Hmmmmmm, I just found this http://www.apcstart.com/site/tgaden/2006/0...ia-by-christmas

With Gowings going broke, maybe they negotiated a good price ?. I sooo hope this is true. The Gowings location is perfect and with all that room, imagine what an awesome store they could create.

Uhmmmmmm, whirlpool broke this story back on 06June so if this has already been discussed my apologies. I had a very quick look but didnt see any other references to it on this site.

This would be a sweet spot, as it 2 minutes from my work. That would be s cool.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(walexx @ Jun 17 2006, 02:28 AM) [snapback]184937[/snapback]</div>
It would be a great choice for Apple. QVB across the road gives it real cred and plenty of passing traffic. PItt street mall and Town Hall are very close. They even have access to the underground run. I hope this rumour is true. it would make sense in light of the recent move to Bondi by one of the two major Apple stores in the city area and the move by Apple HQ to the Hilton. eBay are upstairs in that building already.

Don't Apple employ the staff currently in Myer in the city? That's a rumour I'd heard, not sure of its truthfulness.

I wonder if Sydney will end up with multiple stores - maybe one out at Parramatta or Fairfield (one of the bigger shopping centers out in the suburbs).

If Sydney get one, Melbourne next, Brisbane after it, and if they go well, I'm sure we'll see smaller ones in Adelaide and Perth.

I've got dibs on first in line
As soon as Apple says it's going to be opened, I'll be getting a ticket to Sydney and camping out for it to open, haha

The old Gowing's Store would indeed be a great spot, easily accessible to anybody passing through the City Circle, though im still not convinced Apple would want to open its own stores down under - i hope they do, but can't see any need at the moment. I guess having a high-profile, well-visible store in the city would increase public awareness about Apple. I definitely can't see Apple opening some stores out in the 'Burbs, they would sell plenty of iPods but not many computers!

And good luck on getting first in line, Anthony, you have all us real Sydneysiders to contend with :P

A nice thought is me having enough $$ for a trip home at Xmas for the store opening.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tommelbourne @ Jun 17 2006, 09:01 AM) [snapback]184969[/snapback]</div>God, it's like when maccas first opened in Darwin, people camped out for 2 days to be first :P

cool. i think that is a great location although parking might be an issue if you wanted to lug in your PowerMac for servicing.

To answer a couple of questions in this thread...

Apple Told resellers at the conference late last year that they WILL be opening Apple owned stores in Australia and that the first one will be in Sydney followed by Melbourne.

Staff in Myer/DJs/etc that have black Apple shirts are employed by Apple (they are called blackshirts in the channel). Apple rents the floor space and pays the salesperson.

I'm very interested to see what the resellers will think of this.
I doubt it will cut into their sales too much, as at most, Apple would have 1 store in each city. So there's still people in the middle suburbs that don't necessarily want to travel to the CBD just to get computer things. That said, Apple could open stores in shopping centers pretty easily (Chadstone, Highpoint).

I think the main benefit of opening stores here is brand awareness. Many people don't know of Apple, except for iPods.

Ah decryption, dont be too sure of that first spot in line mate. Ill be there with you mate . No other location (except for the current Kinokuniya book store in the citibank building cnr of George and Park St which ive always thought was the perfect spot) would be a great location, and yeah, just a stroll to the Hilton where Apple have their HQ.

The access to the railway station underground too as ASWITCHER mentioned is just the topping on the cake. Sooo much exposure.... Apple if you havent already found a location in Sydney, then listen up, its been found for you .

Now like every other thing Apple, we wait, and wait and wait

There are four Gowings Stores, no longer in use by Gowings, most of the comment is about the main store of 5 floors as being a front runner for an Apple Store. Gowings also have two smaller buildings which are candidates, in my opinion, for an Apple Store, both are near the Sydney CBD. Assuming Sydney will be first, does fail to account for Melbourne, which will deal hard to get their store opened ahead of Sydney. In the overall business plan of Apple, Sydney or Melbourne for the initial Australian Apple Store, will not have much influence on the decision of which city is first.

The ifoAppleStore site is down for maintainance ...
Just cannot get through the day without my fix of what's on with Applestores.

I'm sure Next Byte will be happy to know Apple are opening down the street from them