Beijing Store Grand Opening. Weather Damages Alabama Store.

ifoAppleStore, the website dealing with news and information about Apple Inc.'s retail stores worldwide, is reporting that Apple has officially announced the grand opening of its first China retail store on July 19th at 10 a.m. The same source also reports that this week has seen the Apple Store Birmingham (Ala.) hit by a severe thunderstorm.

Beijing Apple Store Grand Opening

Apple's first China retail store is set for a July 19th 10 a.m. Grand Opening inside The Village of SanLiTun in Beijing. The store will have three floors, and is situated within a new development that includes several other international retailers, such as Nike (Nike + Apple?), Adidas and Sephora, the ifoAppleStore report claims.

The Beijing Apple Store at the Village of SanLiTun is located northeast of the city center. This was actually a "plan B" for Apple, prompted by a government renovation of the Qianmen Street near Tiananmen Square that wasn’t completed in time for Apple to occupy the space.

Apple's Chinese web page shows the store's calendar of events and, as usual, a map with driving directions and all so everyone can easily get there for the Grand Opening.

Chinese Mac users have also received an e-mail from Apple Thursday morning, which informed them of the SanLiTun Store Grand Opening. The Mac makers also embedded a red-colored picture of what seems to represent the Olympic rings made of entangled earbud wires.

Thunderstorm hits Alabama Store

"A line of thunderstorms swept over Birmingham (Ala.) Wednesday night, accompanied by lightning, high winds and over and inch and one-half of rain in two hours," reads an ifoAppleStore piece. "The storm shattered the front glass door of Apple store at The Summit, but no one was injured."

Pictured below is the radar view at 7:30 p.m. (local time) – red indicates the most severe area of the storm.



Image credits: ifoAppleStore