Fresno, CA Apple Store opens this weekend

Halhiker, that was the most idiotic post I've ever seen on the internet. There are no more "rednecks" and drug-dealers in Fresno than there are anywhere else in Califronia.

Fresno is a nice place with good people and you are completely ignorant, Halhiker. Fresno can support an Apple store just fine.

dude, thats so awesome, i went on Saturday to the grand opening....so sweet!.. i love the store... and yeah we need one in fresno..so im glad....but yeah, its like 3.5 miles to the nearest one, which is in Sac... so this addition is awesome... and i cant wait for the iphone...thanks, apple!!

boonies?
hardly. With a metro population exceeding 1 million and two universities I wouldn't talk too much crap on the Fresno area.
Companies do very well here.

Fresno CompUSA and Circuit City stores are consistently top performers in their companies, with CompUSA being #1 company-wide for the 2006 Holiday season.

Our Edwards 21 Cinema is almost always Top 5 company-wide.
Now look at the success of the Save Mart Center.


Like it or not, Fresno's going places.

You can see pictures of the new store here.

http://flickr.com/photos/busiguy6/536032721/

Boonies, you say? But I just paid $800,000 for my McMansion in the very exclusive "CLOVIS" area...

; )

Now you have proof positive that we've been in a real-estate bubble. See a great blog @ housingbubbleblog.com

Wow, you guys are feisty! Fresno is a very diverse and large city and that is why so many products are tested and released here. It'll be interesting to see how big it is, but seeing all the other new corporations landing here ie. Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, BeBe, Z Galerie, Metro Park. I think it will be a huge success. I just wish it got a better location in the mall.

Halihker must have heard that Fresburg is getting an REI store. The dude from REI even said to the Bee that they wouldn't come to Fresno based on our demographics alone. It is all those tourists going to the nearby NP's is the reason they are here..Good luck with that!!. As far as the Apple store is concern it is more a function of the mall owners previous relationship with Apple store at there larger market properties.. I have been screaming this to the Bee reporters over the last 2 years since they have been hailing that Fresno has arrived since we now hawve a Cheesecake Factory..

Please, the words "tourist" and "Fresno" do not belong in the same sentence. What tourists? I don't believe for one minute that people going to Yosemite do more than pull off the side of the road for a quick wizz in Fresno, if they even stop at all. There are plenty of other routes, and Fresno doesnt look too good from the freeway. BTW, Fresno doesnt just have "over 400,000" it has over 1,000,000. I guess Palm Springs doesn't have the population for a store. Probably the incomes, but not the right population. I'm sure it is Fresno's sheer population that got it a store. I think nearby UC Merced and Fresno State probably are helpful too. But tourism? Try again.

Gee David,
Sorry to mess with your logic. I'm sure all the grape pickers in Fresno need a new MacBook, too. You might want to buy yourself an iPod, MacBook or anything Apple if you were a visiting tourist who doesn't have an Apple Store in your country. I work in a hotel and we regularly see Euros looking to buy goods here because the dollar is so weak against their currencies. And most of those Euros have three or four things on their agenda. They are: Yosemite, the Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree and Death Valley. They've seen cities but most have not seen deserts. And they throw in Yosemite because it's Yosemite.

While Fresno itself has a population of over 400,000 it is decidedly lower middle class and it's main industry is agriculture. It's median income is $39,024 which is over 13 thousand dollars LESS than the median income in the rest of California and over 26 thousand dollars LESS than my town. Certainly, Apple knows where to put it's stores but one has to consider all the factors and if it weren't for tourists traveling through the area, I can think of a thousand places better to put a store than Fresno. Like the Palm Springs area, thank you.

Hal

The "population" of around 500,000 is composed of movie producers from Los Angeles or French restaurant owners from San Francisco on their way to scale the face of Half Dome.


Love,

Mike Burnett