The day before the grand opening of the Carrousel du Louvre (Paris) retail store was busy for Apple, but quiet for the waiting line, which by 7 p.m. number just five persons. Arthur arrived as the first person in line at 1:52 p.m., followed by the second at 2:48 p.m. So far we have representatives from France, Germany and the United States. Today there were tours and visits, first in the afternoon from what appeared to be local business people, and then at 5 p.m. from friends and family of the store staff. Each session was passionate and excited, especially as the visitors entered—the employees crowded the stairs and mezzanine railing to clap and shout. Both times the displays of enthusiasm drew scores of people to the front window, and generated questions to staff at the front door—When is the store opening? The mall closes at 11 p.m., and the waiting line anticipates moving up to ground level, within the courtyard of the Louvre buildings, in a garden area that has been set up to accommodate a large line. According to Apple officials, the line will be allowed back into the mall some time after it opens at 8:30 a.m., and will will then regain their original position along the wall next to the front door. View photos of the day.  [I'll be out of contact between 11 p.m. and about 9 a.m. because of the relocation, and won't be posting reports.]

Apple will open a store in Stuttgart (Germany), possibly during the first part of 2010. The exact location of the store hasn’t been identified, but a source has said that the store will open “soon.” The store would be the third store in the country, after Hamburg and Munich.

The grand opening of the Upper West Side (NYC) retail store has been scheduled for Saturday, November 14th at 10 a.m. The store’s Web site repeats the theme of the red velvet curtain currently covering the glass façade of the store. Previous Manhattan stores have opened on Fridays at 6 p.m., it’s not clear why Apple chose this day of the week and time.

Rather than overpower one of the world’s great treasures, the new Carrousel du Louvre (Paris ) Apple store presents a proper yet distinctive appearance. The architects have taken a very minimalist approach to the underground storefront, essentially just using glass to fill open spaces in the perimeter walls facing a huge, inverted glass triangle that showers the store with soft light. None of the original stone walls were touched, a sign of remarkable restraint, even though the walls only date to the 1980s when the underground shopping center was built. There are no outward changes to the structure or façade that indicates “Apple.” Inside, however, the traditional design emerges: stone floors, wood tables, a spiral glass staircase to a mezzanine level, a large back-lit Apple logo suspended overheard, and lots of stainless steel. read more…

The Apple stores will soon dump their current Windows-based portable computers and begin using customized iPod touch devices to wirelessly process customer credit and debit cards and, for the first time, to allow all employees to accept cash for purchases. According to information reviewed by IFO, Apple has designed and manufactured a slip-on plastic shell for the touch that combines a magnetic stripe reader and advanced barcode reader. The EasyPay touch will run Apple-developed point-of-sale software that is specific to Apple stores, including special screens to make iPhone purchases easier and quicker. The new system will allow credit card purchases to be made directly on the touch, but debit card transactions will require customers to enter their PIN on the existing desktop POS terminals. Employees equipped with a touch will be able to accept cash through an electronic link-up to cash drawers installed within the store. More details on the new EasyPay touch system and photos are posted on the AppleInsider Web site.

The grand opening of a grand Carrousel de Louvre (Paris) Apple store is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Saturday, and IFO will be there cover all aspects of the waiting line, the opening ceremonies and the store interior design. There is a chance of rain every day this week, and temperatures on in the low 50s, so rain gear and an umbrella is required. There are Apple store enthusiastics coming from several countries in Europe to cover the event and to join the waiting line. Keep an eye on twitter/ifostore for on-going updates starting Thursday afternoon, and this Web site for full reports—as I’m able to transmit them from the underground shopping center.

Speculation about three future Apple locations has ended with confirmations, including one of the longest running searches for the perfect space in downtown Philadelphia (Penn.). First, after a delay caused by the economy, construction has finally begun on the building in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington (DC) that Apple purchased in 2007. The former French Connection store at 1229 Wisconsin Avenue NW cost the company $13.7 million and has sat empty for two years. The district’s permit authorities wrangled with Apple for several months over whether the building could be demolished or only rennovated. The lastest design present to district officials showed a one-level, red-brick storefront. The store could open by May 2010. Next, after over five years of speculation, Philly Apple fanatics will finally receive an Apple store on Walnut Street. In 2004 tipsters pointed to the 1700 block of Walnut Street, but empty spaces were always filled by other retailers. Last March tipsters said Apple was negotiating for 1619 Walnut Street, the former KYW-TV studios. Finally, last month insiders said Apple selected 1609 Walnut Street for a store that could open by May 2010. Lastly, a surprise future store has been confirmed at the Los Cerritos Center (S. Calif.) along Interstate 605 in a Los Angeles region that has been a mini-black-out zone up to now. This store could also be open by May 2010. read more…

Construction on the future Upper West Side (NYC) retail store has been completed and the staff is in training for grand opening day, when the building’s amazing architecture will be fully revealed. Tipsters say the store could open on November 20th, coinciding with Apple’s preference for a 6 p.m. Friday opening for its high-profile stores. Photos of the store show an amazing and distinctive curved glass roof, set into a nearly-triangular corner at 67th Street and Broadway. The wide sidewalk in front of the store has been completely redone to provide an audience-sized space in front of the curtain of glass. The storefront and sidewalk is still blocked off, and is being constantly patrolled by security guards. Photos after the break. read more…

The grand open of the second Microsoft retail store in Mission Viejo (S. Calif.) on Thursday was attended by a throng of screaming teenage girls attracted by a pop singer, Microsoft executives in business suits and and a group of adults who were curious about what the store would look like. The company used a Justin Bieber concert as the cornerstone of their buzz campaign, a strategy that may have cost local schools district of thousands of dollars in state funding because eager teens skipped school to wait in line for concert tickets. What everyone saw when the white curtain came down in front of the store was a brightly-lit retail space with all the appearance of expense and quality, but actually composed of white paint, cheap wood and enough similarities to the Apple stores for any objective judge to rule the store is a “rip off.” read more…

As the new fiscal year begins and the enormously important holiday shopping season approaches, Apple will roll out substantial changes to its retail employee job titles and duties, essentially making a U-turn to the simpler days of 2001. According to those who have seen the plans, Apple will consolidate three sales floor job positions into a single position that will perform all three job tasks. The company will also add a higher-paid job position on the sales floor to focus on “creating owners.” The changes are being made to handle the huge amount of traffic that the stores experience, and to improve flexibility for future sales innovations and changes. The job changes coincide with the switch to a single color of employee T-shirt reported here earlier. read more…

A spokesperson for the Tacoma Mall (Wash.) has confirmed that Apple will open a store inside the mall by next year. Mall spokesperson Sarah Bonds told The News Tribune, Apple will occupy a portion of the 100,000 s.f. formerly occupied by the Nordstrom department store, which moved to another building within the mall. Job listings were posted last December for a store within the mall. However, the store was never constructed or opened, perhaps as part of the economic slowdown. Now Bonds says the store will open with an inside entrance, sharing the former Nordstrom space with Sephora and a third unnamed tenant. Bonds said Sephora and Apple will open in late spring or early summer, while the third tenant will open later in the year.

After just one year of slowing down the growth of its retail store initiative, Apple says that it will resume the previous pace of opening stores, perhaps as many as 50 this year. In financial documents filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Apple said that, historically, it has opened between 25 and 50 new retail stores per year. “During 2010, the Company expects to open a number of new stores near the upper end of this range,” the company said, with over half of those located outside of the United States. Apple opened 54 stores during fiscal 2008, but slowed down the expansion to just 26 new stores during FY 2009. In the SEC filing Apple also reported other figures not provided in financial reports released October 19th. First, the number of full-time equivalent positions did not change during the quarter, and remains at 16,500. Next, lease commitments for the retail stores now total $1.5 billion, a figure which has ranged between $1.3 billion and $1.5 billion for each of the last five quarters, despite the addition of new stores. Previously, total lease commitments had slowly increased by about $100 million each quarter. The stabilization of lease commitments seems to indicate that Apple has taken advantage of the economy, and has re-negotiated older leases and obtained favorable rates on new stores. Next, Apple reported that capital asset purchases were $167 million for the quarter, a new record for the number that has ranged from $30 million to $101 million over the last two years. And the spending should continue—the company forecast it will spend $400 during fiscal 2010 on retail capital asset purchases. Lastly, Apple expensed $26 million on corporate marketing for its 11 high-profile stores. This figure was also a record, in a two-year range of from $11 million to $17 million per quarter.

Apple has formally announced the grand opening of its first retail store in France, located inside the underground Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall adjacent to the famous Louvre museum. According to photos posted by MacGeneration Web site, the store occupies a strangely-configured space, and includes tall stainless steel walls and a spiral glass staircase leading up to a mezzanine level. The store will open at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 7th. Accoding to tipsters, the Montpelier store was ready to open before the Louvre location, but Apple wanted the Paris-based store to open first to emphasize its commitment to the city.

The waiting line has formed outside The Shops at Mission Viejo (S. Calif.) for the Thursday morning grand opening of Microsoft’s second retail store. By 11 p.m. there were 75 persons in line, mostly teens or their parents hoping to get free tickets to a Microsoft-sponsored concert in the parking lot by singer Justin Bieber. The first person in line is a woman over 30 who is saving the place for her teenage daughter, and who arrived at 3 p.m. The next eight persons in line are also teen girls. There were no free Zune music players for the first five persons in line, like at the first store opening Scottsdale (Ariz.) last week. However, the store staff did come outside at 11 p.m. to hand out free copies of Windows 7. The weather is slightly overcast and it should dip into the mid-40s during the night. But everyone in line is prepared with jacket and blankets. By 6 a.m. the waiting line was only 10 to 12 persons more, apparently indicating that any crowd is waiting to arrive later. E-mail me any questions you have about the store and I’ll investigate when it opens at 10 a.m. Follow updates on Twitter/ifostore.

It’s a long journey for the stone that Apple’s architects selected to enhance the retail stores, mined from a mountain quarry in Italy, precision cut into individual pieces by craftsman in nearby workshops, and then shipped in crates to new Apple stores around the world. Now it’s revealed that he process of creating the stone floor tiles and large wall slabs falls to the Il Casone quarry, formed in 1962 by four stonemason families with generations of experience in creating subtle beauty from rough rock. The company’s quarry is north of Florence in the small town of Firenzuola, in the heart of a geologic region of sandstone called Pietra Serena. The blue-gray color of the stone, its texture and tone all contribute to the overall look of the finished Apple store. read more…