“All we can say is: What took so long? Baybrook Mall reports that it soon will house the fifth Apple store in the Houston area. That means local Apple lovers can get up close and personal to iPods, Macs, nanos and shuffles,” Laura Elder blogs for The Galveston Country Daily News. “And is that the new iPhone calling?”
Brief blog posting with a bit more here.
The Baybrook Mall is located in Friendswood, Texas. According to their website:
Here, shopping is at its best, with a list of stores that includes favorites such as Williams Sonoma, Ann Taylor, Coldwater Creek, Abercrombie & Fitch, Banana Republic, Coach, White House Black Market, Hollister, Forever 21, Bebe, and more. A number of popular stores opened in Baybrook Mall in 2006, and we have even more coming in 2007. Coming Soon: Apple…
There is no mention yet of the upcoming store on Apple’s Retail Store pages: http://www.apple.com/retail/
ifoAppleStore broke this story on December 12, 2005 here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mozfan” for the heads up.]
We found out about this through ifoapplestore.com earlier this month – it’s about time! Baybrook is (supposedly) the 2nd highest traffic’ed mall in Harris County (Houston) so it should be a good move for Apple with all of Galveston County, southern Harris County, NASA, etc. in the area.
First post?
MDN Magic Word “type” – can I type fast enough for first post?
PS I live two miles from Baybrook, yes I will be waiting in line!
Hey, there, pardner, ain’t cha furgetin’ us folks in West Texas. Ya’ll put a store up here in Lubbock. After a day o’ riding the range I like to put mah heels up and email my buds in Canada, do a little Photoshopin’, check out the price of beef and oil, send mah cousins pictures of the missus and kids, email mah ol’ Pa, compose a few cowboy poems, an’ order more feed from the tradin’ post.
Baybrook isn’t a “fancy” mall, but it is reportedly one of the highest grossing in $/sqft. Apple will sell a lot of products through this outlet and I will be very glad to have one nearby.
Do the physical Apple Stores sell only at retail prices, or can they also offer the discounted educational and state/federal government prices offered at the online Apple Store?
I don’t see why Houston needs a 5th Apple Store, while other areas in the country don’t have any. Then again, with Houston annually being rated the fattest and most out of shape city in the nation, I guess Houstonites probably get winded driving that extra few miles to the already existing Apple Store. Hope they have a lot of handicapped parking spots out front, or a shuttle from the car to the store.
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hey how about some where there actually aren’t any Apple stores?
Two things
@KingMel-When I went to the Apple Store in my town, they said I had to order online to get my educational discount, dunno if the store in your area will give you the discount, but I’d bet not.
@Jimbo- the “fattest” city in America award is given out by the proportion of resturants/gyms in a metropolitan area. Houston, known for its worldly variety when it comes to food, should rank high on this list regardless of other factors.
KingMel: My experience is that to get educational discounts, you have to go online. They are not available at the Apple stores. Don’t know about other discounts.
When it comes to Apple stores, i just have to say: Europe, Asia and the middle east. There are only what, two stores in Britain for all of Europe? Why aren’t there stores in Paris, Berlin, Prague, and Stockholm? No Apple store in Hong Kong? Apple should go after some of that oil money in Saudi Arabia, Dubai etc.
Chris,
If you Google “fattest city america”, you’ll get a number of hits. Men’s Fitness and WebMD are both near the top. They list the factors that determine the fattest city. While the restaurants to gyms ratio is part of it, it also includes percentage of population that is obese among the many other factors. Houston is still at or near the top every year. Chicago knocked it off the top briefly, but Houston regained the title the following year.
I’ve been to Houston, and I do have to say it deserves the title. Mind you, not everyone in Houston is fat (of course). Just as in any city, you’ll find people that are in shape and care about their bodies. But damn!, there are a lot of fat folks plugging around that city. The only place I’ve seen more fatties was in Disneyworld, where it seems that about 90% of the people over 40 were on those little electric scooters and were quite large.
On day, aliens will land here and harvest our fatties to feed their populace!!!
well im stoked, i live 10 minutes from there and this is great news.
And yes you can get the Educational Discount at the store.
As for Houston, its the Second Largest City in the US and the per capita income is one of the highest as well, it makes sense to feed those that can afford the meal.
Well now Houston has more Apples stores than the Dallas Metroplex.
Also, moving half of New Orleans there didn’t help with their fat ranking…
Ok, Apple, now throw Arkansas a bone.
Houston isn’t the 2nd largest city, it’s the 4th. New York, Los Angeles and Chicago all top it. That being said, and since I live smack dab in the middle of the Galleria and Memorial City Apple stores, all I can say is “Hooray” for another one!
Now Apple? How about San Antonio? Along the RiverWalk?
Yeah!
Sorry, you are correct Bob, 4th is what I meant to say.
The river walk would be a perfect place, so much traffic rolls through there.
King Mel –
I work for a well known university (think burnt orange) and when I show up at the Galleria store and show my badge, I get Education pricing – for hardware ONLY – for software discounts you must order online. This at least usually pays for the sales tax
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Jimbo –
Houston does have four stores already – but Houston is a very wide spread city – the existing stores will be more than 30 miles away from the Baybrook store, and the population within 30 miles of the Baybrook store easily exceeds 1 million. The Houston Metro area is easily 50+ miles wide North/South and East/West, and has in excess of 4 million residents. There is a CompUSA and a Fry’s that do have Apple hardware, but it’s questionable if they provide a good Apple experience.
I am part of the Texas Medical Center Mac Users Group (http://www.tmcmug.org) and wonder if a Baybrook Apple Store would support a MUG – perhaps a branch of the Houston Area Apple Users Group (HAAUG.org).
MDN Magic Word “get” – we get the need for a Baybrook Apple Store!
My comments about Houston not needing another Apple Store were in jest. If Houston can support 10 Apple Stores, I say build ’em. It’s nice to know that more and more of these stores are being built and thriving.
Baybrook is a great area.
I was there in 1985 with my wife.
Its a great area with great people.
You’ve got University of Houston, NASA, etc.
My two cents.
MY MDN magicword: LONG – As it was a long time ago
I was really excited to hear about this new store today. I’ve lived here my whole life and it is amazing how much the area has grown (is growing). Just yesterday at work I was evangelizing on all things Apple to a friend (who’s looking to get a new PC) and one of his major concerns was that the Galleria Apple Store was “so far away”.
The Houston Metro area is huge and realistically covers the entire area from Galveston up past Conroe, as far west as Brookshire and as far East as Baytown. (This is an area far larger than Rhode Island. In fact, Rhode Island is listed at just over 1,500 square miles, while the Houston Metro area measures over 10,000 square miles.)
In this area we have NASA (Johnson Space Center), the largest grouping of petrochemical plants in America (responsible for almost 30% of the nation’s energy production (gasoline, jet fuel, heating oil, etc.), one of the largest and busiest ports in the country, one of the best medical centers on Earth, dozens of institutions of higher education, and as was stated earlier, more than 4 million people…
Another Apple Store in the (Southeast) Houston area was way overdue.
I, for one, can’t wait for the thing to open.
~M
I fully agree with Mozfan
But what we really need in the Southwest area of Houston is a Costco
Sams is cool but it aint the same.
As for your buddy at work, what does he need a mac store around him for? Frys sells macs and everybody sells mac compatible stuff.
Geo B,
You are certainly right about the expanse of Houston, and living a few miles from Baybrook mall is a plus. I have checked out space in the mall, highest in town except Galleria.
Having bought a Powerbook and Cinema display from Fry’s – Frys hasn’t a clue – stock memory into a Powerbook yielded the only problems I’ve ever had with Apple products.
Welcome again Apple!
I have only one comment for the 3 dorks working at the Baybrook Mall Apple store – that is, screw you.
After choosing an accessory on my own for my ipod, I ventured over to pay for my selection. I was dismissively informed that anyone on the floor can help me. Odd because they did not seem to have a cash register and they were actively involved with playing with the hardware so as to impress prospective customers. I waited a good 10 minutes to get even some sort of acknowledgment that I wanted to pay for an item – alas all were too deeply engrossed in them selves to notice me.
I advised the geek who dismissed me earlier that he failed the first rule of retail – that is to take the money from customers.
I say just shut the damn place down – lower Apples carbon foot print because it isn’t worth the electricity to open it up nor the gas to get there.
Hence forth I’ll order it on line or pick up accessories at Walmart were I bought the same accessory for $16 verses $32 at a self scan/pay kiosk. I was not even pissed off when I left.
So, once again to the Baybrook Apple Store – screw you.