"Whatis going to make this store is the international crowd," Needham & Co. analyst Charles Wolf said to BusinessWeekis Arik Hesseldahl regarding Appleis new retail location in New York City. If the American dollar continues to be weak against the euro, Mr. Wolf predicted that "Europeans will be coming in here and not buying one computer, theyill be buying dozens. That to me is the real secret to this store."
Mr. Hesseldahl reported that Apple senior vice-president of retail Ron Johnson noted that the companyis stores bring in approximately US$4,000 per square foot per year, which means this new 10,000 square foot location could earn $40 million annually. While Apple wouldnit reveal the specifics of its lease, Mr. Wolf said he thinks Apple negotiated good terms from the owner of the building because "this underground space was totally useless to [them]."
Of course, the store still wasnit cheap to set up, and it wonit be cheap to keep running. The columnist pointed to Appleis latest 10K filing with the SEC, which defines seven of its stores as "high profile" outlets that will "function as vehicles for general corporate marketing, corporate events, and brand awareness." The company is shelling out between $4 million and $46 million on the leases for those stores, and Mr. Hesseldahl expects "the top end of that range to go up by the time Apple files its next 10K."