My current city of Chicago isn't really suffering for Apple Stores -- the one on Michigan Avenue kind of makes up for any other missed areas around here, as it's the nicest and biggest one I've seen (but then again, I haven't been to the ones in New York near Mr. Rose). But it's good to hear that we're going to be getting another store, this one a little bit outside the Loop, on the city's northside. State Street and the theater area, you might think, would be a little more fitting for the next big retail center, but no: apparently the burgeoning retail area between a gutted Cabrini Green and Lincoln Park is the place to be. Coincidentally, I used to work as a manager at the North Halsted Borders there -- served cafe sandwiches to John Malkovitch and found a book for Kurtwood "Clarence Boddicker" Smith, both visiting from Steppenwolf down the street.

But perhaps I'm getting too personal -- just color me excited to have a new Apple Store even closer to where I live now (near Clark and Diversey). The new store is set to open on the empty lot that used to be taken up by a gas station between North and Clybourn (right across from the Red Line stop) and would have about 15,000 square feet in the "long-term location." No word from Crain's yet, though, over when the store would open or even when ground might be broken. Still, all of the development guys seem happy -- they'll probably get in there as fast as they can.

Thieves broke into an Apple Store in Palo Alto, California, and within two minutes had nabbed $10,000 worth of gear, including six laptops (gotta be MacBook Pros, right?) and two iPhones. And apparently they trucked right over to Los Gatos, and did the same thing about an hour later. There's no dollar figure from the second robbery, but more laptops and iPhones were stolen.

It's actually surprising this kind of thing doesn't happen more often, though I'm also surprised the thieves were able to duck in and out of the store in two minutes -- I've been to many Apple Stores, and I don't think I could carry out $10,000 worth of stuff and be gone in just two minutes.

But I guess as long as there's something expensive around, someone will try to steal it. Cops have a car description on these guys, and having gotten away with two robberies already, it's probably a good guess they'll try again. Only a matter of time before they're caught.

[via Techmeme]

I'm not exactly sure why there's so much excitement centered around the upcoming Greensboro Apple Store (my guess is it's because our friend Ged of the Iconfactory can't wait for it to open), but the excitement is there, and Ed Cone has some insight into how the store's deal got put together. Apparently Greensboro won't see the story by December 25th, as there's apparently some argument with the property's owners over whether Apple is "just another computer store" or deserves a better place in the location. You know our answer on that one.

An anonymous reader also tells Ed that the store's construction cost a pretty penny -- $1.7 million for 5,873 square feet, according to the building permit. Unfortunately, we're not sure if that's more expensive than usual or not: most retail places seem to cost a little less according to this, but then again, $1.6 million per store for Apple is about right, according to past numbers.

Either way, hopefully the wrap will be taken off the store soon -- we don't think Ged can wait that much longer.

The rumored Apple Store, Sainte Catherine in Montréal is opening today, in grand style. If you're in the area of 1321 Ste-Catherine st west besides the Ogilvy Department Store at the corner De la Montagne st (which I totally just grabbed from the store's website, I have no idea where any of that is) you should stop on by.

It looks like the store will also have a number of musical guests for the next few days to keep interest up. Amongst the musical folks stopping by the store are:

• The Stills on July 26th
• Alex Cuba on July 27th
• Anik Jean on July 28th
• David Usher on July 29th

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

While the UK has been reporting a run on current-model iPhones recently, Gizmodo says that the shortage has reached across the pond to New York City. According to an anonymous staffer at the West 14th street Apple Store, "it's been out of stock all week." And to think, you were only worried about rice and flour.

If you check out the picture on Gizmodo, you'll see a line of about 30 people who are waiting for an iPhone at the West 14th street store. These people will probably be very upset in a month or two.

[Via Cult of Mac]

Here's an interesting idea -- MacNN is reporting that Apple is working on new ways to improve online shopping. Apparently the biggest music seller in the US thinks that online shopping can feel "sterile and isolating." Hmm.

To counteract the isolation, Apple is reportly considering showing customers where other shoppers are in the virtual stores, and maybe even letting customers interact while shopping, via chat or other interfaces. This system would also allow for storewide announcements of special events or sales going down.

It's quite a concept -- online store as virtual space -- but the fact for me as a consumer is that I shop online mostly to avoid exactly those things (chatting with less knowledgeable customers and annoying store loudspeaker systems). Even if this idea makes it through the gauntlet and we see this type of thing in Apple's online shopping environments, I doubt the old methods of clicking and browsing by yourself are going away anytime soon.

[via MacRumors]

We're getting closer, Bostonians. The flagship Apple Store that we've been anticipating for more than a year is starting to resemble an Apple Store.

The folks at ifoAppleStore have a live webcam pointed towards the construction, and Flickr user kokernutz has posted a shot of the shrouded logo.

This store is on Boylston Street, directly across the street from The Prudential Center in Boston's upscale Back Bay. This will be the ninth store in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the first in Beantown. It's been suggested that it will open in May. I'll be there!

I believe that a good percentage of our staff here at TUAW is married, female, or both, so being the bachelor that I am, I'll be the one to post the news that Apple Stores are a great place to meet single men, sent to us by reader Naveed (and I do believe this might be the first and hopefully the last time that TUAW has ever linked to Cosmo). Yes, Cosmopolitan ranks the Apple Store as the number one place for women to meet guys (although it is on the same long list as political rallies and steakhouses, so maybe Cosmo has no idea what it's talking about).

But hey, the single male bloggers of TUAW can't help but agree that yes, if you're going hunting for us, there's no better place to go than your local Apple retailer. Not only are us male Mac-heads intelligent, green, and playful, but when you single ladies want to know how to share your iTunes media, or hook up your new Time Capsule, we'll be right there with the answer.

Apple opened a new retail store at Midsummer Place, Milton Keynes this weekend (that's in the UK, Buckinghamshire to be precise). As usual, we asked any TUAW operatives who may have attended to share their reports and/or pictures. So, did you go, and if you did, how was it? Let us know in the comments. Here's hoping you scored a T-shirt or even the Opening Day Contest's grand prize.

If you haven't gone down to the store yet, when you do get there, show us a little love and set the in-store machines to TUAW for their Safari homepage! Apple Store employees love that.

Challenging customer service folks in retail stores is pretty much shooting fish in a barrel-- sure, Apple claims to have a great retail environment, but if those Geniuses are getting paid as little as I was when I worked in retail, there's no real reason for them to know the difference between the Apple ][ and the Apple //e (that's what you have TUAW for).

Still, Laptop's writeup on their trip inside the Apple Store is pretty entertaining anyway. The Genius confirms what we all knew about the Macbook Air (it's a "supplemental computer, like, if you already have a desktop at home"), and messes up some specifics on HD-DVD and processor speed and size. My own Apple Store experience wasn't much better-- I had to explain what a KVM switch was (to switch between my Mac mini purchase and my gaming PC). But just like Laptop's experience, my person was helpful and quick, and what more can you really ask from a retail experience?

Long story short, do your research at home, and show up at the Apple Store (or the Best Buy, or the Circuit City, or wherever) only when you know what you really want to buy. The guys and girls with nametags on at the store know a lot about how to sell stuff, but they just don't get paid enough to make your choices for you.

Our tipline is exploding this evening with announcements of the US Apple Store going offline (is anyone outside the US seeing the same?). It's probably nothing, but just in case, keep your eye on TUAW for updates. If it returns with new goodies in tow, we'll let you know.

Now, you may resume your obsessive watch over store.apple.com.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Alright folks, start your wild speculating. It's a Tuesday morning and it appears that the Apple Store is down. Could this finally be the MacBook Pro update everyone is expecting?

Thanks to everybody who sent this in!