“Apple has earmarked the Bullring in the Birmingham, UK, area as the home for its fourth international store, but the computer firm has remained tight-lipped over its plans,” Martin Faint reports for The Birmingham Post. “The company behind the much-coveted iPod portable music player and iMac has already posted job advertisements on its Web site for a Bullring store, ‘set to open in early 2005,’ but a company spokesman declined to add further details,” Martin Faint reports for The Birmingham Post.
“However, Bullring center manager Tim Walley told The Birmingham Post the company had yet to secure a lease on the site but was eager to get a foothold in the center,” Faint reports. “‘We haven’t exchanged contracts yet and can’t give any more details,’ he said. ‘They are very keen to get in and we are working with them to find an opportunity.’ If Apple does secure a site — its fourth international store after ones in Tokyo, London and New York — the store is sure to stand as a centerpiece attraction. In the U.S., its flagship consumer stores have matched their products for chic appeal — turning over $1.2 billion in the last financial year — to prove a key factor in the firm’s revival from a slump in the 1990s,” Faint reports.
Full article here.
I didn’t know that New York was an international store.
no kidding. New York???
I guess it must be in the UN complex.
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If you live in England, as the writer does, isn’t New York “international” to you?
But, then again, the London store wouldn’t be “international” to you and a second one in the UK certainly wouldn’t count as another “international” store. Would it?
Oh, I give up!
Already booked the weekend off for the London opening with the gf! Hopefully we can get some of those goodie bags.
The Brum’s Bullring surely is not the most salubrious place in the UK outside of London for an Apple store!*. They could do better…Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle, Cardiff; they’re all better suited to Apple’s cool image. Common Apple UK, you may be the second largest market after the US but…
No apologies to any Brummies who are hurt by this….
Yeah I was surprised about the choice of the Bullring. There’s a new one now so it’ll stay smart for a few more months. I would have thought they’d have picked a more upmarket location, maybe nothing compares to Bullring’s foot traffic?
Honestly, it is a wonder Apple has any market share in the UK, there profile is so low. The apple centres often resemble prison wings, with barred windows, and are tucked away on industrial estates. The opening hours of my local one excludes anyone with a job from visiting.
PcWorld the main computer shop in the UK is just a joke, and especially when it comes to macs. Currently you can purchase a 15 imac G4 running at 1Ghz for 999 pounds !?! They never have any ipods, always out of stock. The staff in general, know less than George Bush (oops sorry)
I live in Birmingham and the bullring is very sleak indeed. Infact I would say it was alot smarter than some of the shopping districts in London (I was there 2 months back) and its a mess. Oxford and regent street are nice but piccadily circus and leichester square looks like a bomb dropped on it. Birmingham is getting a huge make over and is destined to become the design capital of the uk. Most of the city center has been changed. Even New street station is being overhauled with a glass exterior. The library which looks horrendous is being knocked down and replaced with a glass leaf like design. Very nice indeed. Alot of design companies are said to move to Birmingham in the next 2 years. Theres even talk of Designers Republic and The Mill set to build a studio here. NICE!
The bullring used to be a dump not now though. I’m hoping for a Glasgow store next there is some amazing shops there.
I would have thought Manchester a better choice for store #2. Since the IRA kindly blew up the old Arndale Centre, the area between Deansgate and Piccadilly Gardens never looked so good. Birmingham is more like an oversized village than a real city. Lots of leafy suburbs surrounded by a constant traffic jam….
Actually, that sounds a lot like most cities in North America. Maybe Apple just want to feel at home.
still hoping for a Leeds store, the ‘apple center’ is crap.
A reason to go to Birmingham at last (only joking)! The Nottingham Apple Shop in the Broadmarsh used to be very good with knowledgable staff, might still be – small but all the new gear on display.
I think Manchester may well be further along the development path than Brum.
Along with the move of Apple Europe’s VP to London, maybe this is a sign that Apple are returning to the view that the UK represents their most important market in Europe which certainly was the case until the late 80’s and the centralisation of power in Paris.
It may even mean that Macworld may return to London or Birmingham in the fullness of time, which means we might get a Jobs keynote.
Visit the Bullring in Birmingham, and have a look round Birmingham as it is in 2004, not some outdated image you have of it from the 1970’s and you’ll know why no other city in the UK comes close to matching Birmingham as the ideal place for the first international store outside London.
The innovative and award-winning Selfridges store made headlines around the world, and an American friend of mine who visited Birmingham stated that when he told people he was visiting, they asked him if he was going to visit the Selfridges store they’d read about. Birmingham is England’s second city, it has a population size 30% bigger than Manchester’s, and is a world-class shopping venue. Ultimately you can moan all you like, but the fact is yes Apple did choose Birmingham as the venue over all other cities, and as a forward-thinking company who leads the way in technology, maybe you should trust their choice! They know what they’re doing!
Steve
Birmingham may be the UK’s second city in terms of size, but in terms of everything else, it’s Manchester. I’m not bashing Birmingham on some outdated image of the Bullring, I just think that Manchester’s location at the centre of the North and it’s huge weight of television and music industry companies would make it a better choice.
Fair enough, you have your opinion, except we’re not just second city “in terms of size” – we’re the official second city.
Manchester isn’t in the geographical centre of the North, but Birmingham is approximately the geographical centre of England and Wales, making it a more logical choice for maximum access for the maximum number of people – a logical choice for a company which desperately needs to increase market share.
Manchester may well have glamorous shows such as Coronation Street with the sooty cobbles and cast of pensioners, and yobbish bands like Oasis, but it doesn’t have a shopping centre which can compare with the sheer scale and innovation of the BullRing Centre, and it is a shop Apple is opening after all.
Liverpool – European Capital of Culture 2008.
Birmingham has been subject to massive regeneration recently and the new Bullring is merely the tip of the iceberg with regards to this. It in itself truly is a shopping center for the 21st Century. But if you stray away from there you can go to many cinemas or stroll by the many canals taking rides or popping in for a drink at one of the many classy bars.
It makes sense for them to put a Apple store in Birmingham because it has the same qualities that London has and yes, no other UK cities have these qualities in abundance like Birmingham and London.
A fantastic road system which is designed to accomadate millions of visitors every day and perhaps more importantly, a History. Birmingham and its surrounding areas is home to the Industrial Revolution and now you could say its home to a regeneration revolution.
Unfortunately its still portrayed in a very stereotypical way in the media but I can see that changing when it wins the Capital of Culture.
…and no, im not going to bad mouth other areas just to support my argument because Birmingham, just like other areas has many positives and due to the money thats being spent here I feel that it has more reason than most to boast about its surroundings and its people.