Filed under: Apple Corporate, Retail
Apple Store Birmingham - Finally
We first reported on Apple's intention to put an store in Birmingham's Summit Mall a year ago. The fact is, it has been six years since Apple acquired "store #5" in that mall. This Saturday, April 14, the wait will finally end as this store has its grand opening. This will be Alabama's very first Apple Store.If you're going to attend this opening in Alabama, please send us links to your photos and reports! Good luck and have fun.
Thanks, Joseph!
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Erick Erickson said 11:38AM on 4-09-2007
Not to threadjack, but I noticed this weekend in Atlanta that the Apple Store at Lenox Mall is being renovated and made smaller. It was quite a big store. They have a very small temp store now. The temp store is made from taking a quarter of the hold store and the other three quarters has a big sign in front of it that says it is going to be better, but smaller or something to that effect.
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JeffDM said 11:46AM on 4-09-2007
What does it cost to hold onto a location like that, and why get a location and just sit on it for five years?!
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Peter said 12:54PM on 4-09-2007
@JeffDM
From what I know about that mall has profit sharing agreeements for part of the rent... so a share of the rent is calculated from the amount of sales stores generate.
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Rae said 1:17PM on 4-09-2007
As a Birmingham native and former resident, it's about time. It'll be fun to visit the store when I go back to visit family.
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Jeremy said 1:47PM on 4-09-2007
I was just at The Summit this past weekend and they still had the boards up in front of the store, but the door was slightly cracked. I almost tried to sneak a peek but the security patrol came around.
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Pegleggedpete said 3:50PM on 4-09-2007
i'll try to make it down there with my camera. i live in huntsville which is about an hour to the north, but this'll probably be the only apple store launch i'll have a chance to see!
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Kyle said 4:35PM on 4-09-2007
Does anyone know any details about the opening? What time will they open? What time should I get there? Are there going to be any give aways or deals or anything?
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cyberdork33 said 6:39PM on 4-09-2007
There were rumors of an Apple store opening in a yet to be completed mall in Huntsville, AL as well. http://www.bridgestreethuntsville.com/
This was confirmed by recent job postings for an apple store ;)
(Yes, there is a 3rd party Mac store in huntsville and they are relocating to a new bulding. This is not teh same thing.)
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Jason said 11:13PM on 4-09-2007
I live in Birmingham and the reason the have had the "store" so long is that when they first began building new stores there Apple was to be included. When they got down to building it Apple discovered the store it was to go into was short in space by like a ridiculous amount, something like 2 feet. Apparently Apple has minimum requirements for all their stores and the space didn't measure up so they didn't move in. Fast forward five years and the Summit is adding on again and Apple is made sure the space requirements were met this time. I am planning to go Sat so I will try to get some pics and a review for you guys.
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Jason said 11:14PM on 4-09-2007
I did also see that the Lenox Store in Atlanta was a quarter of it's original size. It is like a walk-in closet and so cramped I just wanted to leave the minute I walked in. Hopefully they will open back up again in the full space soon. Does anyone know if other stores are going through changes? Possibly getting ready for something all new?
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Loxley said 3:26AM on 4-10-2007
...from the other side of the pond...
Our Birmingham (Birmingham in England) has had a store for AGES. Right in the new Bullring centre, top floor. Quality!
Lox
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valtheWU said 9:04AM on 4-10-2007
Dear TUAW!
This is a reminder: There is not only one Birmingham and there are not only US-Americans enjoying this blog.
Please keep that in mind when posting about the Apple Store in, say, Vienna, which could be in about 11 States in the US or - shocking - even in Austria, where I come from...
:-)
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Jason said 11:51AM on 4-10-2007
Just got an email from Apple about the store opening. Giving away a apple t-shirt to the first 1000 customers, solid black with a white apple on the chest. Contest for a "digital life package" or something like that with a black macbook, pro care subscription, ipod shuffle, some other odds and ends.
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Kevin said 7:07PM on 4-10-2007
Yay! Now if Apple could just negotiate lower sales tax for the state of Alabama we Alabamians wouldn't have to drive to the Apple Store in Atlanta to buy our Macs anymore.
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VanillaSpice said 8:47PM on 4-10-2007
@12 valtheWU - nowhere was it implied that there was only one Birmingham. And the article twice made reference to "Alabama", which ought to have eliminated any confusion, so where's the problem? I don't see why TUAW needs to be reminded that people outside the US are reading.
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Curtis V Palmer TechBirmingham said 11:16PM on 4-10-2007
All the details have been posted on the TechBirmingham (Alabama, not UK or MI) blog at http://techbirmingham.wordpress.com/2007/04/10/apple-store-opening-in-birmingham-this-saturday/
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Wes Mitchell said 8:20PM on 4-14-2007
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1845&l=a27fa&id=507884294
Here are a few pics from the event. I came down from Huntsville...it was pretty good stuff.
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