Melbourne Apple Store "speculative"

Stephen Withers
Monday, 19 February 2007 08:11

IT Industry - Strategy

Melbourne buyers of Macs, iPods and (eventually) iPhones face a longer wait before they can purchase these products from a company-owned retail outlet, as reports of a planned Apple Store for Melbourne turn out to be premature.

ifo AppleStore recently presented a series of renderings of a proposed development in South Yarra, a major upmarket retail district in Melbourne's inner suburbs. But late last week it ran a followup story quoting the project manager as saying "Whilst we would be delighted to have someone like Apple as our signature store, we have not been in touch with anyone from Apple Inc. with respect to this end."

"[W]e anticipate finalisation of design over the next half of the year," added Henry Siwaka of APN Property Group.

An earlier email from iTWire to Apple Australia about the mooted Melbourne store went unanswered.

If Apple were to open a store in Melbourne but decided against a CBD location, the South Yarra development at the intersection of Toorak Road and Chapel Street would appear to be a good choice. It's a busy area that features other prestige retailers. Several commercial car parks are nearby, though you'd expect a development of this size to include parking of its own. Melbourne's famous trams pass the door, and it's only a short walk to the South Yarra railway station.

The downside is that Apple reseller Computers Now already has a store just 700m south on Chapel Street. Relationships between Apple Australia and its resellers are generally regarded as strained, and such direct competition would be unlikely to improve matters.