Apple opening, building new Australian stores
updated 01:30 am EDT, Tue April 23, 2013
Melbourne opening this weekend, Adelaide on the way
Apple is opening a new store in Melbourne, Australia this weekend at the Highpoint Shopping Centre. The new store, the second in Melbourne, will open at 10 AM local time on Saturday, April 27. The company is also, say sources, close to opening a store in Adelaide in South Australia, the first for that city and the state. Job listings for the Adelaide store gave away its presence, along with a signature black curtain covering part of the frontage of Rundle Place. Apple has opened seven other stores in Australia in just the past two years.
Documents filed with the Adelaide City Council indicate that the new store will cost Apple $2.5 million, AppleInsider reports. The design initially landed the company in a bit of local trouble, as the Development Assessment Commission criticized the design, saying it lacked "identity." Changes were subsequently made about a year ago, and the revised design is said to be opening soon, though no specific timetable has been revealed. Once completed, it will become the 19th store Apple has opened in Australia, though most are in the states of New South Wales or Victoria, which boast the cities of Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.
The new Melbourne store is said to be almost directly over a Samsung Experience store, the design of which is clearly "inspired" by Apple's retail stores. It will be the 19th store to open in Australia, and the fifth in the greater Melbourne area. The city and its suburbs have a population of just over four million, making the second most populous city in Australia as well as the capital of the state of Victoria.
Another store in Brisbane, Queensland was planned but eventually abandoned by Apple after the original contractor for the job went bankrupt. A court in Australia recently ordered the company to pay to complete the renovations work begun on the historic MacArthur Chambers building.
