Pittsburgh Apple Store to feature "Digital Kitchen" pilot

Pennsylvania's second Apple retail store is scheduled to open in Pittsburgh's Shadyside urban shopping district at the end of August," an anonymous source told AppleInsider this afternoon. The Shadyside location will reportedly feature a new approach from Apple, aimed at educating customers on the capabilities of the Macintosh.

Reports indicate that Apple has already begun recruiting creative professionals to fill a new role at the store, which involves utilizing the store's theater as a "Digital Kitchen" to educate customers on the "creative capabilities of the Macintosh."

These "Creative Mac Specialists" will conduct demonstrations and tutorials with both Apple applications such as GarageBand and third party creative applications like Photoshop Elements, sources said.

The Pittsburgh store will be Apple's first store to feature the "Digital Kitchen," a program that may be expanded to additional Apple stores if it proves to be hit with customers.

Retail update

Meanwhile, Gary Allen of ifoAppleStore recently ventured to the site of Apple's forthcoming flagship location on Regent Street in London.

"The entire ground floor is barricaded with plywood, making it impossible to see what Apple's store front will look like," says Allen. "However, some scaffolding has been removed from the left half of the building, providing an opportunity to see what the final façade will look like."

"The stonework is bright and cleaner than surrounding buildings, and shows off the stonework detail of the original design. There is some gold-colored, mosaic-type detailing visible near the second level of the building, where the Apple store will occupy the ground floor."

Allen's full report, complete with images, is available at his website.

AppleInsider.com was first to break the story on Apple's plans to create a retail chain in a report published in July of 1999, nearly two years before Apple opened its first retail store.