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.
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.
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.
Wednesday September 9, 2026 9:10 am PDT by Jordan Golson
Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event kicks off today at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, where we're expecting to see the foldable iPhone Duo, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 models, new AirPods 5 earphones, and perhaps some other announcements.
Apple is providing a live video stream on its website, on YouTube, and in the company's TV app across various platforms. We...
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today further outlined what to expect from the Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 set to be unveiled on September 9.
While it was initially rumored that Touch ID may be coming to the Apple Watch this year, Gurman reiterated that he does not expect the Series 12 or Ultra 4 to have any major design changes compared to the current Series 11 and Ultra 3 models.
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Tuesday September 8, 2026 10:24 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's biggest event of the year is almost here, and all eyes are on Cupertino. With the first foldable iPhone expected to headline Apple's "Surprise and Shine" event on Wednesday, September 9, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, the rumor mill has been running full throttle, fuelled by the biggest single design change in the life of the iPhone.
To get you up to speed, here's a quick reference...
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.
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.
