November 20, 2004: First Apple Store Opens in Europe

The story of Apple retail stores is one of maximum secrecy followed by snowballing success. The skeptics, and there were many, were quickly silenced when the profits started rolling in.

Even with all the success, the Apple Stores were a US only enterprise. Citizens of foreign countries could only wonder what the Genius Bar was really like or how much better the buying experience was at an Apple Store than at their usual retailer. That started to change when Apple opened the first store not on US soil this week in 2004.