Worlds Largest Apple Store Opens in London
London shoppers were gripped by Apple-mania again as thousands queued to be first into the swish new Covent Garden store ? the largest Apple store in the world.
The three-floor shop, which used to be a nightclub, is a temple to the Californian company's gadgets, with separate rooms for Macs, iPads, iPhones and iPods. Some shoppers camped overnight to be first into the store, which employs 300 staff.
Recent problems with the newest version of the iPhone have failed to dent the company's sales and last month it reported record quarterly figures, as its retail arm turned over $2.6bn (£1.6bn). It sold 8.4m iPhones in the three months to 26 June, a leap of 61% on the same period a year ago. In May, it overtook Microsoft as the biggest technology company by market value.
The new Covent Garden store, which is the company's 300th retail outlet, will take the strain off Apple's Regent Street branch which, when it opened in November 2004, was the first outside the US. A Mecca for tourists and Londoners, it is, according to analysts, the most profitable shop in the country, raking in £60m a year.
"We are thrilled to open a store in this amazing location," said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice-president of retail.
The three-floor shop, which used to be a nightclub, is a temple to the Californian company's gadgets, with separate rooms for Macs, iPads, iPhones and iPods. Some shoppers camped overnight to be first into the store, which employs 300 staff.
Recent problems with the newest version of the iPhone have failed to dent the company's sales and last month it reported record quarterly figures, as its retail arm turned over $2.6bn (£1.6bn). It sold 8.4m iPhones in the three months to 26 June, a leap of 61% on the same period a year ago. In May, it overtook Microsoft as the biggest technology company by market value.
The new Covent Garden store, which is the company's 300th retail outlet, will take the strain off Apple's Regent Street branch which, when it opened in November 2004, was the first outside the US. A Mecca for tourists and Londoners, it is, according to analysts, the most profitable shop in the country, raking in £60m a year.
"We are thrilled to open a store in this amazing location," said Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice-president of retail.
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