14 DAY TRIAL // ifoAppleStore, the source exclusively covering news and information on Apple's retail initiatives worldwide, reports that France is getting two new Apple stores this year. One of the upcoming French stores had previously been reported as planned. The second, however, comes as a surprise, the source points out.
“Apple has confirmed this year’s opening of two stores in France, a long-known store in Paris, and a surprise location in the southern provincial capital of Montpellier, along the Mediterranean coast,” ifo reports. “Both stores could be open by late summer and will be the first in the country.”
According to ifo's own sources, the Paris store was identified sometime around the summer of 2007. The store is to be set inside the underground shopping mall known as Carousel du Louvre, which is adjacent to the famous art museum bearing the same name.
“Apple will occupy about 7,700 s.f. of the former Lalique and Résonance stores, spaces #15 and #33,” the blueprint for the Paris store indicates. “Those tenants moved out last December and construction has been spotted by passersby,” reads the report, which also discloses the official name of the upcoming store – the “Île de France.”
As for the surprise store, Apple itself has confirmed that the second location would be Montpellier, “an off-the-radar location that is home to 225,000 residents, and another 225,000 in the metro area,” according to the same report. And while the store’s exact location isn’t known, the city-center Place de la Comedie seems just big enough (and vintage enough) to become the location for an Apple retail store, according to ifo.
Imagery is also available, thanks to a number of flickr users credited in the report.
In other Apple retail news, Apple's latest store, at Friendly Center (Greensboro, NC) has opened its doors to the cheering crowds this weekend. Videos and pictures from the event are available thanks to a number of sources that were present at the time of the Grand Opening.