Apple Remodels Stores

Ron Johnson, Apple's SVP of Retail, has been talking to USA Today. He says that Apple will be opening 25 stores this year. This is down a little from the forecast of 35 - 40 given by CFO Oppenheimer at Apple's Q1 conference call. We are told that three of these store openings are to be in Europe - one in France, one in Italy, and one in Germany.

Johnson also explained that Apple plans to remodel some 100 of its stores this year, to make room for more customer training and more display space. The Genius Bar space is going to be increased by some 50%, and new display tables will enable 'twice the amount' of Macs and other products to be on display.

Despite this on-going investment in remodelling their stores, Johnson acknowledged that the recession has affected Apple's retail footfall. He says that while it is still strong, traffic is certainly down on last year.