AppleInsider Staff
The first official Apple retail store in Turkey is set to open its doors next Saturday in Istanbul, while one of Apple's outlets in Vancouver, British Columbia will reportedly be moving to a 'substantially' larger space in the fall of 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.
Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
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24 Comments
Maybe they'll move to the old Quiksilver location on Granville Street?
Turkey has a fascinating culture. I'm very excited for them with the first Apple Store of their own. With their apparent sincerity and enthusiasm with Apple products and services as signaled by the President's visit to Cupertino, we should be hearing a lot more good news in the not-too-distant future.
Not exactly the best location for most people in Istanbul, but hopefully this will just the first of many.
Turkey has a fascinating culture. I'm very excited for them with the first Apple Store of their own.
With their apparent sincerity and enthusiasm with Apple products and services as signaled by the President's visit to Cupertino, we should be hearing a lot more good news in the not-too-distant future.
Yes, but the political standoff currently afflicting the country could become worse with the pending elections and demonstrations in Istanbul this weekend. Their government's blocking of Twitter and YouTube could tend to dampen the sprits of the otherwise exciting event of an Apple Store opening. Turkey might become the next Ukraine.
Istanbul? Not Constantinople? [SIZE=0](Someone had to do it)[/SIZE]