Apple Announces April 10 Grand Openings for Apple Watch Shops in London, Paris, and Tokyo

Apple today officially announced April 10 grand openings for its three dedicated Apple Watch shops located in high-end department stores in London, Paris, and Tokyo. As previously outlined, the store-within-a-store locations are at Selfridges in London, Galeries Lafayette in Paris, and Isetan in Tokyo.

apple_watch_selfridges_opening
The new locations appear set to handle only Apple Watch viewing and sales, with customers being directed to other Apple retail stores for their support needs.

The Selfridges Apple Watch shop will be located near the entrance to the iconic Wonder Room, a massive shopping hall that houses a wide selection of luxury jewelry and watch brands alongside a concept store and mezzanine wine bar. Apple has reportedly been drawing employees from other retail stores in London to staff the new shop. The Galeries Lafayette shop will take over four balcony sections overlooking the main rotunda of the department store.

Paris Galeries Lafayette Apple Watch

Apple Watch shop at Galeries Lafayette in Paris (Source: Getty Images via iGen.fr)

Apple will begin in-store previews and pre-orders for the Apple Watch on April 10, with launches in the first wave of countries coming two weeks later. The high-end gold Apple Watch Edition models will only be available at select Apple retail stores, and the dedicated Apple Watch shops at these luxury department stores will almost certainly also be featuring the gold watches, which are priced from $10,000 to $17,000.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch Series 9
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

Top Rated Comments

Junipr Avatar
118 months ago
"10 Grand Openings"...very clever:apple:
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
poematik13 Avatar
118 months ago
Nothing in LA, NYC, or Dubai? Surprising.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
monaarts Avatar
118 months ago
Complicated interface, no real reason to exist besides just to be there

A very anti Steve jobs product

iPod had no reason to exist - There were Walkmans and CD players.

iTunes had no read to exist - there was the radio and heck, even Napster.

The iPhone had no reason to exist - cell phones and even "smart" phoned aready existed.

The iPad had no reason to exist - laptops were already huge and other tablets had already failed.

Notice a trend here...? None of these products had a "reason" to exist other than convenience and assurance of a quality product. Besides, if I had to guess, Apple has bigger plans for the Apple Watch than just a side kick for the iPhone. My thought is that they can/will eventually sell it as its own standalone product that doesn't need an iPhone wirelessly attached and can event text, call, etc. all on its own.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aluminum213 Avatar
118 months ago
First completely new product family without you know who.

Complicated interface, no real reason to exist besides just to be there

A very anti Steve jobs product
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McFreggle Avatar
118 months ago
There is very little buzz for the apple watch
Very little buzz? You must be living on another planet...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
118 months ago
Well I guess that answers the question of "How are they going to store/sell these in existing Apple Stores?" They aren't. I assume eventually at least some of the larger Apple Stores will, but probably need a lot of modification first.

All Apple stores are getting the watch. According to 9to5Mac the night of 8th and/or 9th will be used to get stores ready. These are just dedicated Watch store-within-a-store.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Delta Feature

Delta Game Emulator Now Available From App Store on iPhone

Wednesday April 17, 2024 9:58 am PDT by
Game emulator apps have come and gone since Apple announced App Store support for them on April 5, but now popular game emulator Delta from developer Riley Testut is available for download. Testut is known as the developer behind GBA4iOS, an open-source emulator that was available for a brief time more than a decade ago. GBA4iOS led to Delta, an emulator that has been available outside of...
iPhone 15 Pro Action Button Translate

All iPhone 16 Models to Feature Action Button, But Usefulness Debated

Tuesday April 16, 2024 6:54 am PDT by
Last September, Apple's iPhone 15 Pro models debuted with a new customizable Action button, offering faster access to a handful of functions, as well as the ability to assign Shortcuts. Apple is poised to include the feature on all upcoming iPhone 16 models, so we asked iPhone 15 Pro users what their experience has been with the additional button so far. The Action button replaces the switch ...
Provenance Emulator

PlayStation, GameCube, Wii, and SEGA Emulator for iPhone and Apple TV Coming to App Store

Friday April 19, 2024 8:29 am PDT by
The lead developer of the multi-emulator app Provenance has told iMore that his team is working towards releasing the app on the App Store, but he did not provide a timeframe. Provenance is a frontend for many existing emulators, and it would allow iPhone and Apple TV users to emulate games released for a wide variety of classic game consoles, including the original PlayStation, GameCube, Wii,...
maxresdefault

Hands-On With the New App Store Delta Game Emulator

Wednesday April 17, 2024 12:19 pm PDT by
A decade ago, developer Riley Testut released the GBA4iOS emulator for iOS, and since it was against the rules at the time, Apple put a stop to downloads. Emulators have been a violation of the App Store rules for years, but that changed on April 5 when Apple suddenly reversed course and said that it was allowing retro game emulators on the App Store. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel ...
iOS NES Emulator Bimmy Feature

NES Emulator for iPhone and iPad Now Available on App Store [Removed]

Tuesday April 16, 2024 11:33 am PDT by
The first approved Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator for the iPhone and iPad was made available on the App Store today following Apple's rule change. The emulator is called Bimmy, and it was developed by Tom Salvo. On the App Store, Bimmy is described as a tool for testing and playing public domain/"homebrew" games created for the NES, but the app allows you to load ROMs for any...