Roger Fingas
Apple may be preparing to launch its first Austrian store on Vienna's Kärntnerstrasse, home to a high-traffic shopping district, a report claimed on Wednesday.
If it goes through, the shop should occupy a three-floor space previously home to clothing retailer Esprit, Der Standard said on Wednesday, quoting sources in real estate broker circles. Contracts are allegedly being finalized, but the newspaper didn't say when the Apple Store might open its doors.
In fact Der Standard speculated that an Apple reseller might take the space, but few such companies can afford a three-floor outlet, much less in an area like Kärntnerstrasse.
The cost of real estate on the street is said to be very high, responsible for Esprit's departure and creating a tough barrier to many other companies.
Despite the ever-growing reach of Apple's retail chain — which has hundreds of locations worldwide — a number of European countries still lack Apple Stores. Some other examples include Norway, Poland, Portugal, and the Czech Republic.
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12 Comments
And Denmark :(
Great! I have a Viennese screenwriting partner and spend a lot of time in Vienna. They have third party shops, best for me has been MacShark on Mariahilfer St, but having a full store with genius support will be good for Mac users, definitely less expensive than the third party shops,even though some are good. I think the reason they waIted so long is they couldn't find enough Viennese techies who were willing to run up and down the Kärntner Straße yelling, clapping, hive five-ing people in line.
Think of all the "G'day mate!" and "Let's put another shrimp on the barbie!" talk that'll be going on.