Apple retail: Istanbul store to open April 5, Vancouver store to expand in 2015

Apple has chosen Istanbul's Zorlu Center as the host for its first retail store in the ancient city, according to Turkish blog Webrazzi. The grand opening will take place at 10 a.m. local time next Saturday.

Though this will be Turkey's first brick-and-mortar Apple store, the company opened its online store in the pan-continental nation last October. Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Turkish president Abdullah Gül in February, and the parties are believed to have discussed possible R&D investments alongside tax incentives and localization of Apple's Siri virtual assistant, the iOS implementation of a Turkish keyboard and increasing local App Store content.

Meanwhile, 6,000 miles away, Apple is said to be planning to expand its Pacific Centre shop in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company will move to a location adjacent to a new Nordstrom outlet in the mall, according to Retail Insider.

There is no word on how large the space will be, but the current Pacific Centre store runs 5,400 square feet and the new location is believed to be "substantially larger." The publication notes that the shop sold "in excess of $75 million last year," nearly $14,000 per square foot.