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First Apple Store rumored to debut in Philadelphia

By | January 19, 2009, 10:34pm PST

Summary: A momentus event is almost upon us – an Apple Retail Store in Downtown Philly. MacNN reports that Apple has agreed to lease the former Brasserie Perrier restaurant at 1619 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Despite having a retail presence in eight of the top 10 U.S. cities it has puzzled many as to why Apple hasn’t [...]

First Apple Store rumored to debut in PhiladelphiaA momentus event is almost upon us – an Apple Retail Store in Downtown Philly.

MacNN reports that Apple has agreed to lease the former Brasserie Perrier restaurant at 1619 Walnut Street in Philadelphia.

Despite having a retail presence in eight of the top 10 U.S. cities it has puzzled many as to why Apple hasn’t opened a retail store in the City of Brotherly Love (the 5th largest city in the U.S.). Detroit is the other snubbed city.

  1. New York, NY (3 stores)
  2. Los Angeles, CA (3)
  3. Chicago, IL (1)
  4. Houston, TX (3)
  5. Philadelphia, PA (0)
  6. San Diego, CA (2)
  7. Detroit, MI (0)
  8. Dallas, TX (1)
  9. Phoenix, AZ (1)
  10. San Antonio, TX (2)

According to ifoAppleStore BPs Walnut Street location has been rumored to be under consideration by Apple dating back to 2006. Brasserie Perrier closed on January 2…

…after the building owner reportedly negotiated a renewal buy-out option from the restaurant owner, who had been paying $19 per square-foot. The building owner hopes to attract a new occupant willing to pay the $57 per square-foot going rate for the Walnut Street area.

The PowerPage’s Kenn Marks notes that Apple didn’t open a store in Pittsburgh so MacOutfitters, a Doylestown, PA-based reseller, opened a location in the former U.S. Steel building. According to the owners they are seeing a brisk business.

The Brasserie Perriere Web site now re-directs to Table 31, a steakhouse bistro by George Perrier and Chris Scarduzio located in the new Comcast Center.

Tip: Jonathan Hass, Photo: AppleInsider

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Philadelphia, Apple Inc., PowerPage, Retail, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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RE: First Apple Store rumored to debut in Philadelphia
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
Instructive weblog web-site, bookmarked mulberry alexa your net webpage with hopes to appear at considerably more!
View in thread
0 Votes
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There is already an Apple Store in Philly (kinda)
donmontrey 20th Jan 2009
As an Apple geek I am excited to have an Apple Store so close to me, but also a bit bummed. There is a great Apple retailer in Philly called Springboard Media that has been an excellent source for all things Apple for the past 10 years (at least). I hope the two stores can live together harmoniously, but I fear the worst. I'd hate to see Springboard out of business.
0 Votes
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There is on in the King of Prussia Mall.
GuidingLight 20th Jan 2009
not to far outside of Philadelphia
0 Votes
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Who gives a Cr@p!!!(nt)
ShadeTree 20th Jan 2009
.
0 Votes
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There's one in Ardmore
Michael Kelly 20th Jan 2009
And I think another in Christiana Mall outside of Wilmington. Philadelphia proper has never been known for their great shopping. Cheesesteaks, Reading Terminal and Italian markets, yes, but everything else is pretty lame.
0 Votes
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Use Apple's Store Locater
pyrdek 20th Jan 2009
If you would have checked Apple's store locater, you might have prevented a technically correct but highly misleading headline. There are already TWO Apple stores within ten miles of Philly. One in Ardmore is about 4 miles away from Philly and the store located in the King of Prussia Mall is about ten miles away. By my reckoning, now, with the latest store in your headline, it would be THREE stores in what I would call Philadelphia. Or do you know of plans to close one or both of the already existing stores???
0 Votes
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No Apple store in Detroit
chuck3000 20th Jan 2009
There are, in fact, several Apple stores in the Detroit area, just not in the City of Detroit.

The metro Detroit area has four stores: Novi, Troy, Ann Arbor, and Clinton Twp. There's also a store in Grand Rapids. It makes sense that Apple has stores in the suburbs here, as if there was a store in Detroit CITY, it would have to be in the business district downtown adding expense but (IMO) not much Mac sales.

It's only a short 30 minute drive to most of these stores anyway, and with BestBuy selling Apple stuff too, I don't see a reason for Apple to staff a store in the city of Detroit.
0 Votes
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Store Location in city proper
kennmsr Updated - 20th Jan 2009
A lot of the Apple Stores are located around major
metropolis' but I think Jason was indicating a lack of major
cities in town proper like New York City, San Francisco, &
Boston.

In addition to Jason's comment about Philadelphia he
mentioned an Authorized Reseller Store in Downtown
Pittsburgh an almost forgotten city in Pennsylvania. It used
to be the world headquarters for the likes of Alcoa,
Koppers, Gulf, US Steel, Westinghouse, Clark Candy, etc,
but because of our changing manufacturing perspective a
lot of companies have downsized, diversified, or
disappeared altogether. Jason did mention that
MacOutfitters was in the Old US Steel Building but he's not
old enough to know that the 4th and Grant Building was US
Steels Executive Headquarters prior to the 70's and the
building of the Rust Colored CorTen US Steel Skyscraper
which is the focal point of the city today.
So come to Pittsburgh enjoy the sights and visit the Non-
Apple Apple Store in the heart of "Dawntaun" Pittsburgh.
0 Votes
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Apple warranty overseas
dcdavy 21st Jan 2009
I don't know where else to post this, so I am trying here.

If you have someone outside of the USA, you may want to know how do Apple partners provide warranty repairs abroad. I myself was shocked when I learned that it is quite normal when they tell you that your product is out of warranty period even though your receipt says otherwise. They may have chosen to pick the starting day of the warranty period to be the day of manufacturing, not the day of sale, as you may have thought. That actually happened to my brother whom I bought an iPod Touch as a present on January 29th 2008. As of January 19th 2009 the iPod is no longer covered by the warranty in Europe because it was manufactured in the middle of December 2007.

So, if you were thinking of giving someone overseas a nice present, well ... you don't know how much of the warranty is left there.

The Apple USA told me to have it shipped back (~ $60 - $70), to pay for extension of the warranty because chances are I will not be able to make it by 29th ($59), and then of course ship it back to Europe (~ $60 - $70). Isn't that nice ? Why don't I buy some cheapo Sundisk 8 GB flash-player for $60 ? I am sure it will last at least as long as that iPod Touch did.
0 Votes
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RE: First Apple Store rumored to debut in Philadelphia
jackson1984-24316069205748857739440257893812 10th Oct
Instructive weblog web-site, bookmarked mulberry alexa your net webpage with hopes to appear at considerably more!

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