Apple may have lost its biggest fan this week. Gary Allen of Berkeley, a self-described Apple retail store enthusiast who ran the popular blog ifo Apple Store, died Sunday from brain cancer, the Washington Post reported. He was 67.
Allen was well known in the Apple fanboy community, and may have been the world s foremost expert on Apple stores. He traveled around the world for new store openings — more than 140 of them, according to the Post — waited in endless lines, often camping overnight and making friends along the way, and blogged with obsessive detail about future store plans and the designs and unique features of each store he visited.
My wife doesn t quite understand the fascination, Allen told Cult of Mac s Leander Kahney in a 2003 interview. I try to explain to her it s a social experience. It s a fun thing.
I never thought it was weird, his brother, Jim Allen, told the Post s Michael S. Rosenwald. I would tell people about it, and they would say, That seems kind of unusual. But you had to know Gary. He loved this stuff. And it gave him an opportunity and a reason to see the world.
After 14 years, Gary Allen stopped writing his blog in March, after his diagnosis. At the time, Mac Stories called his blog an invaluable resource for news, data and analysis relating to Apple s rapidly expanding retail efforts.
Though the blog is now gone — the URL leads to a page that simply reads Please come back later — Allen s Twitter and Flickr accounts are still open, chronicling his trips and his passions.
Allen is survived by his wife, his son, and two brothers.
Grosse Bockenheimer Apple store has huge spiral glass staircase that seems out of place in ordinary store.
Rough-hewn stones set in columns span the windows. Some elements reminiscent of Covent Garden (London) store.
Here s the first unobstructed panoramic view of the new Pioneer Place store.
At top: Apple employees put finishing touches on the display space of the new Palo Alto Apple Store on University Avenue on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012, two days before its grand opening. . (Dai Sugano/Staff file photo)
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