I didn’t know the Uptown Bar had closed. That was a landmark for a lot of people.

OTOH YUPtown would be a great place for an Apple Store. Exactly the right demographic.

That would be the 5th store in the Twin Cities metro. Is there a higher per-capita concentration of Apple retail stores?

It’s also bad news for FirstTech, a well-known Apple retailer just a few blocks north of that location on Hennepin.

Oh that’s right. FirstTech is just a few blocks from there. That would hurt them big time. I’d hate to see them go under. For a many years they, and the UMN, were about the only places you could get Apples fixed.

That would be the 5th store in the Twin Cities metro. Is there a higher per-capita concentration of Apple retail stores?

There are 5 here in the San Diego area. However, they may not be as densely grouped as those in the Twin Cities area.

According the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_United_States_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas), the populations are as follows:

Minneapolis-St Paul-Bloomington 3,229,878 / 5 stores = 645,976/store

San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos 3,027,497 / 5 stores = 605,499/store

Pretty similar!

For contrast, the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro area has an est population of 2,207,462 with 3 Apple stores, for an average of 735,820 population per store.

I really have nothing to contribute but since Twin Citians are standing up to be counted, well here I am.  Used to live in the uptown area too right behind that old bike shop that was partly owned (I think) by Greg Lemond.

And yeah, too bad for FirstTech though.

FirstTech will be hurt somewhat, but they have long since expanded their product line and focus. For a long time they were indeed the best place to go for Apple help (the only place if you couldn’t access the U of M), up until the Apple stores opened. Apple certified techs and they carried a lot of accessories and peripherals in the show room where you could actually play with them. Good guys.

One time I called FirstTech for a battery for my old PowerBook. They could have sold me a battery and I would have gone away happy, but, they were the ones who told me that there was a recall and suggested I go to Apple. I was impressed with their honesty.

Whether or not there’s a higher population density per Apple Store here than in other places, there’s probably a higher density of Mac users here than in most places. The number of ad agencies, post-production houses, freelance designers, musicians, etc… is remarkable for what is only the 14th largest media market in the country.

No matter when I might go to an Apple Store here, or which of the current locations, the places are always busy. There will be no problem absorbing another one into the market.

And First Tech is widely diversified into other products and *especially* other services. I’m sure they will take a small hit in the business of selling Macs, but I believe (and hope) they will keep doing well. Good people there.

The 55305 Zip code is in Hopkins MN. Not Uptown.

As mentioned in the linked article, 55305 is the zip code for the Ridgedale store. However I just looked at the “Genius” job listings for Minnesota and the current openings include “Minneapolis - Uptown 55408.”

This will be the first Twin Cities store that is actually in Minneapolis.