The Boston Apple store opens tomorrow. It will be the largest in the country.

http://www.boston.com/business/techn...w_Apple_store/

here is the text from the Apple site for it's Boston Apple Store.


When it opens its doors to customers on May 15, the Apple Retail Store on Boylston Street — located in the heart of Boston’s historic Back Bay — becomes the largest Apple Store in the US. Customers will enjoy hands-on access to the Mac, iPhone, and iPod on the first two floors, and on the third, they’ll find a Genius Bar and Boston’s first Pro Labs, offering free, in-depth training on Apple’s pro applications.

May 13, 2008


Ken


and of course I just have to add, that after you have had your fill of all things Apple, you could always take the Green Line to
downtown crossing, and stop by the Macy's that sells Housewares, Domestics, China, and so on. As a bonus you'll probally not be mauled while riding one of the Green Line trolleys.

According to the latest data available from the US Census, the number of families in poverty in Boston increased very slightly over the 1990s from 17,598 to 17,982, lifting the poverty rate to 15.3%.


That is bad news for poor people like Ms McQueen and the other 354,000 people in Philadelphia - or 25.1 per cent of the city's population - who live at or below the official poverty line.


Again...why locate near 80,ooo rich isolated in Center City when you can open more up in our wealthy burbs.

There's still no stores in Bucks or Chester

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Pardon me, but why is this such a huge deal? Status?

Boston can have their massive apple store. It's not like you guys can't go online and buy any apple gear you want right now.

Jeeze.

Jeeze, or not, these mega Apple Stores are HUGE draws.

People tend to buy the latest Apple gagets, and then take classes, workshops, and the like.

It would be a huge coupe for Center City to land one.

Ken

Actually can't get any iPhones online right now ... wonder if they saved some to ship to the Boston store, and if the southies will get all pissed after buying one, when the new and improved one comes out in a few weeks?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h...iTqLgD90KB56O3

The Cupertino-based company confirmed that the iPhone is out of stock online, but added that brick-and-mortar stores run by Apple and iPhone carriers including AT&T Inc. might still have units available.

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~John F. Kennedy

This is not quite the entire picture. If you compare MSA to MSA, the poverty rates are closer. And the MSAs are a fairer comparison between the two, because the City of Boston (whose stats you cited above) is much smaller proportional to its MSA than is the City of Philadelphia.

Furthermore, you dismiss the "80,000 rich isolated in Center City." 80,000 seems like a small number compared to the entire city's population, but don't forget, it's still a much larger number in absolute terms than the population of downtown Boston. Don't forget, Philadelphia has the third largest downtown residential population in the country. That's in addition to whatever daytime commuter shoppers and/or tourists who would patronize the Apple Store.

You're right that Boston is overall a wealthier city, and one where the "knowledge workers" make up a more significant percentage of the city's economy, but Philly's nothing to sneeze at, and getting better every day, and, in the end, is still a much bigger city in absolute terms than Boston.

Well said. And I imagine the rent here is cheaper than Boston.

Omni.. you know that retailers go by education and income of zips to determine locations.

just saying..

It's why they go to Marlton before Rittenhouse.

maybe new data changes that.

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Eh, I'm not so sure. If they made their decisions on purely objective criteria, I think they'd have had a store in CC by now. Because even if Philadelphia has a high poverty rate, it still has a huge number of wealthy downtown residents, commuters, tourists, creative professionals, and students in absolute terms. Which suggests to me that there are also subjective factors at play: Philadelphia's out-of-date bad reputation, its place in the shadow of other east-coast cities, and perhaps even the ease and familiarity of locating stores in malls. To be charitable, I'm sure they base their location decisions on the numbers you cite, but they aren't uninfluenced by such subjective factors.