Apple opens retail outlet outside the US
Published: 20 May 2003 15:53 BST
Apple said on Tuesday it plans to open 20 stores in the next 12 months, including its first outside the US.
The Mac maker said it will open a large format store in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district early next year. The company also plans to open "high-profile" stores on Chicago's Michigan Avenue and in San Francisco's Union Square.
"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 US," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said in a statement. "During the next 12 months we will extend our reach even further by opening 20 more stores".
The announcement comes two years after Apple opened its first retail stores in McLean, Virginia and Glendale, California.
The Chicago store will open on 27 June, while the San Francisco locale won't open until next spring, the company said. In recent weeks, Apple has opened stores in Honolulu, Sacramento, California, and Seattle.
Apple said in April that it planned to have 70 stores open by the end of the calendar year, up from 53 at the time.
Apple's stores sell the company's complete line of Macs and iPods as well as software from the Mac maker and others, and add-ons such as digital cameras and camcorders.
As Apple has continued to open more stores, it has parted ways with some of its independent resellers. In April, longtime San Francisco Bay Area reseller Elite Computers & Software said it would close its chain of several Mac-only stores.
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