| According to a story
in the San Jose Mercury News (the definitive newspaper of
Silicon Valley), Apple will soon be opening a series of retail
stores around the country, with the first appearing in Apple's
own backyard. The first store, as reported by the Mercury
News, will open on University Ave in Palo Alto. This location
is approximately 10 to 15 miles from the Apple campus in Cupertino
and is an upscale nexus of well to do Silicon Valley types
and Stanford University students. The Apple Store will be
located at the east end of University Ave on a corner plot
across from a Borders bookstore and next to a furniture store.
Although not the best location on University Ave it is a good
one given the popular Borders bookstore across the way. University
Ave is always busy, both day and night, with high traffic
from Stanford University (1 1/2 miles away) and the surrounding
affluent community. The Avenue itself is a mixture of both
upscale eateries and shops, but also has a Ross, Longs Drug
Store and MacDonalds fast food restaurant
Our roving reporter took his digital camera down to University
Ave to check out the local and snapped the pictures below.
The future Apple Store certainly doesn't look like much now
- just a boarded up burned out shell - but we will keep tabs
on the store as it evolves, bringing you future reports on
its progress
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The Future Home Of The First Apple Store
Click on images to see a larger version
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The future site of the first Apple retail
store. The original store was called HomeChef, a cooking
school and store. It burned
down about a year ago (something ironic about that)
and has been vacant ever since. The building was built
in the 1930's. It is basically just a shell now, waiting
to be filled |
Looking east down University Ave from the future Apple
Store (at left). This is the tail end of University,
the commercial portion of which end in another block
or so. Steve Jobs' home is within a 2 mile radius of
this location. |
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Looking west down University Ave, from
the future Apple Store. This is the bustling part of
the Ave, which is busy both morning, noon and night.
Stanford University is about 1.5 miles straight ahead.
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Directly across from the future Apple
Store is a Borders bookstore. Housed in an old movie
theater, the bookstore is a popular spot - especially
at night. Although the Apple Store doesn't have the
most ideal spot on University Ave, it's good that
is has the Borders store directly opposite.
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The Competition
Apple's main competition will be the
ComputerWare store in south Palo Alto and the Stanford
University bookstore - both about 1.5 miles from the
future Apple Store.
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Computerware is a chain of Apple only
computer stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. The
staff are knowledgeable, the product they sell is
high quality and they are always busy. They have a
repair shop as part of the establishment which also
does a good business.
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The Stanford University Bookshop also
carries the full line of Apple products and has a
repair shop. Students can buy computers and software
at a discount. For computers the discount is small
but the software discounts can be substantial.
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