| Apple today announced that this week marks the second anniversary of opening its first retail store in May 2001, noting that it has since opened 57 retail stores in 26 states, hosted over 15 million visitors and sold over $650 million of products through its retail stores. More than 1,100 Apple employees work in Apple's retail stores and there is an Apple store location within 15 miles of 90 million people in the U.S. Apple also announced that during the next 12 months it plans to open 20 new Apple retail stores, including its first store in downtown Chicago, on North Michigan Avenue; its first store in San Francisco, in Union Square; and its first retail store outside of the U.S., in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. These three locations will be high profile store formats, like Apple's popular "SoHo" retail store in New York City. "In just two years Apple has changed the face of computer retailing for over 15 million people that have visited our 57 stores throughout the U.S.," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "During the next 12 months we will extend our reach even further by opening 20 more stores, including three new high profile stores in Chicago, San Francisco and Tokyo."
The Apple retail store on North Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago will open on Friday, June 27, 2003, the Tokyo store will open in early 2004 and the San Francisco store will open in spring 2004. Apple recently opened its first retail stores in Honolulu, Seattle and Sacramento, California.
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