Apple to Open Palm Beach Store Saturday

Apple Computer has announced that it will open a new retail store location in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. this Saturday, April 23.

To open at 10 a.m. at The Gardens Mall, the first 1000 people to visit the store will receive a free Apple commemorative T-shirt and will be eligible to win a grand opening sweepstakes for a Digital Lifestyle Collection.

The new location will be Appleis eight store in the state of Florida, adding to other locations such as Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and Boca Raton.

Apple ended the fiscal second-quarter quarter with 103 retail stores, the company revealed Wednesday in a conference call with analysts. Last quarter, almost 13 million people visited an Apple retail store, translating into 9.8 thousand visitors per store per week. This compares to about 5.8 thousand visitors per store per week in the year-ago quarter. With an average of 102 stores open during the quarter, average quarterly revenue per store was up 5.6 million -- or was 5.6 million, up more than 2 million, from the 3.5 million in the year-ago quarter, a 60% increase.

Apple chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer confirmed the company expects to end fiscal 2005 with 125 stores, including 10 outside the United States.