apple Store that we’ve seen grow from merely plans and a rendering to the real thing is finally upon up. The Boylston Street Apple Store in Boston is due to open this Thursday evening at 6.00pm EST.

Apple will be giving away “limited edition” T-Shirts and “other surprises” at the store opening.

Every Apple product is available for you to get to know and test-drive at the Apple Store. And the top floor is dedicated entirely to programs, support, and services. It’s home to the Genius Bar, One-to-One personal training and free one-hour workshops to get the most out of your Apple products. Come early and be among the first to experience what the Apple Store is all about.

Apple is apparently claiming the Boston Apple Store to be the largest in the U.S., trailing only behind the mammoth Regent Street Store in London. The claim comes as a surprise to some as the physical measurements of the plot are only 6,384 square feet, making the three story store only 19,152 s.f. a little below the 20,000 s.f. Fifth Avenue Store in New York.

ifoAppleStore.com is as always offering excellent coverage of the Store opening.

Image courtesy of Flickr user BostonCityWalk.

Boston’s flagship Apple Store is set to open this month and details are being leaked that the three-story Apple Store will be Apple’s largest to date.

Gizmodo reports that the store will handle 10 times the average foot traffic of a normal Apple Store.

“According to a store employee, it’s a good thing Boylston Street is so big: Apple estimates 1,500-2000 customers/hour will visit — more than 10 times the 160/hour that the average store gets,” reports Gizmodo. “It’s something else inferiority-complex ravaged Bostonians can hold over New York.”

Although unconfirmed, sources have suggested to World of Apple that the Apple Store could open on either May 16th or 23rd.

According to an article in the Portland Press Herald today Apple is looking for staff for a new store in the Maine Mall in South Portland. This is exciting news for Mainers, as the closest Apple store at the moment is in Salem N.H. With the Maine Learning Technology Initiative heavily dependent on Apple products (every seventh and eighth grade public school student gets their own Apple laptop), the store should receive quite a bit of business.

Although recruiting has just begun the Apple store is expected to open in November 2008.

Today the Grand Arcade Apple Store opened in Cambridge, UK.

World of Apple reader Pete has been kind enough to send over some photos of the opening of the new Apple Store.

View the photos here.

Cherry Hill Store Set to Open

Apple will open its Cherry Hill (NJ) Apple Store this coming Saturday.

The Store will open at 10.00am and will give away commemorative T-Shirts to the first 1000 through the doors.

Store Targeted for East of England

The city of Leicester in the east of the UK is set to receive a much need Apple Store.

The Store will be situated inside a new development called the Highcross Leicester which will open on September 4th.

The store is expected to open at the same time.

Apple UK has quietly announced that it will open its 15th UK Apple Store in Cambridge.

The Store which is situated in the Grande Arcade will open on March 27th at 10.00am.

The Store opening coincides with the opening of the shopping centre itself.

REM will play at the Regent Street Apple Store next week as part of the ongoing “Live from London” series.

The performance which will take place on Wednesday 26 March will coincide with the bands album release(iTunes link).

Attendance will be extremely limited - just 450 people will be able to watch the band perform, with attendance limited to chosen fan club members and competition winners.

The performance will be available as a video afterwards on iTunes.