Apple store in the Windy City?

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by MacWEEK Staff

(IDG) -- Apple Computer has added the Windy City to sites for its forthcoming chain of retail stores, according to a news item in Crain's Chicago Business. Crain's reported that Apple is close to leasing a 28,000-square foot space at Michigan Avenue and Huron Street in Chicago's Magnificent Mile, a popular downtown shopping area. Citing "a person familiar with the matter," the publication reported that the store would probably open next spring.

The store would be in a location formerly occupied by The Gap. It may be only a coincidence, but Gap CEO Millard Drexler sits on Apple's board of directors.

Apple has declined to comment on any plans to open retail stores. But the San Jose Mercury News, citing members of the Palo Alto, Calif., architectural review board, reported last week that Apple plans to open a much-smaller 6,500-square-foot facility in that city's downtown, near the home of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, as well as two other California facilities, including one in Glendale near Los Angeles.

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Meanwhile, Mac resellers continued to react to the prospect of brick-and-mortar Apple outlets--and possible competition with their major supplier. MacWEEK, citing Tom Santos of San Francisco Mac reseller Macadam, reported that an Apple executive assured dealers in October that the company would not open stores (see "Apple told resellers: 'No stores'"). MacCentral reported that other resellers were both "shocked" and "curious" about the apparent plans to open Apple stores.

Many details of Apple's retail strategy remain unclear. The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources who had spoken to Apple executives, reported in September that the stores would carry "minimal inventory and act primarily as a showcase" for Apple products, which would be shipped from a central facility. It appears that Apple could be following the path of PC maker Gateway, which operates more than 300 Gateway Country outlets in the U.S. Another possible model is Nike, whose Niketown stores are designed as high-profile showcases for the Nike brand and Nike products.

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