Apple to open stores in Alaska and RIM's hometown [u]
updated 01:10 pm EDT, Tue August 9, 2011
Some regions of US still underserved
(Updated with info on new Utah store) Apple will throw open the doors to its first Alaskan store on Saturday at 10AM local time. The outlet is based in the 5th Avenue Mall in Anchorage, and will operate from 10AM to 8PM on Saturdays, and 11AM to 6PM on Sundays. Regular weekday hours are scheduled to last from 10AM to 9PM.
Many regions of the US still have conspicuous gaps in Apple Store coverage. A disproportionate number of shops are based in California, while a handful of states, such as the Dakotas, still have no locations to speak of. Several states continue to have just one shop to speak of, some examples being Maine and New Mexico.
Also opening on Saturday is a store in Conestoga Mall in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The city is not major one; the launch is nevertheless significant because Waterloo is home to Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook. The store may in fact be intended as an aggressive competitive gesture, given that the Conestoga Mall is only about eight minutes' drive from the RIM campus.
With the Italian and Australian openings planned for this weekend Apple still has 24 more outlets to debut by the end of September, according to its own announced timetable.
Update: Another Saturday opening has been announced for Murray, Utah, bringing the number of locations needed by September 30th down to 23. Murray is within the Salt Lake City area; the outlet will be based in the Fashion Place mall.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2001
has Ballmer
started opening more Microsuck stores? I thought he said he wanted to have as many as Apple. Better get at it, Monkey Boy. It takes a lot of work to lose hundreds of millions of dollars on a failed vanity project.